UTH Question

I surfed the first 30 pages or so in Husbandry just to learn and read and what not....1 question I had that I couldnt really find the answer too...

A typical name brand UTH....How long do they last on average?

Is 1 brand really better than another? Ive been using the Exo Terra brand. What do you all recommend for longevity, over all reliabilty.

Thanks!

I know some people on other herp forums I belong to have had the same uth running for 10+ years. I've had one burn out in a year and a half. It just depends. There could be a defect in one in every thousand that only lasts a year or two and then there's some that last five years and then some that last 10. If you see that there not heating as well anymore or if you have a Herpstat that tells you the percent of power being supplied and its significantly more than normal than that could be a sign that it's life is coming to an end.

I did a test on several brands a few years back on a few and in those tests I found some that some had wide temp fluctuations across the pad, meaning 90 in middle and as low as 83 in other spots. I'll have to dig up the results so I can tell you the specific brands. The tests could be different if I tested today since it was few years ago and changes in design could have been made.

Recently I've been using two brands new to me and those are Kane and intelltemp mats. I'm very impressed with how consistent they are especially with the size of the Kane mat and the intellitemp in all sizes are very consistent. Another thing I like about them is that they can be used inside the enclosure, most people would not recommend this but I have carefully inspected both brands and don't see a reason why not to. I like being able to use inside enclosure bc it allows me to have my above substrate temp to be 88-90 while keeping the temp under right on top of the heat mat just a few degrees more, my experience with ones that go under the tank is that under my substrate would be 93 while top would be 86 so I would have to make the substrate very thin on hot side in order to get the temp I wanted on top.

But I've grown attached to the rhp's I have so all my setups will probably be changed to rhp including my leopard geckos!

They usually last right up to the time you try to remove it from the bottom of the tank.

I prefer THG heat tape for the ease of use and cost.