Flowtron Bug Zapper

Product Description

FlowtronÆ electronic insect killer eliminates thousands of insect pests daily. Improves the health and quality of life by reducing the spread of infectious diseases and decreasing the annoyance level caused by flying insect pests. 2-year limited warranty. Dimensions L x W x H (in.): 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 13 1/2, Power Source: Electric, Compatible With: Octenol cartridges, UL Listed: Yes, Coverage: 1/2 acre, Indoor/Outdoor Use: Outdoor, Product Type: Bug zapper, Assembly Required: No, Material Type: Polycarbonate, Removal Of: Flying insect. Outdoor electronic insect control without the use of propane gas.

Features

• THE MARKET’S MOST POWERFUL INSECT KILLER | High Quality Electronic Bug Zapper Handles Your Property’s Flying & Biting Pest Problem Via High-Intensity UV Black Light, Powerful Octenol Mosquito Attractant [30-Day Cartridge Included] & Supercharged 5600-Volt Instant Kill Grid | Just Hang the Lantern on Your Property to Lure & Eliminate Thousands of Flies, Gnats, Beetles, Moths & Most Mosquito Species for Pennies a Day
• 2 HIGHLY EFFECTIVE METHODS OF ATTRACTION | Patented 2-in-1 Design Attracts & Eliminates Twice as Many Bugs as Competitors by Utilizing Multiple Luring Techniques! Watch as the Lantern Draws in Flying Pests Via Our Powerful 15W Ultraviolet Light Bulb PLUS a Slow-Release Liquid Octenol Cartridge | When Warmed & Vaporized by the UV Lamp, Octenol Mimics Ruminant Animals’ Breath/Odor for Maximum Catch & Kill | Covers 1/2 Acre Wooded Areas, Backyard, Patio, Deck, Porch & Farm
• HIGH-VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER-POWERED SHOCK GRID | Our Unique High-Powered Kill Grate Features a Non-Stick Teflon Coating & Non-Clogging Design, So Bugs are Zapped Instantly & Fall to the Ground Instead of Collecting Inside the Lantern | Compared to Competitors’ Standard 4,200 Volts, Our 5,600-Volt Shock Prevents Short Circuits & Guarantees a Dead Bug—Even Larger Diving Beetles, Royal Moths, Etc.
• NO MORE TANKS TO FILL OR MESSY BAGS TO EMPTY | Save Time, Money, Mess & Worry! 100% Maintenance-Free, Environmentally-Friendly System Requires Zero Chemical Sprays, Fogs, Sticky Strips or Pesticides, Making it Safe for Use Around People, Children, Pets & Wildlife | Just an Occasional Quick & Easy UV Bulb Replacement & Fresh Octenol Cartridge Placed in the Built-In Slot Keeps Your Bug Killer Operating for Many Years to Come
• WEATHERPROOF, UL CERTIFIED & MADE IN THE USA | Decorative Lantern Features a Rugged Weatherproof ABS Housing That Will Never Rust, Crack or Fade Amidst Rain, Snow, Sleet, Ice & Other Elements, Promising Continuous Comfort & Unmatched Safety in the Great Outdoors Through All Seasons | For Peace of Mind, Our Proudly American-Made Zapper is UL Listed, CSA Certified, EPA Registered & USDA Tested [Octenol Lure]

Top Reviews

That's no Moon!!!!!
by The Price's (5 out of 5 stars)
August 21, 2018

I purchased this bug zapper in a fit of rage, if those damn mosquitos want a war... I'll give them a war!!! The first night I plugged it in, I felt as millions of tiny voices cried out in horror, and were suddenly silenced. Some of the mosquito scum, tried to escape to a small moon, but soon realized that was no moon... it was the Death Zapper! As the last little mosquito was flying to its death, under the influence of the intoxicating glow, I said at last, You fool. Only now, at the end, do you understand. Your feeble bloodsucking skills are no match for the power of my bug zapper! And now you shall the price for your bloodlust! Buzzzzapppppppp!!!!! And just like that, poof he was gone forever! Muhahahahahahahahaha

