You can always just use a lamp dimmer from a home improvement store. I paid $10 for mine and it was the best $10 I ever spent! When I say have the dimmer as a back up, I mean have the heat source plugged into the dimmer, the dimmer plugged into the thermostat, and the thermostat plugged into the wall (I don't think I did a good job explaining in my last post). That way if your thermostat fails the dimmer keeps the set up from running wide open. If you are using a heat pad it's not a huge deal, but if you get anything that gets over 100 degrees the dimmer back up is a must with a cheap thermostat, and even with expensive ones. To set the dimmer, you'll need to just use the dimmer and the heat source, let it run a bit and adjust the dimmer so that it's just a bit warmer than you would really want it. That way if your thermostat gets wacky, your dimmer will step in and keep things under control.