ASPECTEK Yard Sentinel Ultrasonic Animal Repeller with Remote Control and Strobe Light, Motion Sensor Pest Deterrent for Deer, Raccoons, Bears, Coyotes and Skunks, Farm, Garden and Lawn Protection

Hello all, I read many reviews about the Yard Sentinel and their excellent Customer Support before deciding to buy one, but before I did, I called with a few questions and spoke to Tech Support. The gentleman was very courteous, and answered all of my questions. The dogs that I am trying to stop from barking are behind the back wall of a large building in my neighbors back yard, so the Motion Sensor was not going to help me, but I knew that the Yard Sentinel had a 110dB Ultrasonic Blaster that could be set for dogs, so I ordered the model that comes with a Remote Control. This is the same unit that has received so many wonderful reviews by Amazon customers, only this model includes a Remote Control too, so I knew it would be just as effective for me, with an added convenience. I have a small hand-held unit made for Training Dogs, with a Yes and No signal, which I have been using on these dogs (the No signal), and they can hear that one through the wall, so I know they'll hear the Yard Sentinel, which is much louder. I mounted the Yard Sentinel around my Back Door, which is only about 10 feet away from the back wall of the building that the dogs stay behind, with the unit facing that wall directly, and the unit is pretty much out of the weather. I added an electrical outlet to an existing outside light fixture by my back door in a weather-proof housing, so the Power Adapter is near the Yard Sentinel, and is protected from bad weather. For anyone who doesn't know, the Yard Sentinel comes with an AC Power Adapter, or you can run it on 4 C-Cell Batteries. I set the Ultrasonic Volume all the way up, and I turned the Sonic (Audible) Alarm all the way down. So now I can now be in my Home Office, Living Room, Kitchen, or on the Front Porch, and fire off the unit whenever these horribly rowdy dogs start acting up, going on and on for 15 and 20 minutes at a time. I just got it mounted today (March 5th, 2012) and I tried it out shortly after I finished, because the dogs were going nuts with me in the yard behind them as I mounted it - they could hear the leaves crunching when I walked, and that was enough to set them off. I know that it might take a week or two of working with them, because they have been left unattended the majority of the time to do as they wish, and when the owners are home at night, they will let the dogs go on for 15 or 20 minutes before they come out and yell at them to Shut Up, so the dogs (6 of them, including 2 Big Nasty Rottweilers) pretty much do as they wish all the time, and they love to bark and raise H311 at every little noise, all hours of the day and night. Believe it or not, if I rattle a pot in my Kitchen sink while I'm washing dishes, they start up, so I am going to have this Remote Control with me all the time. The dogs are extremely hard-headed, but I think it's starting to work already. After I get these dogs trained, I'm going to move the unit to the front of my house, where birds tend to gather in a very large Magnolia tree and mess all over my car. That's another reason I picked this unit, because it's effective on a wide range of creatures. That and the rave reviews about the Customer Support. Since I appear to be the first to Review this model (at the time of writing), for those who don't know how the Remote works, there are 4 buttons on it. There's a Standby button, which will set to the whole unit into Standby (or set it Active again), so you don't have to unplug it or remove the batteries for times like when you're having a backyard party and you don't want to keep unplugging it or removing the batteries. There's an Ultrasonic button, which sets the Ultrasonic Blaster In and Out of Standby. There's a Strobe button, that sets the Strobe Light In and Out of Standby, and here's a Red "Turbo" button, which will set off all of the units features for 30 seconds, and then the unit resets itself. This Turbo button sets off the Audible Sonic Alarm (which has a Volume Control on the back of the unit), the Strobe Light (which flashes 6 times in 30 seconds), and the Ultrasonic Sound (which has a Volume Control and wide range setting for all kinds of pests), all for 30 seconds, even if they have been set to Standby using the Remote's other buttons. This "Turbo" button is the button that I am using to sound the Ultrasonic Blaster from inside my Home or Front Porch (quite a distance away), and it works great. I highly recommend this unit!!! And if you ever have any problems or questions, Technical Support is just a phone call away. Thanks for reading my review of the Yard Sentinel with Remote Control.

