Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

UPDATE #2 (7/31/2020): Glad to see my review is continuing to help others. I've still got my original roll of tape that I purchased almost 3 years ago. The strips are definitely durable and can last for several months hanging outside, but understand that they will inevitably tear off at the ends from prolonged exposure to the elements (i.e., strong wind, rain, snow, and sun). When that happens and the woodpeckers start coming back, getting rid of them is just a matter of going outside and attaching fresh tape to the broken ends. Our woodpecker problem has been practically nonexistent for the past 3 years--I still see them flying around outside, but they leave our siding alone unless the strips of tape become very short/damaged--and to this day I am still amazed that this simple solution was the one that actually worked (and continues to work) for us. --------------------------------------------- UPDATE (6/10/18): It's been about 7 months since we initially put up the tape. There were NO woodpeckers throughout that entire time, even as the weather got warmer. The tape has gotten shorter and shorter with age, though (most likely from the wind and the elements slowly tearing the ends off). The ribbons eventually became very short (about 5-6 inches long), and were not able to properly wave in the wind or reflect light. As a result, a small baby woodpecker started coming around and pecking once or twice in the usual spots near the shortened ribbons. It wouldn't usually stay long, but it was definitely pecking more than before when the ribbons were longer. We immediately went outside and duct taped some fresh, long strips of this reflective tape to the ends of the shortened pieces that were already hanging there (rather than completely redoing the entire setup). It's been about 2 weeks since we fixed the ribbons, and NO woodpeckers have been back since. THIS TAPE SERIOUSLY WORKS, GUYS. BUY IT AND SAVE YOUR SANITY!!! --------------------------------------------- TL;DR: Not a SINGLE woodpecker for 2 months since putting up this tape, but it is super noisy when the wind hits it. I'll take the occasional noise over woodpeckers any day, though!! My family and I have been having an ongoing battle against woodpeckers for years now, and anyone who's had issues with these birds knows how relentless and annoying they are. After constantly (and unsuccessfully) trying to scare them away only to have them return shortly after, we were finally fed up. I came across this product while doing some careful research, and to be completely honest we weren't expecting much despite the glowing reviews. But, we figured it was cheap so it wouldn't be a huge loss if it failed. We purchased this product in late November and installed it a few days after Thanksgiving, and I am dead serious when I say we have not heard or seen a SINGLE woodpecker on the side of our house since that day. It's incredible that this actually worked. Now it's possible that the woodpeckers have gone somewhere else for the winter and this is all just a huge coincidence (we live in the Midwest so it gets pretty cold, windy, and snowy over here), but I'm pretty sure snow and cold never stopped them from being a nuisance in the past. I'll try to update this review after Spring/Summer/Fall to see if the tape truly stands up against woodpeckers during their more active and annoying months. On installation - we cut the tape into 16-18 inch ribbons and reinforced one end with duct tape/packaging tape to minimize tearing. (Cut a strip of duct tape a bit longer than the length of your hand, lay one end of the reflective ribbon about halfway up the sticky side of the tape, then fold the rest of the tape over so it "clamps" down on the ribbon, thus creating a reinforced end that isn't likely to tear). We then folded the reinforced end over onto itself to create a small loop and stapled it to hold it in place. From there we fed a ziptie through the loop in the ribbon and secured it to a screw, which we then screwed into the outside of the house on the second story near the woodpecker holes. (Note: don't drill the screws in all the way so the ribbon still has room to wave around). We had two areas of concentrated woodpecker activity on different sides of our house, so for each area we hung 3 ribbons about a foot or so apart from each other near the holes to prevent them from tangling. Despite enduring months of strong winds, rain, and snow, our original 6 ribbons are still completely intact and performing as expected. If you are not willing to use screws or zipties in your situation, I would highly recommend at least reinforcing the ends of your ribbons to minimize tearing, especially if you plan to hang them. Now for the noise aspect, I'll be honest and admit that I thought people were exaggerating when I was reading all the reviews about how noisy the ribbons were. I just couldn't fathom how a streamer could be THAT loud. Well, I was completely wrong and I'm sorry for doubting you guys haha. Not that it's a bad thing, because the noise is definitely part of the deterrent aspect of this tape, but man is it LOUD. One of the two groups of ribbons we installed is actually on the other side of one of my bedroom walls. The very first night after installing the tape I legit had trouble falling asleep because of the noise. Every time the wind blew, I could hear the tape rustling outside and it sounded like a large animal scratching/scurrying up the side of the house or even like a bird stuck inside the wall flapping its wings like crazy. Over time I got used to it, and it's really not even bad or noticeable unless the wind is blowing particularly hard that day/night, but just know that the tape actually is really noisy. Overall I would say I am incredibly surprised and impressed at this product. I had pretty low expectations when purchasing it, but it outperformed itself in every way. Over 2 months now since installation and we haven't seen or heard a single woodpecker on the sides of our house where the ribbons are (and they haven't tried to move onto another part of the house either). Although it can get noisy at times (especially if it's hanging right outside your bedroom), I would take that occasional minor inconvenience over incessant pecking/scratching and 6am wake-up calls from woodpeckers ANY day. So far this is proving to be a surprisingly cheap and effective solution to our years-long problem, and I hope this review can help you guys too! Good luck! :)