Spring is in the air all year round (Air Wick Freshmatic)

Member Name: wearsidelass

Product:	Air Wick Freshmatic
Date:	12/07/05 (2189 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: House smells lovely

Disadvantages: Can be quite noisy

Having two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in the house, I am always conscious of any "doggy" smells, even though I am very house-proud and my dogs get groomed on a regular basis.

I have tried all the fresheners on the market - sprays, gels, plug-ins, candles - you name it and I have tried it. Some work, some don't.

I had a most unfortunate incident a few weeks ago. We had been out for a couple of hours and upon returning home noticed a car parked directly in front of our house and recognised the occupants as my son's neighbours (son now emigrated to Australia). The husband got out of the car and asked for my son's Australian address etc and so I invited him into my home. Why on earth did I do this? Because I am a polite person! But I wished I hadn't on this particular occasion.

I live in a bungalow and as I opened the door I was greeted with the most hideous, foul smell anyone could imagine. I was so, so embarrassed as this guy was right behind me. I apologised profusely for the smell and then noticed that one of my dogs had "done a dirty" in the kitchen. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of a very nasty stomach complaint for Molly and it wasn't her fault that she had sickness and diarrhoea.

So, air freshener sprayed and mess cleaned up whilst hubby occupied the guy and gave him the details he needed. But the spray just didn't do anything. The smell seemed to linger in the air and I was still totally mortified at what had happened. You know what it's like, you get a particular smell up your nose and just can't get rid of it no matter what you do.

So, browsing around Wilkinsons shortly after this incident, I noticed they had a special offer for a brand new air freshener product call Air Wick FreshMatic. Now this spray is similar to the ones that are placed on the walls in the toilets at work (which always smell nice and fresh) and I had often thought that it was a shame that I couldn't buy one for home.

This particular spray has been specially designed for the home user in order that we can take advantage of continuous sprays fragrancing our home for up to 60 days. It was on special at £6.99 and I thought I would try it.

It is quite large - approximately 8" x 3" and is white in colour so it is not totally unobtrusive and activated by battery powered fan. An adhesive hook is provided if you want to hang it on a wall but I placed mine in the hallway on the table. However, you should be aware that if you stick it to a wall or similar using the adhesive hook then it cannot be repositioned.

Now you have to get the freshener set up and I found it fiddly at first but once I got the hang of it then it's easy.

There is a button on top of the gadget and you have to press it and pull it to open.

Inside there is a switch which should be in the OFF position. The batteries must now be inserted (2 AA/LR6 batteries which are included). Always make sure that you insert the batteries in the correct positions.

The aerosol spray should be inserted but only after having checked that the internal mechanism is in the correct position (there is a diagram which shows you how this should look). If the mechanism isn't in the correct position then just use a pen or pencil to push it up. The aerosol spray can should be fixed with the nozzle facing outwards and this is why you need to have the switch in the OFF position at first. Always be careful not to look directly into the nozzle.

Inside the gadget is your timing device which can be set at intervals of 9, 18 or 36 minutes which gives you a continuous fragrance for 15, 30 or 60 days - depending on the time interval.

Once the gadget has been activated (by turning the switch to ON) then you should see a flashing green light and it will automatically start spraying at the time intervals selected. You can always change your timing but do remember to first switch to OFF.

I had bought it and put it aside and just before going to work remembered about the FreshMatic and so fixed it together and set it for 36 minute intervals then went off to work.

I came home from work and hubby said he thought we had some kind of vermin under our floorboards as he kept hearing a loud scratching, hissing type of noise. Horror of horrors, I thought. Oh my God, what can we do. Are you sure? Yes, yes, he said - hearing it all the time. Keep quiet and see if you can hear it too. So, we were sitting in the computer room being very quiet when all of a sudden I heard this loud noise which appeared to come from the direction of the hallway. He must be right I thought. Oh, yuk, a rat, a mouse under the floorboards? Panic set in. We sat in the computer room discussing what we should do and then I went to make a cup of tea. As I was passing the hallway I heard the noise again but at the same time a lovely smell of lavender wafted past my nose. The penny dropped! It wasn't a mouse or anything of the kind! It was the automatic air freshener!

So, beware, it is quite noisy when emitting the fragrance and it irritates the hell out of my hubby.

But, it does the job. My home smells lovely and fresh all the time. As soon as I enter the front door I am greeted with a lovely smell of lavender and I wouldn't be without my FreshMatic gadget now. In fact, I have bought a refill so that I will have continuous fragrancing when the original canister is empty.

I think I paid about £2.37 in Tescos for my refill but I did notice that the FreshMatic is approximately £9.99 in the supermarkets and in Wilkinsons now. I guess I was lucky to have bought mine for £6.99 - probably an introductory offer price.

Would I recommend it to you? Most certainly. I think it is an ideal way to keep your home fresh especially if you are going on holiday. I would never go away for a few days and leave plug-in fresheners on as I hate leaving electrical items plugged in and the gel type fresheners just didn't seem to work.

Check it out on:


http://www.airwick.co.uk/product_page/product.htm l#Freshmatic

Summary: Helps to freshen my home