I'm Sensing This Isn't Heaven Scent At That Price! (Glade Sense and Spray Clean Linen Air Freshener)

Member Name: Rhiana

Product:	Glade Sense and Spray Clean Linen Air Freshener
Date:	31/10/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely smell, fragrance spreads right across the room

Disadvantages: Scent Doesn't last long, can't turn it off.

I have a real thing about keeping my house smelling nice and have plug-ins, scented candles and gel air fresheners dotted about in every room. I saw the Glade Sense and Spray advertised on TV (in a very annoying commercial!), but at almost £10 for a starter unit and canister, thought it was just too pricey.

So when I saw it on sale for just £4.50 at my local Morrisons I decided to give it a go. The unit is available with a choice of fragrances, and I chose 'Clean Linen'.

Glade Sense and Spray is a cream plastic unit which houses a small aerosol and has a 'motion sensor' to activate a burst of fragrance. The unit itself is, to be honest, pretty unremarkable and not especially attractive, but I did find it blended in pretty inconspicuously on my telephone table.

On first opening my new Glade Sense and Spray, I discovered that I would need two AA batteries, which weren't provided with the set and finally managed to locate some at the back of the kitchen cupboard. The batteries and small aerosol are fitted by pulling the front of the unit off, rather than in the back as I expected. The instruction weren't very helpful either, as they showed one plastic tag which needed to be removed before the batteries were fitted, but there were two in there. In the end I pulled both out and thankfully once the unit was all put back together it worked fine.

The motion sensor is placed at the front of the unit. The sensor will only spray once every half an hour unless the boost button is pushed. During the half an hour, a green light is displayed and once the time has passed, will flicker until it is activated again by motion. The sensor is incredibly sensitive and works very well, in fact I left a door open in it's field, and this was enough to activate a spurt of fragrance. my cat also set it off a few times, causing her to jump in fright. A visible mist of freshner can be seen when it's activated, and for this reason I would advise keeping it out of the way of small children and animals. I'd also recommend keeping it a good few inches away from your walls in case it damages your paintwork.

When I first set the sensor off, I wasn't all that impressed. It took a couple of seconds before I could smell anything at all, and then only in the area where the unit was sitting. I couldn't smell it at all in the other half of the room. Then a couple of minutes later I finally smelled the lovely clean linen scent drifting across the room. I loved how the scent slowly engulfed the room in a subtle but delicious way, however I was disappointed again when the smell seemed to fade after a few minutes. I was hoping for something that would last, keeping my room smelling fresh continually, like a good plug-in does, but didn't find this with Sense and Spray unit. You can boost the spray manually by pressing a button at the front of the unit, but this seems to just defeat the object of the whole thing.

Another complaint I have is that, while the unit won't spray unless activated, there is no option to turn it off all together apart from removing the batteries. This was especially annoying when the canister ran out, as the unit would still make the spraying noise, which is pretty audible.

I was impressed with the length of time I got from the one canister. I had the unit positioned in a busy place in my house and so it was activated frequently. One canister lasted for just over 6 weeks, which is longer than I expected, as they are tiny. Replacement canisters can be bought for around £3 and there's a wide range of fragrances, i have my eye on a Christmas scent for December. I feel the refills are pretty fairly priced compared to similar products and will buy another one now original has run out.

Overall I don't think the Sense and Spray is anything fantastic. I certainly wouldn't pay full price for a unit, although now I have one, I will buy refills for it. If you can pick it up for half price, then it may be worth it. If I'm honest though, I prefer plug-in's. I would recommend the clean linen scent though, especially if you don't like anything floral. It is clean and fresh smelling, but subtle and understated.

Summary: Stick to plug-ins, unless you can pick it up half price.