What are the least reliable t-stat brands?

I have a herpstat at the moment controlling the temps for my rack, but I need another t-stat because I'm setting up an incubator.

The last thing I want is the thermostat shorting and frying my eggs/snakes. I've heard that some t-stats will fry after power-outages, too.

What brands would you say are the ones to avoid? Which would you not want to incubate eggs with?

(Ranco ETC-111000 is my favorite so far. Does anybody have any horror stories about that model?)

I would avoid the zoomed reptitemp 500R's but that's just me.. I never had good luck with them. There are quite a few people here that use them successfully with regular enclosures I would never, ever put one on an incubator.

I've been using a Helix and a Johnsons control unit for years and they are great.

I use the ranco. Tho for incubators a proportional tstat i think is better than an on/off tstat.

Thats just my 2 cents. I always use racnos. Only porp. tstat i have is on incubator.

Thanks guys. I'll steer clear of the reptitemp. I wonder if anyone has ever used an on/off t-stat on an incubator with good results. I'm sure that in the wild, temps fluctuate more than they would in an incubator with an on/off t-stat.

I just ordered an incubator from nature spirit reptiles and they highly recommended the herpstat so I went with that. It is being shipped on Monday so I will be more help in a few weeks lol. But I use herpstat hd on my racks and I love them

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Herpstat hands down.

Your going to want a proportional thermostat and herpstat by spyder robotics is as reliable as they come and is the least expensive one that I know of.

I'd add a newtek/alife to the list of exceptionally poor ones. And second the zoo med 500r and the worst.

I have done a bit of poking into ranco and johnston and the question I have is are they using a resistive probe or a thermal coupler to set the temps? The cost difference is substantial even for large volume orders and I can't see anything using a coupler in the price range of the either. Resistive sensors typically have a 2º accuracy (and cheap digital temp devices are the same)

If you set the temp to 88 it could be with a properly working devise 90 or 86. I don't know if either uses resistive sensors but Helix Herpstat Ecozone don't use them. I don't know anyone whom is using a ranco / johnston whom has an accurate (0.5º error or better) thermometer to check.

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Originally Posted by Ash

I have a herpstat at the moment controlling the temps for my rack, but I need another t-stat because I'm setting up an incubator.

The last thing I want is the thermostat shorting and frying my eggs/snakes. I've heard that some t-stats will fry after power-outages, too.

What brands would you say are the ones to avoid? Which would you not want to incubate eggs with?

(Ranco ETC-111000 is my favorite so far. Does anybody have any horror stories about that model?)

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why dont you just go with another herpstat? At least you know you can count on it!

I use Helix's with Ranco back ups and a Herpstat for my incubator and have never had a problem with any of em.

Don't get anything cheaper than a Ranco or Johnson. My advice is that if you want to get something cheaper than one of those you might as well use a dimmer on it's own. You will have to check it all the time, at least once a day, but at least if it fails it doesn't fail in the on position. I had a Rzilla thermostat and a friend of mine told me to put a dimmer on it as back up because it was cheap. Two weeks later I couldn't have thanked him enough. My thermostat melted and the dimmer shut everything off. That's probably the only reason I'm still in this hobby today. Now I use Helix and love them, but still put back up dimmers on them just in case. Dimmers cut the power when they fail and most thermostats let all the power go through them if they fail.

And most definitely don't use a cheap thermostat on your eggs. Helix is the cheapest I would go with those.

Use a hydrofarm for your rack, and use the herpstat for your incubator

Least reliable one I had was a Zilla 1000. Can't remember the brand but that's what pushed me over the edge to buy my 2 herpstats I now have. Couldn't be happier with them!!