The physical device is very difficult to work with. All controls require that the back be removed. This requires either very strong fingernails or a flat-bladed tool. Once the back is off, the controls are easily accessible and the directions are reasonably clear. Getting the back onto the unit is a whole other ballgame. I would guess that it must be tight to repel the weather, but after five minutes of trying to ease each side back onto the unit, I think there must be an easier way. The plug is oversized and won't fit into an outdoor receptacle. Also, the plug does not appear to have the different sized prongs that match polarity or a grounding prong, but this may not be needed. All of the physical problems could be lived with if the device would just do what it is intended to do. I used the dog/cat setting, turned off the sound that was in the normal hearing frequency (it was annoying to us as well as to our neighbors), and left the strobe on 24/7. The unit was plugged into an outdoor receptacle about one foot above the ground. It was obvious when the unit was in service since walking anywhere within 20 feet of the device resulted in the strobe flashing and, presumably, the ultrasonic sound blaring. When I first set it up, I left the audible sound on as well so I was sure the device was working. Not only did it not repel animals, but I sat and watched a cat walk up to the device, tilt its head as if listening, and promptly lie down right in front of the flashing strobe. There may be sonic devices that will work to keep cats and dogs away, but this is not one of them. Fortunately, Amazon has a great return policy and the device will be returned.

Overall I would say this is effective against rabbits, chipmunks, and probably ground squirrels. I have not seen any deer around either since I started running this late last week, but they have better places to go for food this time of year. I cannot say it is 100% effective though against the pesky and persistent ground squirrels. I started with the device on batteries and running on the complete spectrum. I had the sonic volume down pretty low (I could still hear it softly from about 20 feet away). Compared to typical nights preceding this, very little garden damage was seen the next morning, so I was impressed. The only problem with this setup is that my son and I can hear some of the ultrasonic squealing at the far end of the spectrum range which is a bit bothersome. I kept the device on this startup setting for a couple of days and nights. I also switched to the AC power on the second day. I noticed when I did this that both the sonic and ultrasonic output seemed a lot stronger (and was more frequent as stated in the documentation). Since the ultrasonic complete spectrum seemed to be working, I switched to a constant spectrum to try to avoid hearing the squealing. So I set the constant to a mid range rodent setting. My son could still hear the squeal but it was better for me so I left it there for a couple of days. While I was watching the garden yesterday morning a rabbit made it into the yard but was clearly disturbed by the ultrasonic - it could not get out fast enough, trying to find a gap in the fence and finally did and ran way fast. Later I noticed the pesky ground squirrel was climbing into my container garden and trying to eat the shoots and buds from one of my two surviving squash plants. I could not tell if it was just not bothered by the sound or if it was there when the sound was off and had not started another cycle yet. Nevertheless when it heard me it ran away, but was back a bit later again attempting to eat that same plant. After the squirrel experience I set the device back to full spectrum (continuous sweep). I did not see the squirrel for the rest of the day, but I need to watch to see if I see it coming back today; I sure hope not. One other feature I have used is the remote control turbo button when I hear noise in the yard at night. I am not sure that it was an animal every time, but this also seems to be a nice feature and I could definitely tell when the turbo turns on. One thing that could be better in the documentation is more details on what frequency settings are best to deal with specific animals. I have read from other reviews that ground squirrels are difficult to deter. It would be nice to know what setting actually works best for them (the rodent setting covers the full spectrum, and I am sure that some part of this is ineffective, but do not know what is best, toward the deer setting, or the other way toward the highest ultrasonic setting). One more note for the manufacturers/programmers of the device. It seems to me that on every setting (constant or continuous sweep) that some variety in the timing and on/off cycle time might be better than a constant on/off time or using the same ramp rate for the continuous sweep - in fact maybe even mixing up the start and end points of the sweep frequencies would be good so that the animals do not get used to the cycle time. For example, divide the sweep range into four or five segments and vary which segment goes off first, second, third, fourth, etc., while still covering the whole range.

