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Mosquito coil buying guide

Updated: 22 October 2026

You are on amazon.co.uk with a garden table or a short holiday in mind, and the titles all say mosquito. Some packs are citronella incense. Two boxes in this comparison say pyrethrum and print no percentage. This mosquito coil buying guide is the order of checks before you sort by price. The [mosquito coil comparison](/hub/pest-control/mosquito-coil) holds the shelf prices, stars, and review counts for the six listings we kept. Peter F., editor for DIY & tools at productscompared.co.uk, read those amazon.co.uk pages on 21 October 2026. He did not burn the coils in a lab. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are on amazon.co.uk with a garden table or a short holiday in mind, and the titles all say mosquito. Some packs are citronella incense. Two boxes in this comparison say pyrethrum and print no percentage.

Our top picks

Not stated Citronella spiral, 10 with holder

Best overall

Not stated Citronella spiral, 10 with holder
8.8/10about £5.99
View offer
Anbar Anbar citronella coils, 24

Best value

Anbar Anbar citronella coils, 24
7.4/10about £6.95
View offer
2you 2you pyrethrum coils, 20

Alternative

2you 2you pyrethrum coils, 20
6.6/10about £6.49
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What you are actually buying
  2. 2.Six checks before the basket
  3. 3.What these amazon.co.uk packs show
  4. 4.Authorisation, without a verdict
  5. 5.When to skip a coil

What you are actually buying

A mosquito coil smoulders so a thin smoke sits near the chairs. Four listings name citronella. Two 2you boxes say pyrethrum, an extract from the chrysanthemum flower, whose insecticidal compounds are the pyrethrins. Prallethrin is a different label. Lifesystems, not a row here, prints it at 0.036% w/w. These six listings do not print a concentration. You can smell citronella. You cannot dose a blank pyrethrum title. The longer fork is on citronella coil vs pyrethrum coil.

Six checks before the basket

One still evening needs a coil and a stand you can see. A fortnight needs spares, because reviewers often report an early burn-out. A bedroom, a cat, a fish tank, or an NHS malaria trip is the wrong job. Citronella and pyrethrum are not interchangeable. ANGIX, Anbar, and CKB are outdoor. Both 2you listings say indoor and outdoor, and not to leave the coil unattended. The 10-piece page asks about indoors and does not answer. All six packs include a holder, and reviewers still snap brittle pairs. Burn claims run from 3–4 hours to 6–12 hours, and reviews often report less. Ten ratings do not outrank two thousand.
Not stated Citronella spiral, 10 with holder

Testsieger

Not stated Citronella spiral, 10 with holder
8.8/10about £5.99
View offer

What these amazon.co.uk packs show

On 21 October 2026 the entry band sat at about £5–£7. ANGIX is £4.99, at 3.2 from 10 ratings. The 10-piece pack is £5.99, at 4.2 from 2,081 ratings. The 2you 20-coil box is £6.49, at 4.0 from 39 ratings, with pyrethrum and no percentage. Anbar is £6.95 for 24 coils, at 4.1 from 88 ratings. The 40-coil box is £9.95, about 25p a coil, at 3.8 from 19 ratings. CKB is £14.99, at 2.9 from 11 ratings. A rule of thumb is about £0.25–£0.60 a coil on the refill packs. None shows an authorisation number. Who the large sample suits is on best mosquito coils.

Authorisation, without a verdict

The Health and Safety Executive requires authorisation before a biocidal product is supplied in Great Britain. Repellents sit in product type 19. Northern Ireland follows the EU biocides regulation. Look for a UK, GB, or NI year pattern, or HSE plus digits. A missing spreadsheet entry is not automatic proof of an offence, because some actives are still in transition. A 2023 non-approval covers Eucalyptus citriodora oil, hydrated, cyclized, in product type 19, with GB supply of that active ending on 15 August 2024. That is not a ban on every citronella title. None of the six listings prints a number. That silence is not a certificate.

When to skip a coil

Leave the coil if the smoke will sit in a bedroom, a kitchen you sleep beside, or a room with a baby. Liu and colleagues on fine-particle mass, and Salvi and colleagues in a closed room, are a reason to stay outdoors. They are not a patio dose you can convert into cigarettes. Nature and animal friendly on the 10-piece bullets is not a species or a dose. Skip it for Highland midges in a breeze, and for a holiday where NHS malaria advice applies: 50% DEET, a treated net, and long clothes. Breathing trouble is 999. Fever after a bite abroad is NHS 111. How a still patio differs from a pitch is on mosquito coils for patio and camping.

Common questions

Are citronella coils and insecticide coils the same buy?
No. Citronella is the word on four packs and pyrethrum is the word on the two 2you boxes. Pyrethrum is a chrysanthemum extract. Prallethrin is a different chemical family, and none of these six pages prints a percentage. You can smell citronella. You cannot read a dose off a blank pyrethrum title.
What should the label show before I trust a repellent claim?
Look for a named ingredient, where the pack says to burn it, a stand, a burn claim you can set beside the reviews, and an authorisation number if it is sold as a biocide. HSE describes UK, GB, or NI year patterns, or HSE plus digits. Price comes after that reading.
Is a missing HSE number proof the pack is illegal?
No. HSE says absence from the authorised list is not always an offence, because some products are still in transition. A missing number on these pages is not an approval either. We did not find UK, GB, NI, or HSE codes on the six listings.
How many coils do I need for a fortnight?
Fourteen nights need 14 coils if every coil lasts the evening, so a 10-piece pack runs out early. Reviewers report shorter burns and snapped pairs, so the 24-coil pack is the spare-friendly count here. Forty coils has only 19 ratings behind it.
Why do burn-time claims and reviews disagree?
Claims here run from 3–4 hours to 6–12 hours. Reviews mention about two hours, coils that die after about 15 minutes, and stock thinner than the photograph. Wind, damp, and a crack from a rough split shorten a smoulder. A 6-hour line on 10 ratings is a seller sentence, not a measurement we repeated.
Does a stand in the box matter?
Yes, if you want the ember off the table and the ash in one place. Every pack we kept includes a holder. Reviewers praise a tin that catches ash and complain when a stand is flimsy or the pot arrives smashed.

Related pages

Mosquito coil

Best mosquito coils: largest sample, then the value

Citronella coil vs pyrethrum coil: what the label says

How to use a mosquito coil: split, light, and put out

Mosquito coils for a patio evening or a camping trip

Sources

Public UK and study sources used for this comparison. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured for these six listings. Last checked 21 October 2026.

  1. GOV.UK native mosquitoes (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  2. UKHSA invasive mosquito surveillance (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  3. NHS malaria (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  4. HSE biocidal product authorisation (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  5. Liu and colleagues, mosquito coil emissions (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  6. Kongkaew and colleagues, citronella versus DEET (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  7. Lindsay and colleagues, citronella incense (retrieved 21 October 2026)
  8. RSPCA cat poisoning (retrieved 21 October 2026)