Butterfly Net

The manufacturer could spend a couple of bucks and ship these in an actual box.You get your net (I ordered two) wrapped up in a glorified garbage bag or thin black plastic. We are talking like dry cleaner plastic here. No protection whatsoever other than from rain I guess.Needless to say, the disgruntled USPS crew delivered my new nets clearly not in the same shape they left the factory.I was able to bend them back into something close to what they must have originally looked like. They were slightly warped.I knew they would arrive without a handle but thought I read through some of the other reviews something about using a 'threaded' one. So I pre-purchased two from Home Depot that were part of an automotive windshield squeegee.These nets that were delivered have a hollow opening and a screw that require a wooden stick. No problem, I happened to have purchased on the same visit a replacement rake handle/stick made of wood. Sawed it in half and had my two handles about 2' each.Finally, yes like other reviews state the net is great, well made, but we do also wish it were slightly deeper/longer.When you child time after time catches a butterfly only to have it escape because the net is unable to fold over the opening (trapping it) you start to get tired. Yes, part of it folds over but it is the last 6-8 inches maybe? You have to either catch and put the net down on the ground to trap it, or swing it around so fast the poor critter goes all the way to the bottom of the net for you to secure it.We opt to use the ground rather than seeing if it has the strength and will of an astronaut.In the end these still beat anything I found at Target, Walmart, etc in quality. You just have to be willing to build it out and expect to lose a few butterflies.Finally, I contemplated ordering these directly from the manufacturer's website as it was a dollar cheaper, but they do not have a SSL secured page for entering credit card information. You find that out after you create an account entering everything about yourself except the CC#--don't waste your time on that path.Their site is like it is 1995. Maybe it would have worked if I fired up old Netscape Navigator.Would have been 4 stars with better packaging for shipping and 5 stars if it was maybe a foot deeper for better securing of your catch.I still recommend it. Beats all the other junk I found elsewhere.Happy hunting!

..and I've bought at least 5 other butterfly nets in the last 2 years for my daughter. Most of the others are plastic junk but this is the real deal. The construction is solid but I have to ding them a star for how this company packages and ships. Like others have said it comes in a plain plastic wrapped shipper, by the time it got to me the bottom of the handle was poking out of the package and I found a small hole in the net itself. Not big enough to return it, but enough to keep me from giving it 5 stars.I also would have liked to see another 6 inches to a foot of netting for an easier exchange of contents (be able to seal the net with your hand and not crush the contents). The hoop is so big (which is great!) but the length of the net falls a little short.And lastly I found it difficult to fit a decent handle to it. Sure I can buy a unfinished dowel, but I want something that will do well with prolonged use with smooth corners and a finish so I don't have to worry about a child getting a splinter. I had to buy a broom handle from Lowes, cut off the end that had an adapter on it for standard brooms, scrape out the metal on the inside of the net handle from the drilled screw hole the best I could, chisel a little of the wood out (since I couldn't get all the metal out), hammer it in and drill a pilot hold so I didn't split the handle. It took a good 15 minutes to get everything to fit well, but in the end it is very solid.Even with the labor and poor packaging it's still a whole lot better than anything else I've found.

One of the best purchases I've made for my children. The net gets used (and sometimes abused) for multiple hours every week.It doesn't come with a handle, but any standard wood handle for a broom will work perfectly. I cut a handle down to about 32" because a longer handle was too heavy and awkward for my kids.I purchased this net two years ago for my two pre-schoolers who love catching and examining all sorts of little living things. Let me tell you -- this net goes everywhere with us and has caught many butterflies and grasshoppers, but it's also caught small fish, lizards, salamanders, crabs, crayfish, frogs, snakes, shrimp and turtles. We've even used it as a landing net for trout and small bass. It has been a GREAT purchase and an excellent value. VERY STRONG AND DURABLE. The netting is starting to show some wear from being dragged over and over again along rocky creek bottoms in search of crayfish and aquatic insects, but it's still very useable. If it does get used to death, I'm going to buy the exact same one again.

This is a very nice net. The 15" diameter makes it quite easy to catch insects on the wing. It is also quite durable. I have used it as a sweep net in some tall grass quite successfully as well. Even with the abuse of sweeping through the grass for nearly an hour, I cannot find a single snag in the mesh. As for the handle, I found a broken mop and was able to place the part of the mop that the handle screwed into in the handle of the net so that it can receive a detachable handle. The only reason I did not give it a 5 star rating is the length of the net. When I flip the net to trap the insect inside, the overhang is quite minimal and if said insect is not at the very bottom of the net when I flip it, it will escape.

I wanted a butterfly net like the local park ranger uses when we go to help with the annual Monarch butterfly tagging project. This one seemed to be the closest I could find. It has an enormous diameter so I think even small kids will manage to scoop up something. The netting is a little shorter than others I have used but it looks like it will do the job. A drawback is that one has to supply a wooden dowel to make a long handle. Otherwise, it appears to be much more suitable and sturdy than the "toy" nets that are so common.