A couple of years ago I purchased the 'sound only' device from this company and was disappointed. But Now, this unit looks a lot like my other model but it works for me. You have three things to scare the animals, strange changing sound that YOU and your neighbors can hear, but you can turn down the volume on the audible sound (even to off). The Ultrasonic sound which was like the old unit is over 100 Db and the frequency is adjustable. Lastly, it has a motion triggered flashing strobe. They look like LEDs but are quite bright. A sensitivity control is for the range of detection. At the lowest setting it still works for a rear deck and will trigger on a mouse. The triggered mode runs for 20 seconds which seems to be enough and it will keep triggering as long as there is motion. It has a very wide side range and picks up critters BEYOND my deck as soon as they enter the yard and start the strobe flashing and ultrasonic blasting. I don't use the audio because of close neighbors but I could use it on low if I have to. There is a bad design feature with the 'remote control'. One button is pressed to turn it off and the 'same button' is pressed to turn it on. I would prefer two buttons to do this because of the distance I use it. If you're in the house you can get mixed up if on or off. When the remote is pressed a short tone means 'on' and a longer tone means 'off'. There are also buttons for just strobe for 20 seconds and another for just sound and finally a PANIC button that is used if a BEAR is coming after you..... right.... The remote 'key fob' is powerful enough (small 12v batt) to go through two walls to reach the outside. I use it from my easy chair because I have a speaker there. I have a night vision camera and can see and hear what is going on... A raccoon has approached the deck several times, triggered the unit and left, also in opossum. The remote is NOT needed and the main unit is ready to go as soon as power is supplied or turned on. When triggered a red light comes on at the motion detector that you can see. I don't know what, but something in this unit is causing great distress in my 'city varmints' and they turn around and leave and I have tried LED red lights, chemical spray, horse pee, you name it.. Don't use horse pee, it stinks to high heaven. The only 'slight con' is the light trigger (always on, night time, daylight only). I use 'on at night' but the light sensor is not adjustable and while it comes on fine, at early morning is still on and triggered by my birds for another half hour until it's bright enough to switch off and doesn't bug my song birds. To get around the above I purchased a 2 pack of simple timers from Amazon and just set the time to switch on and off the unit. Works great. (NOTE to Amazon, add 'my purchases' as a choice to the "insert product link" there are too many timers ti find. I could not be more happy with this purchase! Two weeks and NO critters. It was 3 or 4 times a night!

It operates as advertised, but birds are canny and understand right away that this doesn't pose a real threat. It sounds an alarm when I'm working in the yard, and when my dog passes by. I understand, as I have it set for birds and cats, but it's still annoying. There's a durable plastic back cover that you remove to access the batteries and controls. So far, I've had to leave it off, as I need to access the controls frequently to change the sounds and signals to try to be smarter than the birds. I had high hopes that this would solve the problem of nuisance birds and their poop and feathers all over the patio --- setting off security cameras during the day and night. Ugh.

This animal repeller does work, if you crank up the volume to the highest level. I had rats nesting under a shed that bordered with a wetlands area. At first, I didn’t have the volume that high(I have arlo cameras to monitor exactly what was happening). The rats didn’t act much differently, but went I reset the volume to max(and use night, and max motion detection), the rats will not stay in the area..Sure had been coming back to test the area, but after about a week, they fail to return… It also has stopped rabbits, birds, racoons and coyotes(the coyotes actually hear it, if activated, from 20 yds away and stop and think about it). The remote would be more useful if it didn't do anything 'standby' mode, versus flashing a red light. While it's easy to determine what mode it's in.. i would just like to turn it off sometimes, without it flashing red

First of all, the product was shipped with the wrong manual. The unit comes with a remote control, but there was no mention of it in the manual. I downloaded the correct manual from the Aspectek website, which mentioned the RC, but gave no details. I emailed to the address shown in the correct manual, which turned out to be a non-working email. I then emailed directly to Aspectek and they sent me details on the RC. I then tried to install the unit, but even after about an hour of trying, I could not get the back onto the unit. (BTW, the back has to be removed for every adjustment, and to change batteries.) Because the Yard Sentinel (without the remote) came highly recommended by a friend, I was planning to exchange it for another unit, so I decided to at least test out the unit, but the motion detection portion didn't work. The turbo function worked if you pushed the correct RC button, but I never could get the audible sound to function with the motion control. This seems to be a new product for Aspectek, and I guess they don't have the bugs worked out. Consequently, I am returning the unit for a refund.

Pros: lights flash, speaker howls. Cons: bought for large porcupine so settings are for mid-sized pests, but dogs find it more interesting than bothersome. Porcupines are still chewing on the trees. Range is shorter than expected (only about 15 ft). Back cover on the unit I received is very hard to install correctly- should be softer rubber, rather than the almost inflexible material used. While the product description is poorly written, I did expect it to come with a 12v DC adapter as it says three different times that AC adapter is NOT included ( I intended to hook this to a marine battery for longer life out in the woods). Instead, it only came with a 9v AC adapter so I'm currently using (up!) C sized batteries to try it out. Customer Service responded to emails requesting the 12v DC adapter, but only to assure me that I was incorrect and so took no action. Remote is interesting, but only minimally useful for me. Can't turn unit on and off, only into a hybrid stand by-ish mode (some things on, others not).

