Helix

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Originally Posted by OhhWatALoser

Rate of failure and accuracy

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Biggest complaint about accuracy is the temperature swing................. Its an ON/OFF stat
Too many people thing if they set a thermostat to 90 degrees and that is all it takes.
There are many factors to fine tune to get an true in the enclosure surface temperature.

My problem with my two Hydrofarms is the temperature swing. The VE regulated tank has steady consistent temps. Has to be better for the snake. The other thing I prefer about the VE is that it just looks better. All three tanks are in a main room, and I try hard to make things look nice. The Hydrofarms just look tacky hanging off the table leg at an angle, and the red lights for numbers are ugly.

Since all else seemed to be more or less equal, I also chose the VE200 over Herpstat on the basis of looks. The next two upgrades could be Herpstat if there was a compelling technical reason.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

I'm well aware of that, but it still doesn't make sense to complain about a cheap stat being a cheap stat. As I said, you really get what you pay for here, and you've got no right to complain if you bought a cheap thermostat. If you didn't know there were better options, you should have looked around more.

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I'm sorry but I should be able to buy any product and have it work as advertised for a reasonable amount of time, regardless of price. There are even laws that say this, but at the same time most people aren't going to bother doing anything about it over 40 bucks. and getting what you pay for isn't always true, I mean look in this very thread, helix cost 50% more than a herpstat that does exactly what it does plus more and has the same track record of reliability and a better track record of customer service. I'll go with a cheap herpstat over helix anyday.

I set up a friend's BRB enclosure with a Hydrofarm because he didn't want to spend the money on a nicer t-stat. It's been about two months and I went to check on it and the Hydrofarm is not putting out any power to the 100 watt CHE that's plugged into it. It still senses the temp and the light turns on when it's supposed to, but no power going to the plug. I swapped it out for another cheapo t-stat (Inkbird off Amazon) and it worked fine. So two months for a Hydrofarm before failure isn't so great.

I have two Herpstat 2s and one Herpstat 4 and swear by them. Only thing I could see to make them better is to have networked ones with separate thermometers for each channel (one to set the temp of the element, the other to monitor the temp in the enclosure) which would eliminate the need to have an extra cheapo thermometer in the enclosure to monitor. Then to have it all networked through wifi for monitoring would be amazing. I can see what's happening in my house, turn on lights, unlock or lock the doors and control the heat/ac from my iPhone nowadays. It would be really cool to be able to monitor my herps that way.

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Originally Posted by treaux

I set up a friend's BRB enclosure with a Hydrofarm because he didn't want to spend the money on a nicer t-stat. It's been about two months and I went to check on it and the Hydrofarm is not putting out any power to the 100 watt CHE that's plugged into it. It still senses the temp and the light turns on when it's supposed to, but no power going to the plug. I swapped it out for another cheapo t-stat (Inkbird off Amazon) and it worked fine. So two months for a Hydrofarm before failure isn't so great.

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Unfortunately thats not a uncommon experience with Hyrdrofarm. [Begin personal story] On a personal note I got one to take a look at. The pcb was a mess. I touched up solder points before i even plugged it in. I messed with it for a bit to test it out. I wasn't impressed. My father needed a thermostat to run a small 600 watt room heater. I figured it would be a good chance to put some miles on it and see how it held up. Two weeks later it no longer was outputting heat and if I remember right was also resetting itself. In the garbage it went. [end personal story]