Cheap Heating Cord?

Just wondering if anyone else that uses cord knows of a cheap yet decent cord from home depot or lowes? Ive been using the Zoomed cord but had a friend suggest de-icing cable. After doing some looking I've found cable that would work when plugged in to my thermostat but its around $100 more per 50' cable. Anyone ever hear of this or know if there is an alternative, or for that matter if the price difference is worth it? The ones from Home Depot seem more durable than the Zoomed ones when you look at them.

problem with cable like that is many of them will self regulate, which sounds like a good thing but you might be fighting to keep temps if its regulated below what you need. also some of them require special termination kits. then some will plug right in no problem. just make sure what you buy will do the job you want. then also make sure cable is what you want as it heats very little surface area compared to other heating sources.

the de-icing and pipe heating cables require extra work to bypass the built in thermostat. Not to mention that they cost more money. Just go with the zoomed or other cables designed for reptiles. They work just fine when put with a thermostat with no additional work required.

Is there a reason you want the heat cable over flexwatt or heat panels? I really wouldn't take a chance with something that isn't tried and true in the snake hobby. I promise you, we've all done everything we could to find the best products and the lowest price. You can't play with fire, literally. It's much less expensive to buy quality stuff in the snake hobby than it is to pay for your place burning down. It has happened to many people in the hobby, even using the good stuff, so don't mess around!!!

Okay lets do some math......
Depending on what you are heating, I will just use an 18 in wide shelf which is what a 28 and 41 qt tubs use.
$100 for 50 feet of what you are looking at is $2 a foot.
You would need at least 3 passes on a shelf so you are talking about roughly 4 1/2 feet not including the rise to the next shelf.
This would put you at about $9 per shelf. :O

THG heat tape is $2.20 for 6 inch and this would only require ONE pass per shelf for about $3.30 not including the rise to the next shelf.

Not hard to figure out what to use.

Yeah, I went with 4" heat tape after the cord went bad yet AGAIN. Done with cord forever at this point lol.