The claim: Meant to stay out as part of a room’s decor, the motion-activated product helps to keep homes looking and smelling fresh. The product comes in the classic Clean Linen fragrance starter kit and is compatible with refills in your favorite scents that are available with the original Glade Sense & Spray® line of fragrances.

Cost: $7.99

Where: Discount and grocery stores

Who doesn’t love a fresh-smelling home? However, the day-to-day smells that go with an active family (and a couple of pets) can be a challenge to even the most formidable air freshener. Enter Glade Sense & Spray Automatic Freshener. Could this really take on our family and win? It certainly looks neat — a brown, beehive-ish design looks like a modern art piece. It was easy to set up — a simple snap of the fragrance canister and a pull of the battery tab and we were in business.

The unit is set up to give a burst of scent when it senses motion — and it has a pretty wide range. Our unit was set up in several places for testing. When it was in our entryway, it would often go off even if someone in the living room moved — pretty good. After the unit goes off, it locks out the automatic spray for 15, 20 or 30 minutes, as you set it. If you want a burst at any time, just touch the top of the unit and a spray is delivered.

The Fresh Linen scent was strong enough to detect but not overwhelming. The smell seemed to linger for about 10 minutes, and after that, it faded rather quickly. It’s a neat concept that is probably best in smaller spaces, like bathrooms or laundry rooms. We plan on picking up some refills and trying out the other scents offered.

— Chris Pastrick

Having worked in a candle store for a few years, I have no qualms admitting that I’m a huge home-fragrance snob. I have my favorite seasonal scents strategically placed throughout my entire house in the form of tea lights, three-wicks and air fresheners.

I like the latter to be as discreet as possible, so I was a little dismayed by the Glade Sense & Spray Automatic Freshener’s bulky design. It’s hard not to notice the clunky, ringed sphere no matter how much it fits in with the decor.

I also prefer my scents to be subtle. The classic Clean Linen Sense & Spray, which ended up in my game room, was anything but. Every time I walked near it, it shot a big burst of scent into the air, making me jump out of my skin (and my husband to laugh every single time). The scent was super-strong and managed to overpower the entire decent-size room.

If a highly noticeable dispenser and smell are what you want in a home scent, this one’s for you. I’ll stick to my old standards.

— Rachel Weaver

Having used similar products in the past, I was interested to give the Glade Sense & Spray Automatic Freshener a try.

Let’s just say the experiment lasted less than a day.

If it is meant to be part of a room’s decor, I feel sorry for the person whose room it matches. The slatted orb version I tried did anything but blend in at my house. But that was the least of the problems.

While the motion-activated product does give users the ability to adjust how often it will spray when it senses someone moving by, it does not have a way to control how much is sprayed. And it sprays way too much for regular-size rooms. The Clean Linen fragrance nearly choked us out of the first three rooms where I tried the automatic freshener.

Now it resides in the foyer, and I haven’t noticed anything to complain about in the days since. Then again, I pass it only when coming and going.

— Jason Cato

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