PS. If you look really close, you can see little lightsaber fights between the feeble insectoids and the Sith Lords. Muhahahahaha

PS, 1 bulb burned out at 1 year + 1 month. just "FYI" (yes I stopped typing to do the "air quotes" just did it again... )
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10's of thousands of bugs were harmed in the making of this review.
by Bob (5 out of 5 stars)
August 7, 2017

I've owned this product for over a year now (452 days according to Alexa). I live in coastal Georgia in the country, so think 'lots of bugs'. I bought this little killer because it's fairly dark where i live and a tremendous number of bugs are drawn to any light source, even shaded windows of rooms with a light on, so that at night every insect imaginable was crawling all over the house. My property is about 0.8 acres with the house about centered, so a large front and back yard. Since I like to spend evenings on my back patio I placed the unit near the back fence, probably 60 to 80 feet from the rear of the house. The immediate result was a significant reduction in six legged varmints attracted to the back lit windows. The first several weeks were a continuous chorus of flying fiends frying. I noticed a reduction of pests within a week of installation. I'm pretty sure even my neighbors, who tend to keep their outside lights off at night, probably noticed a difference, too. I started out with it on a timer set to approximately dusk to dawn, but the timer failed after about a month or so. Since then I have just left it on 24/7 (it's only 40 Watts). I like to write reviews after I've owned a product a while to see if and when it fails. I'm writing this because the bulb just burned out. If Alexa got the number of days correct (she seemed pretty sure of herself), then the bulb lasted over 10,000 hours. This is a year in a climate that destroys most outdoor items pretty quickly. Extreme UV from sunlight, heavy dew almost every day, severe outdoor mold, cold (it gets cold here, it just doesn't last long), lots of rain, and one hurricane, and the only problem is a burned out bulb after 10,000 hours of continuous operation. Yeah, I think 5 stars are earned.

Note: 10's of thousands of bugs were harmed in the making of this review.

Edit: I did the math and decided to add a new timer. This one got good reviews: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00002NB2X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and the math says, at 12 cents/KWH (the national average), that it will pay for itself in 3 months using the 40W model. If it also extends the bulb life then the savings are even greater.
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Initial results are VERY promising for mosquitoes. Solid product. I didn't think about how bright th
by Eric Fontaine (5 out of 5 stars)
May 31, 2015

Purchased two of these after researching all kinds of mosquito control products and options. So my review is all about mosquito control - if that doesn't interest you, you may not find this information useful...

First I'll include information about THIS product - skip to the end to read other options I considered and why this product was a winner. I know it's not directly a review of this product, but sometimes one item is the best because of limitations or shortcomings with other solutions. I felt it important to outline those as I spent a lot of time collecting and analyzing the data - maybe it will save someone else from spending their time on it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Opening the box, the product was very simple and fully assembled - bulbs installed and all, which was great. You get exactly what you see in the pictures - the unit with a metal hanging loop up top, plus some documentation. Take time to read the instructions - what I've found from all my research is that catching or killing mosquitoes has a fair number of subtle tricks - so don't just run a cord, plug this thing in, and expect magic. Height above the ground, location relative to the common wind patters, locating it in front of or behind something that blocks the wind, visibility (the bugs gotta SEE the light to be attracted to it!) and more are all factors you should learn about. Some are in the manual, but lots more information is online.

And PLEASE - do NOT hang this right next to where you want to sit and enjoy your outdoor space. This unit ATTRACTS pests - and kills them. But there is a small time gap between when the pests show up and when they die. If you put this unit too close to your enjoyment areas, you'll actually have MORE bugs. I am amazed by all the bad reviews I see about devices that attract pests because the owner had not thought about how something like this actually works, nor had they read or followed the instructions. You need this unit close enough to your enjoyment area to reduce the local population of pests, but far enough away so it is drawing bugs AWAY from you and not TOWARDS you. :)

You'll need some way to hang this thing as it doesn't have any feet, the bait cup is on the bottom, and you'll just end up with a pile of bugs ruining your zapper if you don't hang it up lol! I just went down to my local home improvement store where they had several options - check out the garden section for hanging plants and those are good options. I found tall metal rods that stick in the ground like a stake and have a loop and hook at the top - great if you want the unit freestanding and want to move it around easily. I bought a simple 12-15 inch long hanging basket bracket - it screws to a fence or your house or anything else and works as you might imagine. No big deal there...

