how does everyone feel about zoo med and zilla?

experiences and opinions on their products?

The bulbs I always got burned out too fast.

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

The bulbs I always got burned out too fast.

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good to know,i use exo terra bulbs.wont be switching hearing that.
how about their rheostats, thermostats, digital therms and hygros?

I would suggest the hydrofarm thermostat over all of the other cheaper brands. Some people use them, but with some you get what you pay for. I think the hydrofarm is affordable and works very well. You can get it on amazon.

i have a zoo med rheo for a heat lamp on my emperor scorpions,zilla thermometesr and thermostat for ball pythons uth.rheo was 30 and tstat was 50.ill check out a hydrofarm.meanwhile im just concerned about the tstat,i heard bad things of the on/off type tstats.

i have the zoo med reptitemp 500r thermostat and although they get quite a bad rap here by some due it not being digital and having to be adjusted with rising/falling temps i really dont mind that. i'm super anal on making sure i know what the temps are that the adjustments i have to make are minor ones and i'm fairly able to stay within certain ranges of temps.

i have a zilla therm placed next to the tstat probe in the basking area.it rises and drops between 90.5 and 89.5.

is a one degree fluctuation bad?

No, but I would bump that up to 92.

i was thinking of bumping it up too so it doesnt get below 90.

my zoo med heating pads work pretty good but theyre nothing too great

yeah i have a zoo med reptitherm as well.it does its job:gj:

I've got some Zoo Med "wipe out" disinfectant. It was bought because it was available in the store. Works OK.

I'll be going with F10 when this stuff runs out. I finally found a few places I can get it.

I use both ZooMed and Ultratherm UTHs. The quality of the Ultratherm is HUGELY better then ZooMed. They can't even compare. I will only use Ultratherm for UTH from now on. You can get them from Reptile Basics and they are not expensive - about the same as ZooMed.

I don't like my ZooMed Rheostat. I can't make it low enough. So I pitched that and went with their 500r t-stat. Much better although my 'dream' is to have everybody on digital t-stats like the ones from Reptile Basics or maybe the new HerpStat 4.

I don't think there's really anything wrong with ZooMed - just that they are kind of 'low-end' if you know what I mean. If you use their products, maintainence and monitering become just that much more important. But they are good for someone on a budget - like me, lol! ;)

I use zoo med uth's, the repti fogger, and the hygrotherm for humifity monitoring. They do the job just fine.

I had a ZooMed Rheostat. I was using it on a small size UTH with no problems. I switched it over to a bigger UTH and I couldn't get the temp to go low enough. I bought one of the Hydrofarm thermostats from Amazon and it works great.

Iif your getting 89-90 no need to adjust anything. Those temps are perfect.

I keep all my adults at 88-89 all year and yearlings/hatchlings at 90-91

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DellaF :
I had a ZooMed Rheostat. I was using it on a small size UTH with no problems. I switched it over to a bigger UTH and I couldn't get the temp to go low enough.

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This was my problem too. But I couldn't get the setting low enough even for the small 15-20gal size zoomed uth.

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RichsBallPythons :
Iif your getting 89-90 no need to adjust anything.

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I had too. With the zoomed rheostat even on the lowest setting, I was getting 96+ on the uth. Now with the t-stat its at 92.

This is just my experience with the rheostat. I don't like the way rheostats work anyhow. A thermostat is much better for me. But I don't mean to say that all ZooMed products are bad. I still have a zoomed uth in operation and its fine. I'll just be getting the ultratherms from now on and that's what I have to recommend. But the zoomed products I'm currently using are doing their job - for now. :P

I agree with Rich, higher than 90 is pointless, also the inaccuracy of inexpensive digital thermometers makes it more risky. I don't have many issues with zoo med, I have a couple of the UTH they are ok they work. I strongly dislike the 500r I own one and the swings mine has are unbelievable it has a very slow response to the probe so it simply will not shut down inside 2 mins and in a tub that is too lang a tank is likely more tolerable but still.

Zilla products I have only used one the thermometer it was very very incorrect out of the box (yes I check them all humidity and temps. I am forced to accept the manufacturers correct range, of 4º for most units) The zilla was beyond the manufacturers specs or +/-2ºF so I returned it and got a second, then a third and fourth the last one was still off but I was refused the return, it is sitting unused in a drawer someplace. I can't in good conscious sell something I know to be that wrong (3.7ºF low!! another reason to not set higher than 90ºF)

As far as instruments go I wish I have a viable recommendation but sadly I do not. They all seem to be quite poor below the 100$ mark. The best I have found are for humidity and that is simply due that it is so easy to calibrate, are the certified Western Instrument analogue brass rimmed ones. I bought ten and found them all to read out of the box within 3% of each other and tested 5 of those (standard salt test) and found them to be correct. I have re checked them every 6 months and so far needed to calibrate one. The best humidity instrument by far for 10$.

the therms from zilla actually all the therms i used seemed to be consistant with each other.ive used accu rites white therm,accurites hygro therm combo,the only therms ive found with the difference is those poopie stick ons.yeah i had the same problem with the that zoo med rheostat.then i only plugged in one thing and i can drop it to 86degrees.its only good for one heat device plugged in from my experience.Phoenix sucks for repti goods.id have to drive out to mesa or tempe for "high quality" stuff.forget that ill just order online.

I agree with Rich 88-92 is fine, and depending on what your using to read temps there can be a 2+ degree inaccuracy. If you put it to 92 it could be 94 degrees or more...I don't see a need to adjust it from where you already have it...