Su función la hace, no tenemos ni un pájaro, pero eso de ultrasonido...¡solo sirve para los sordos! (con perdón para los sordos) ¡Que escándalo forma! Mi marido lo instaló sin avisar, y parecía que estaban torturando a un pájaro y a eso le sigue una alarma y luego una sirena... eso si, no hay un pájaro que tenga güevos de acercarse, las cosas como son, efectivo es...

Buen producto, sin problema para instalar, desde que lo coloqué no ha habido presencia de animales nocturnos.

Vor allem mit der Fernbedienung eine super Sache ! Vorher hatte ich ähnliche Geräte und die musste ich immer wieder vom Erdspieß ziehen um die Teile ein oder auszuschalten ! Jetzt gehört das endlich der Vergangenheit an ! Ein Knopfdruck auf die Fernbedienung und gut iss ! Die Wirkung ist auch absolut in Ordnung seitdem ich das Teil habe gibt es keinerlei Probleme mehr mit dem Marder und der Katze, die mir immer in der Nacht ständig quer übers Auto gelaufen sind am schlimmsten war es bei Regen ! Dementsprechend sah mein Auto aus inkl. der Kratzer die sie Verursacht haben beim hochspringen oder durch das runterspringen vom Auto . Auch die Antenne hat gelitten da der Marder gerne daran geknabbert hat da wahren auch schon 4 fällig ! Aber gut bin voll zufrieden und es tut was es soll nämlich Plagegeister fernhalten und das funktioniert sehr gut !

We bought it for our outdoor backyard during darkness to expel pests and rats, due to infrastructure and new house are building up nearby, thought the device is unable stops rats completely but it reduces those unwelcome rats activities efficiently.

After having problems with crows/rooks and one particular small bird attacking my chimney stack, I ordered an ultrasonic bird repeller from Pest Clear. As that unit produced intermittent sounds, I bought another, so had two in the loft of the roof. This helped to clear the crows and & rooks away, until this spring in 2018. So realising that I needed try additional measures I had no choice to look around for something else. When I say I have no choice, these crows and rooks come to the chimney stack and vandalise it. At varying times from 6am to 7am in the morning from their roosts, they arrive at the chimney pots. There is this ‘bang, bang’ on the brick work as they fervently attack the chimney stack, then then follows crumbling noises and brick dust and pieces falling down the roof. If it wasn’t so serious, to see the damage of the first two rows of brick damaged in that chimney stack, one could relate it to the crows stealing Father Jacks glasses in Father Ted series, or more ominously the film the ‘Birds’ by Stanley Kubrick. So, initially I bought two units of the Yard Sentinel RC Ultrasonic Pest Repeller, setting BOTH to constant, full volume and then put them up in the loft of the roof as I had done with the ultrasonic bird repellers from Pest Clear. . After a couple of days, the neighbours thought at times there was a burglar alarm going off. MORE importantly it scared off these large birds, the crows and the rooks. Each unit goes through a cycle of emitting a variety of sounds, at different frequencies. Sometimes there is silence, so that can be the moment that crows and rooks WILL come back. The crows and rooks are smart, they are persistant as they fly around locally from tree to roof top, etc. Whilst two units could adequately complement each other during those quiet periods, I also knew that the crows and rooks COULD become immune to even the noise from two. So I ordered an additional four units, making SIX altogether in my armoury. SO, in order NOT to annoy or concern my neighbours, THREE units are positioned in one chimney, just above the fire place and another two in another chimney, in a similar fashion (It wasn’t big enough for three). Consequently I have one in reserve. I don’t use the fire places, so I can put these in the chimney safely. I have placed them in the upstairs fireplaces, rather than the downstairs fireplaces. The noise goes right up the brick chimney, to the chimney pots at the top. Trying to break the habits of the crows and rooks was never going to be easy, so I am NOT expecting instant results of them NOT returning. They keep coming back, BUT the noise drives them away AGAIN and AGAIN. The racket that FIVE of these units produces, on a 24 hour constant, FULL volume setting is detering the crows and rooks. It drives them off the chimney stack by giving them an enormous headache... I have read some of the comments from purchasers who state that these units don’t work. They do, it is just that you have to be persistent with using them and IMHO, understanding that you may need more than one... The crows and rooks keep returning, BUT they don’t stay VERY long. Eventually the crows and rooks pattern of behavior, their 'habits', will be broken, so they don’t visit my chimney stack any more. In the end they will forget about it and fly somewhere else. That is how you break the behaviour of anything bullying you, they FORGET about you and don’t bother you ever again! It is an unusual situation to be confronted with, BUT with these units, I believe that I am GOING TO WIN.