Also - the bottom of the black outer cage is not flat on the bottom so it's not stable standing upright. I think they should have done a tiny bit better with that as the bait holders are what makes it unstable. A tiny adjustment to the mold for the plastic outer grid would fix that. But that's a VERY minor issue as it's only like that while you work with it. Do be careful though - if you drop it hard on the base you might break the small plastic tabs that hold the bait cups in - they are also the bulb retainers so they ARE important even if you don't use baits.

And on the topic of lures,baits, and attractants - all names for the same things - this unit comes with one small octenol lure - I think just a 400mg time release one. Depending on where you live, you might need other baits if you are after mosquitoes specifically like I am. In Houston, we have a WIDE variety of species. So I ordered a combination of lures from an online company - you can't find the right baits on Amazon unfortunately. For all types of mosquitoes, you need THREE key lure ingredients: Octenol attracts the classic mosquitoes - ones that are active in the morning right at dawn and evening right at dusk. But for other types like Tiger Mosquitoes that bite during the brightest sun of the day (as well as night, evening, holidays, etc) you need a combination of lactic acid (which is found on human skin) and ammonium bicarbonate. Depending on your location, species of mosquitoes, and other factors, you will need to adjust your baits. Of course, you can test to see what kind of results you get with NO baits, too. That might be enough and if it is - you have a 100% maintenance free solution. Me - I HATE mosquitoes and they LOVE me, so total eradication, to whatever extent was possible, was my goal.

This unit obviously needs to be plugged in. The instructions say to use a cord and connector made for this purpose, but I didn't see anything like that down at the depot of home improvement. I ended up buying a 50 ft. "landscaping" extension cord that was dark green in color and rated for outdoor use. Given the huge increase in holiday light displays, I would imagine anything fit for outdoor Christmas lights would work here. If you are paranoid and have the money, you can of course hire an electrician to wire you up something fancy.

Last - before I went and bought my extension cords, mounting brackets, and got myself invested in a permanent install, I wanted to do a simple test. I put the octenol lure in place, rigged a hanging option by screwing a small piece of wood into a tree, and hung the unit about 2-3 feet above the ground - about where your legs would be exposed wearing shorts LOL!! Then I stuck a clean, white piece of material under the trap to make it easy to see any dead mosquitoes. I used a Styrofoam cooler lid, but whatever...just make sure it doesn't blow away - a brick solved that for me.

At first I was sad - despite dozens of mosquitoes swarming around ME and ready to feast on my flesh, I heard not one zap of the power grid and no dead bugs. So I left it to run for a while. After about 90 minutes a heavy storm was rolling in so I figured my test was over as any "evidence" would get blown or washed away. And behold! There were about a dozen or so dead mosquitoes on the foam lid. SUCCESS! They appeared to be only one or two species - but once the additional baits are delivered and installed I expect improved results.

I can't say longer term how well this unit will reduce the population of mosquitoes or even if it will be enough to be able to go outside and not get bitten. But it DOES kill mosquitoes in the Houston area and hopefully with additional attractants it will get those aggressive and horrible Tiger

My next project - once I hang these up, get the additional baits, and see how those perform, is to consider adding CO2 to the mix. Carbon dioxide is probably THE BEST mosquito bait - which is why you see all those propane traps that make CO2 and heat by burning propane. My plan is different - I'm following the method used by health workers around the world to trap mosquitoes for health and medical research - dry ice. The plan is to buy a simple insulated container to hold the dry ice (a thick cooler so it will last a long time) and some simple plastic tubing. Punch a hole in the cooler down low, put in the dry ice, seal it up so the vapors get forced thru the tube. Put the end of the tube inside my bug zapper so the mosquitoes are drawn into the killing grid - DONE. I'll only go that far if the other options aren't fully successful.

