Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

MINUS 0NE STAR if "both"; ZERO STARS if fraudulent; ONE STAR if defective. There are a lot of negatives about this intrusive animal deterrent. Where shall I start? First off, this is not a BELL&Howell product: B&H sold the use of their name, as they have done with numerous other products, apparently without retaining any quality control. The "manufacturer" is elusive at worst and difficult to reach at best, somewhere tucked away in the New York area without a Toll-free number and a regular toll number found only after extensive research (which they habitually do not answer per lots of complaints on the net). THE PRODUCT ITSELF? Everything seems to work up to the DETERRENT part: batteries, red detection LED, ground stake (I did not test the solar array). Initial problem (and the one that sent me researching auditory ranges of animals) is that the unit offers no way of verifying that a high frequency noise is even being emitted. I found several university-based research reports on the auditory capabilities of common wild and domestic animals, most of which have hearing ranges in the ultra sonic spectrum; exceptions include elephants and DEER. Deer auditory ranges overlap with that of humans and max out below the top of the human sensitivities (around 18k hertz) and are centered around 6k hertz). So, if deer can hear it, so can we. I heard nothing coming from the unit's voicebox; and neither did the local domestic animals (3 dogs and 4 cats): NO REACTION WHATSOEVER and certainly no hint that whatever was emitted from this green box reached STARTLING or DETERRENT levels. I mention deer specifically because the listing on Amazon (and other mail order sources) includes deer, the box lists deer, and deer are my particular problem animal. BUT as far as I can tell from this one unit, most of the animals listed would not be deterred by this unit because there was nothing being emitted that would warrant their slightest attention or curiosity much less revulsion. Would even a functioning unit send out a strong enough signal to STARTLE? And for how many encounters would the unit elicit a startling effect before the intruders became habituated to (or de-constructed) the little green box? I like the idea behind this product but several additional features (besides an actual fear inducing noise generator) would make it more functional: 1) a frequency dial for the user to choose a frequency range more closely matching the local varmits and 2) a volume control to match the target animals and the environment in which the unit is deployed and 3) a selectable menu of noise patterns (continuous, bursts, both). And at a reasonable price ($25 sounds about right). THANKS TO AMAZON for their RETURN & FULL REFUND policy: saved the day (but not my vegetation). I had a grand plan to order 3 or 4 more of these units (and at one point even thought about keeping the one unit and just not ordering the rest) but after not being able to confirm that it had even a slight chance of slowing down the parade of deer (or the occasional raccoons & neighbor's pets) through my yard (the dog/cat test) I decided to send this single unit back and nix the whole grand scheme. SUMMMAY: Too many IFs and ???s and one known dealbreaker: ultrasonic noisemakers do not work on DEER (or elephants); would work on other common animals whether intruding OR not; sonic ones would disturb you (and your human and non-human neighbors). A minor (but disappointing) series of CATCH 22s at best.