The Northwoods Review
Honest gear write-ups from people who actually live outside.
One Tick Bite Can End Red Meat Forever. This 11-Gram Clip Is How Families Fight Back.
Look — I'm not the guy who falls for gadgets. I'm the guy whose buddies make fun of him for soaking his hunting clothes in Sawyer concentrate twice a season. I've been running permethrin since before most of these influencer "tick experts" were born.
But permethrin only covers the guy wearing the permethrin. So over the last few years, trying to cover the rest of my family, I've burned cash on:
- $18 Sawyer Picaridin spray (wife uses it half the time)
- $24 Repel Lemon Eucalyptus (smells nice, does nothing)
- $32 Para'Kito refill bands (mosquito product, marketed like it isn't)
- $58 Frontline Plus 6-pack for the dog (works, but I worry about resistance)
- $39 BUY ONE GET ONE - PULSE Ultrasonic clip (the thing my cousin's wife told me about at the gas station)
Four near-misses. One that actually earned a place on the dog's harness, my pregnant daughter's purse, and my wife's gardening jacket.
Read this BEFORE you drop another $400 on yard service that stops at the property line.
I bought it for my pregnant daughter — not for me.
My daughter Madison is due in March. Her OB has her off DEET, off permethrin, off picaridin — basically off everything I rely on. PULSE was the first thing I found that I could clip to her purse and forget about. No spray on skin. No smell. Nothing she has to think about. She walks from the car to the porch covered.
See why expectant moms across the Lyme belt are clipping one on →
The thing actually works on the dog. That's how it earned my respect.
Rye hunts grouse, swims, and rolls in things I can't identify. I used to pull 2 to 6 ticks off him after every outing. Clipped a PULSE to his harness in late October. Five hunts since — one tick total. If a working dog crashing through brush at full speed comes back almost clean, I'm paying attention.
Built for People and Pets →
I finally read up on alpha-gal. I should have done it five years ago.
My buddy Doug got bit by a Lone Star near Spooner. He's got alpha-gal now — can't eat venison or beef, carries an EpiPen. The CDC estimates up to 450,000 Americans may already have it. The Lone Star tick is now established in Wisconsin and Michigan. I'd rather have a backup than not.
See why this matters more than it did 10 years ago →
11 grams. Two to four days per charge. One button.
PULSE weighs 11 grams — about three quarters. Hold it down for two seconds, a light comes on. Runs 2 to 4 days per charge. Recharges in 1 to 2 hours on the same USB-C cable that charges my phone. No refills, no batteries, no reapplication every 2 hours.
See the full specs →
Here's the part that made me stop calling it "snake oil."
Ticks navigate via Haller's organ on their front legs — it reads heat, CO₂, and vibration. PULSE emits 9–21 kHz ultrasonic pulses that scramble that sensor. You don't kill the tick or poison the yard. You make the family invisible to the part of the tick that decides who to bite.
Read the full breakdown →
UP TO 30% OFF FOR A LIMITED TIME
Get the chemical-free layer the rest of your family has been missing.
Available in your choice of Black or White. Pick the color that disappears on your dog's harness, your kid's backpack, or your wife's garden jacket.
TRY PULSE RISK-FREE →
My wife actually wears it. That's the whole game.
I've tried for fifteen years to get Jeanette to soak her gardening clothes in permethrin. It's not happening. PULSE clips to the zipper pull of her jacket. She puts the jacket on, the device is on. Three weeks running — she hasn't found a single tick since.
Get a clip for the spouse who won't soak their clothes →
There's nothing to clean. Nothing to refill. Nothing to remember.
Permethrin is a discipline — treat, dry, label, re-treat every six weeks. PULSE you wipe down with a damp rag if it gets muddy. Charge it Sunday night with the rest of the phones. Clip it back on Monday morning. That's the entire maintenance manual.
See how simple it really is →
What sold me: the guy who built it has a daughter with alpha-gal.
Daniel Reeves built 47 prototypes on his garage workbench after his six-year-old developed alpha-gal from a tick they thought they'd caught in time. He called entomologists and Swedish vets. This isn't a white-label rollup — it's a dad who built the missing layer.
Read Daniel's full story →
Tested where I actually live — late-season Wisconsin, wet leaf litter, full cover.
I've had PULSE through bow season, gun season, and three grouse hunts. Wet conditions, frost, light snow. Battery behaved exactly as claimed. No condensation issues, no dropouts. It's held up better than Bluetooth earbuds that cost three times as much.
See it in real outdoor conditions →
The guarantee is what closed it for me.
99 days to try it. If you don't want it on your dog, your wife, or your kid's backpack, send it back — full refund, no restocking-fee runaround. Over 14,000 verified reviews from parents in the Lyme belt. I bought a 4-pack. I'd buy it again.
Try PULSE for 99 days →
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME
The layer for the people you can't put permethrin on.
For the wife who won't soak her clothes. For the daughter who's pregnant. For the dog who can't be sprayed. For the grandkid coming in March.
Available in Black or White — pick the one that disappears on whatever it's clipped to.
TRY PULSE RISK-FREE →