Overall - I like this product because it is simple, inexpensive, and durable. But by adding baits and other attractants, you can scale it up to suit your needs and still spend WAY less money than the fancier products with fans and nets and propane tanks.

OTHER OPTIONS - and why I didn't choose them over this product...

I was reluctant to spend hundreds of dollars on one of the mosquito-specific trap-style products like the Mosquito Magnet for a few reasons:
1) The huge number of reviews about the unit breaking down (strike 1), the huge number of reviews indicating service was difficult (strike 2), and the huge cost of repair sometimes costing a fair percentage of the original purchase price (strike 3). So ability to maintain one of these things was questionable.
2) All the "trap" style units require significant use of expendables. Tanks of propane, proprietary nets that degrade, dry rot, or wear out. Special batteries and electronics. Even the lures/attractants used have to be purchased in specific form factors and shapes to fit the machine, unlike the Flowtron zapper that you could literally stick a bait anywhere on, under, or in. Yes, there are two small nooks at the base of the bulbs designed for this purpose, but there's no reason to think the trap wouldn't work well if you added some alternate bait types and just stuck, lashed, or otherwise affixed them using your own creativity. Most of the trap-style units are not designed to work if you get creative with the bait placement - they require it to be in a very specific place to lure the mosquitoes into the vacuum suction area. Like your home vacuum cleaner - just a few inches away from the nozzle and there's very little suction.
3) There seemed to be much fewer placement options as most of the trap-type units appeared to simply sit on the ground - most had wheels of some kind. It wasn't like you could hang them from a fence post sort of arrangement or swag them to a tree. Since I wasn't sure where they'd end up, I wanted something smaller and more easily moved around as needed to get the best results.

I also didn't want one of those yard misting systems - spraying chemicals regularly onto my yard just wasn't for me. Plus that is REALLY expensive, has significant consumable costs, and needs space for the large tank of chemical and pump and such.

Spraying chemicals on my body? No thanks. MAYBE for camping in the Everglades but around my home, not happening.

I tried one of those fogger guns - you know the type that are sometimes powered by propane and some are electric? They use a special oil-based product to create an ultra-fine mist with droplets hundreds or thousands of times smaller that what a garden spray set to "fine" produces. The idea is that the fog can permeate in and around foliage, leaves, and just about everything else, providing absolute and complete coverage. Takes <5 minutes to do your yard, just a few minutes for the fog to dissipate, and you are bug-free for hours. Only it didn't take 5 minutes. It took five minutes for the unit to heat up hot enough to use. And then you had to pump the oil into the fogging chamber with a squeeze trigger - on problem is that the rate at which you pump must be precise - otherwise the fog is too "wet" or "dry" per the instructions, I found my unit constantly sending out not only fog but also little droplets of oil out the tip. The fog is supposed to make a quart of oil last for weeks or months even, but unless you product fog and ONLY fog, the product is consumed MUCH faster. All this is completely dependent on you holding the unit level during use and squeezing the trigger at just the right rate. And that rate varies based on outside temp and other factors - so you have to be a master at this. AND you have to fog every time you want to enjoy your yard. I found it took 15 minutes or so to lug the unit out, plug it in, let it warm up, fog the yard, and then you MUST let it cool down for 10 minutes or so before you can store it. To give you an idea of the heat - flames can shoot out of the fogger if you use it wrong, and the big fogging chamber has all kinds of warnings on it not to touch it, ever.

Last were the clip-on-your-person type repellents. Some had good reviews and they seemed like a viable option - relatively cheap, easy to use, no waiting, minimal expendable/consumable items. I'll be honest - I didn't try these even though they were among the better options per my criteria. I couldn't see keeping spares on hand when guests stopped by. What if we had a party? Would women in nice cocktail dresses be clipping these to their straps or ankles? Too many logistical complications here. These products have their place, but not for keeping your home and your castle free of pests...

And beyond purchased products - there are any number of DIY mosquito control methods - from 2 liter bottle with yeast in them to box fans with netting. I found it hard to separate truth from fiction, but in the end I did manage to find some studies done by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other organizations. See - mosquitoes carry some nasty diseases. Finding a cheap way to control them in 3rd world countries is a BIG DEAL. What I ultimately found is that most of those home-made systems DO work, but aren't powerful or effective enough for population control. They'll catch SOME mosquitoes and you will think they are working. But just do the real world test - walk around outside and see if you get bitten! That's ultimately what will determine if my methods are successful or not.

