may have found a good less expensive incubator Tstat?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Elec...item4cf9ac6fa3

adjustable to the 0.1 degree
Temperature Switching Differential = 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit.

seems legit?

It appears to be an on/off thermostat with a very short probe(18 inches) that would in my incubator not be long enough to reach where I put the probe.

I will only use a proportional thermostat, it's worth the extra money imo.

I wouldn't skimp on a thermostat for an incubator. Sometimes you get what you pay for. A good proportional thermostat would be a better choice in my opinion, just like snakesRkewl suggested.

The thing I didn't see is the accuracy of the probe. If it reads 80 is it 80 or 82 or 78 ... it states it is calibrate-able that is great the problem is you still need an accurate thermometer one that is correct and with in 1º or better sound right perhaps better if you are calibrating something as you always need to add 30% error unless you have a bench. So a good 0.5º thermometer something like this maybe?

https://www.fishersci.ca/coupon.do?cid=200384

Or you could buy a calibrated accurate T-stat that is accurate to less than 1ºF up or down. Herpstat, Helix, Ecozone, herpkeeper, VE200+ all have less than one degree error.

Cheap is cheap for a reason, one of the things you are paying for is a very good thermometer. It is actually just about the best thermometer for the money around. The herpstat intro is 100$ and has a probe accurate to 0.7ºF +/- it is hard to find a thermometer that is as accurate and at less money anywhere.

Your incubator thermostat should be one of your primary investments. Don't cheap out on it. That $50 or $100 savings could be the difference in a viable clutch that would make back your invested money, or a clutch that doesn't make it.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

This is a red flag to me: •Comes preset to 99.5 (this means that if you lose power the thermostat will come back on set to 99.5) - Preset to 37.5 in Celsius mode

I don't want a flicker in power to spike my incubator to 100 degrees!

That is a good point Annarose15 !!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

The thing I didn't see is the accuracy of the probe. If it reads 80 is it 80 or 82 or 78 ... it states it is calibrate-able that is great the problem is you still need an accurate thermometer one that is correct and with in 1º or better sound right perhaps better if you are calibrating something as you always need to add 30% error unless you have a bench. So a good 0.5º thermometer something like this maybe?

https://www.fishersci.ca/coupon.do?cid=200384

Or you could buy a calibrated accurate T-stat that is accurate to less than 1ºF up or down. Herpstat, Helix, Ecozone, herpkeeper, VE200+ all have less than one degree error.

Cheap is cheap for a reason, one of the things you are paying for is a very good thermometer. It is actually just about the best thermometer for the money around. The herpstat intro is 100$ and has a probe accurate to 0.7ºF +/- it is hard to find a thermometer that is as accurate and at less money anywhere.

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never looked at it that way before. thanks for the list of brands i was wondering which ones to look into

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

This is a red flag to me: •Comes preset to 99.5 (this means that if you lose power the thermostat will come back on set to 99.5) - Preset to 37.5 in Celsius mode

I don't want a flicker in power to spike my incubator to 100 degrees!

---

very valid point it does snow a lot where i am and we do loose power now and then dont want to end up with hard boiled eggs

- - - Updated - - -

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kitedemon

The thing I didn't see is the accuracy of the probe. If it reads 80 is it 80 or 82 or 78 ... it states it is calibrate-able that is great the problem is you still need an accurate thermometer one that is correct and with in 1º or better sound right perhaps better if you are calibrating something as you always need to add 30% error unless you have a bench. So a good 0.5º thermometer something like this maybe?

https://www.fishersci.ca/coupon.do?cid=200384

Or you could buy a calibrated accurate T-stat that is accurate to less than 1ºF up or down. Herpstat, Helix, Ecozone, herpkeeper, VE200+ all have less than one degree error.

Cheap is cheap for a reason, one of the things you are paying for is a very good thermometer. It is actually just about the best thermometer for the money around. The herpstat intro is 100$ and has a probe accurate to 0.7ºF +/- it is hard to find a thermometer that is as accurate and at less money anywhere.

---

never looked at it that way before. thanks for the list of brands i was wondering which ones to look into

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annarose15

This is a red flag to me: •Comes preset to 99.5 (this means that if you lose power the thermostat will come back on set to 99.5) - Preset to 37.5 in Celsius mode

I don't want a flicker in power to spike my incubator to 100 degrees!

---

very valid point it does snow a lot where i am and we do loose power now and then dont want to end up with hard boiled eggs

It all comes down to the value you put on your eggs.

A incubator T-stat is the single most important piece of equipment don't try to cut corner on that, invest and use what is proven to work and what you know you can trust it will be worth it.

I think that you are seeing a point here. There are places where you can save money but temps are critical to the life of any reptile at all points of life span. It is a critical piece of gear and not somewhere to save cash.

IMO there are a few clear choices of brands over the others. The herpstat 1+ have additional safety features that other T-stats do not (over and under heat protection and a mechanical relay that is more likely to fail off than on) The other is the Ecozone it offers many of the same features but its unique trick is its web interface. It can be checked on and can alert via web (email, text ect. alerts) and temps can be checked anywhere where there is internet and computers. These two offer the most advanced functions the herpstats are some of the less costly units so for the frugal minded (at least to my mind) it is clear.