Anyone used this before?

Catalina RF1000, it's a proportional thermostat I believe from Catalina aquarium.
They make it for reptiles or aquariums. Reason I ask is it's fairly inexpensive compared to Helix and Herpstat(which I currently use). It just sounds like a good buy for the money.

I haven't used it myself but I am very weary about buying cheaper equipment.

It looks like it's not much more than dimmer - they sell all sorts of thermostats like this. Zoo med has the repti-temp 500 or something like that.. I have a friend who uses it and its garbage. But than again there's a small breeder I visited downtown who uses dimmers for all of his snakes and breeds successfully.

If your using herpstats already than you know how awesome they are. I recommend them to everyone - yes its expensive but IMO its worth every penny.

On the website description it says it uses incremental power, aliitle different than the zoomed maybe?

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Originally Posted by CCfive

On the website description it says it uses incremental power, aliitle different than the zoomed maybe?

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nah not really.. I just looked into it some more and it looks pretty much identical to the zoo med one. Marketing is a tricky business and companies like to throw out terms that make you think your getting something special. ALL thermostats use incremental power which makes them thermostats and not rheostat which is simply a fancy dimmer.

Honestly it all boils down to what your comfortable with. Some people use these products and they meet all of their expectations/ needs and who am I to argue against that. Personally I know lots of breeders and reptile owners that use the RT500 and laugh at me for spending hundreds more then they do for my thermostats.

For me - I'll stick with the Herpstat.

Cheers!

The fact it runs lights and has a single mode makes it unlikely it is a proportional thermostat. I believe from what they right about it is an on/off design. Proportionals usually do not do well with lighting (strobes) unless it has a lighting mode this one appears to have a just heating.

If this guess is correct it is nothing like what you are using and similar to a hydrofarm, it is about the same price. The hydrofarms are ok the do a reasonable job but suffer the on/off issues with a great range of ambient temps. I would expect the same performance, hydrofarms probe is poor at best, maybe this one is better maybe not.

That is an on/off thermostat. It is the same as a couple others on the market that are branded for specific sellers. Big apple herp has the same unit with a model number BAH1000 and bean farm has it under the name alife for half the price. I have one of these as a backup, pretty big swing (about ten degrees) between kick off and back on. . . . I agree with others, herpstat all the way.

I'm currently trying it out on the qt rack, but I think I'm just gonna get an additional herpstat instead. Will work as fail safe tho. . . .

I was looking to get a couple for backups to my Herpstats, thank you everyone for chiming in.:)

I have an alife about the only useful thing it can be used for is a back up.

Im waiting for WIFI Thermostats.

Be able to have a app on smart phone to monitor the temps when on vacation and adjust them when needed.

Modem-wifi Router-Thermostat-App/Computer software

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Im waiting for WIFI Thermostats.

Be able to have a app on smart phone to monitor the temps when on vacation and adjust them when needed.

Modem-wifi Router-Thermostat-App/Computer software

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That will definitely be sweet!:)