And if you've read this far, God bless you! I hope you found this useful and worthwhile.
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Works, but bulbs are junk
by Zach Welch (2 out of 5 stars)
March 13, 2018

I bought two 80W units for my farm. I hung them from shepherds hooks in my yard and connected them to timers that turn on at dusk and off at dawn. They do a wonderful job of keeping down the flies and other bugs that come along with livestock.

However, each unit contains a pair of bulbs, and every single one of the included bulbs failed before the end of the season. To use these units this year, I am now looking at spending almost $40 to replace the bulbs. Given this 100% failure rate, should I expect this as an annual expense?

The first bulb died before the end of summer (<3 months) and the last died before the first freeze. That's an average life of ~6 months at <30% duty cycle, or on the order of 1000 hours of life. That seems like an unreasonably low lifetime for a UV bulb in this modern day and age.

This kind of gross waste stinks of an intentionally self-destructing product design: are the bulbs built to fail as a means of generating more revenue? Or is Flowtron simply incapable of producing a quality product? Does it matter which hypothesis is correct?

EDIT: I begrudgingly ordered new bulbs and discovered that the starter bulbs were also fried. Those cannot be ordered from anyone but Flowtron, and their shipping costs are astronomically exorbitant. What a racket.....
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Death to the Mosquito!
by Dutch hollow (5 out of 5 stars)
May 7, 2015

Year 3 of having this thing. I live next to a swamp so needless to say I have no hope of winning the war on mosquitoes but this combined with my bat houses sure takes a dent out of the population. The photo I took this morning 5/7/2015 It looks like this EVERY morning. I unplug and hose it down to remove all the nasties, plug it in at dusk and by the next day it it's so full it blocks out the light. I do NOT use the mosquito inserts, don't see the point or waste of the $, it gets them all on their own.
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Pure Redneck Entertainment
by Skwalker26 (5 out of 5 stars)
May 8, 2019

We are still relatively new to life in the country. Last year, I mistakenly left it up to my wife to order us a bug zapper. She is not good at estimating size, which she says bodes well for me (still not sure what that means) so our previous zapper was rather inadequate. Anyway, the mosquitoes are already bad here, so I clicked a button on my Amazon App and procured the mack daddy of all bug zappers! This thing burns with the light of a thousand suns, hums like the lights in gym class, and annihilates all manner of flying insects (maybe even small wayward birds) with EXTREME prejudice! I may have to move it away from the house as I'm not sure we can sleep with the repeated crack of 1.21 gigawatts of electricity mere footsteps from our bedroom window. I rate it a solid three thumbs up.���
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Definitely disappointed in this purchase
by L2kids46 (1 out of 5 stars)
May 10, 2018

Updated: I'm adding additional info on this zapper replacement. Amazon did replace the unit however within 2 months the transformer completely burned out and now all I have is a bright lantern that kills nothing.
I purchased this item to replace a Zapper that finally died after 15 years. Did not work right out of the box. One light would not come on at all even after checking for a tight fit. I've watched it for 2 nights in a row and haven't seen one zap and bugs are flying all around it. Definitely disappointed in this purchase. Try calling the number on the zapper and get no response.
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Mosquito Destruction!
by J. Pasker (5 out of 5 stars)
June 23, 2015

We live between a swamp and two ponds in a heavily wooded area, therefore we are always waging war on mosquitoes. This spring we placed a propane powered mosquito vac in our yard, and had to clean it every day, because the basket will fill to the point where it would loose suction and stop sucking mosquitoes. And while it did collect at least a few hundred mosquitoes a day, it would loose suction from all the bugs and the cottonwood tree fluff. So we placed this Flowtron (1/2 acre) bug zapper unit within 5 feet of the propane powered vac in hopes that it would take some of the load off of the mosquito vac. I would have been happy if the bug zapper got even half as many mosquitoes as the mosquito vac, but that was not the case! What we found was that this zapper kills at least 1000 times more mosquitoes than the propane unit!! IT'S INCREDIBLE! I included a picture of what the unit looks like in the morning after hosing it completely out. THOUSANDS of little buggers! There were maybe a few dozen bugs that weren't mosquitoes, all the rest were mosquitoes. I wouldn't expect this type of performance with just the stand alone bug zapper, I think it is due to the combination of the propane mosquito vac luring them in, that that's right beside the bug zapper. However, this mosquito carnage comes with a downside. Now we have to clean this unit out every day as well! The grid simply becomes so solid with fried mosquitoes it blocks all light from the bulb! We simply unplug, hose out with a light spray of water, and dry by setting it on our central air condenser unit for 30 min or so (gentle blast of warm air!). So 5 stars for inflicting massive damage to the mosquito population, (thousands per day!) 4.8 stars for needing to clean it out every day. I can't give 4.9 stars, .so 5 it is!

WARNING: Do not hang this unit over a deck, or near anything that could burn as it will occasionally rain flaming (as in on fire!) bug debris! Seriously, there should be a warning sticker on it. FLAMING BUGS WILL FALL FROM THIS UNIT. I would not be surprised if the whole bug zapper just burst in to flames some night. (and I wouldn't at all be disappointed! DEATH TO MOSQUITOES!) We've decided to order another Flowtron, the larger 1 and 1/2 acre unit as well to hopefully better handle the mosquito load. We hang this in our yard, at the end of a 50 foot extension cord -it only has a 6 inch cord, you will need an extension cord!- on a shepherd's hook. I would never recommend hanging this on, or near anything that you weren't ready to burn to the ground.

Update July 1, 2015: The 1 and 1/2 acre flowtron was a complete failure at killing mosquitoes. It didn't even really hardly kill any bugs at all! The bulb on the smaller 1/2 acre unit is like a black-light. Deep purple, not very bright. Lures in bugs like crazy. The bulb on the 1 and 1/2 acre unit is blue and super bright. Light up the whole back yard bright, including the neighbor's house bright! Crazy bright! I'm not sure if the color is wrong to attract bugs, but it actually seemed to repel them away from the mosquito vac! I'm not sure what I'll do with the 1 and 1/2 acre unit with the super bright bulb. I would never buy it again, and recommend people steer clear from it. Go with the 1/2 acre unit, it's wonderful.
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Mosquito Killer Par Excellence!
by SDunnells (5 out of 5 stars)
May 19, 2016

I wish I had purchased these years ago. I live in Northern California among the orchards and rice fields. There is a permanent wetlands about 1/2 mile behind me. There are so many mosquitoes it was impossible to use my patio and yard without full strength DEET, and even then. My horses were sometimes driven mad by swarms of mosquitoes despite my best efforts to protect them I purchased two of the BK 80D units. The first week or so I was very pleased at the number of mosquitoes that met their demise--several hundred per night. Then, on the first truly warm evening, the unit facing the wetlands was packed thickly from top to bottom with dead mosquitoes on the side facing the wetlands. A few weeks went by with varied weather and the several hundred mosquitoes per night. Then came the morning of May 18th. The unit facing the wetlands was packed again top to bottom ,this time on all four sides, and I have included photos. I am guessing the intervals have something to do with the mosquito life cycle. The units occasionally kill a few moths and also I have seen two or three of the insects we call mosquito killers. It also kills gnats as I have watched them fly in and get zapped. Absolutely recommend this. I have it set on a timer from dusk to dawn. I can truly say these units have changed my life as I can now actually enjoy my yard and garden.
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Avoid at all cost! Made a hero out of a junebug.
by Buddy I. (1 out of 5 stars)
July 1, 2017

Do not buy! This thing lasted about 5 minutes! One junebug took one for the team. Sacrificed himself for the greater good of bugs everywhere. He's a hero's hero among bug kind. I believe I heard the sound of taps being gently played afterward by a band of crickets. The only thing I can positively say about this product is that with the light on and no zapper ability the light attracted a million of the junebugs friends to mourn him during the funeral procession.

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