Curious people's opinions on thermostats

I'm curious what everyone's top choices for a thermostat are. Also curious about budget friendly options so around $100 or less.

Also if anyone has any ideas on how to protect your thermostat, I'd love to hear them. My house recently got struck by lightning, everyone's okay, and it fried my thermostat, thankfully I have a spare, but I'm curious if there was something I should of done so my thermostat would have been fine.

Placing the tstat on a surge protector could help. You can even go a step above and have a whole home surge protector installed at the breaker box.

As for tstats I bought an el cheapo one time in a pinch and if failed on me within months. Then another cheaper one I got when I bought a snake crapped out on me while I was using it in a pinch too. Since then I try to keep an extra Herpstat on hand.

I have five Herpstats, a few 1s, a 2, and a 4. I will be getting another set of 2s soon. Having them I have never had an issue so I have stuck with them. They have served me very well.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Placing the tstat on a surge protector could help. You can even go a step above and have a whole home surge protector installed at the breaker box.

As for tstats I bought an el cheapo one time in a pinch and if failed on me within months. Then another cheaper one I got when I bought a snake crapped out on me while I was using it in a pinch too. Since then I try to keep an extra Herpstat on hand.

I have five Herpstats, a few 1s, a 2, and a 4. I will be getting another set of 2s soon. Having them I have never had an issue so I have stuck with them. They have served me very well.

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Sucky part was it was on a surge protector. Nothing else was broken just the thermostat. I had to buy a new surge protector since I know once lightning goes through one it's done. Herpstats do seem nice and not too far outside the budget.

Herpstats 1 is $145, buy once an cry once. It will out live the cheap tstats, thus saving money. An if you use PayPal it's six months interest free to pay it off. The really funny thing is buying from Spyderrobotics is cheaper then buying used on E-bay.

https://spyderrobotics.com/index.php...7bf283bec87397


Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

Sucky part was it was on a surge protector. Nothing else was broken just the thermostat. I had to buy a new surge protector since I know once lightning goes through one it's done. Herpstats do seem nice and not too far outside the budget.

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I bought a couple used and got fairly good deals. I actually just ran across some but was too late. Herpstat 2s for $100. They had four and I was thinking about buying them all.

I know they don’t have the bells and whistles some of the more expensive brands have but I’ve used Jumpstart thermostats for 10+ years on my UTHs and RHPs without fail. I think they’re affordable and reliable. They were $30 when I originally purchased them and they’re $41 now on Amazon. They do everything I need them to do when it comes to regulating my enclosure temps. I’d have to burn through 4 of them to buy one Herpstat 1. I just don’t see the added value. I’m thinking about getting 2 of the Herpstat 6s once my 8’ enclosures arrive and I rearrange my stacks but that’s just because it’ll look nicer and be easier to control everything from just two units.


https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Ger.../dp/B000NZZG3S

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Originally Posted by 303_enfield

Herpstats 1 is $145, buy once an cry once. It will out live the cheap tstats, thus saving money. An if you use PayPal it's six months interest free to pay it off. The really funny thing is buying from Spyderrobotics is cheaper then buying used on E-bay.

https://spyderrobotics.com/index.php...7bf283bec87397


Good luck!

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I use PayPal credit often. Great way to buy things while keeping your money in your account and not running up the credit cards.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I know they don’t have the bells and whistles some of the more expensive brands have but I’ve used Jumpstart thermostats for 10+ years on my UTHs and RHPs without fail. I think they’re affordable and reliable. They were $30 when I originally purchased them and they’re $41 now on Amazon. They do everything I need them to do when it comes to regulating my enclosure temps. I’d have to burn through 4 of them to buy one Herpstat 1. I just don’t see the added value. I’m thinking about getting 2 of the Herpstat 6s once my 8’ enclosures arrive and I rearrange my stacks but that’s just because it’ll look nicer and be easier to control everything from just two units.


https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Ger.../dp/B000NZZG3S

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I've heard about the Jumpstart ones before and was debating on one of those. Since this is the 2nd in 2 years that our house has been struck by lightning, I think I'll probably have to replace it every year anyway but ideally if I can buy a cheaper one that lasts a long time and does it's job then I'm happy. I personally don't need all the bells and whistles. I only have one snake and he's still a baby. He can slowly get upgrades as he grows and as I save up the money. Lol

You know I had a thought and wanted to make sure you were aware of this. Not all power strips are surge protectors. They look very similar but they are not all the same. Maybe you had a power strip and that's why it fried the tstat.

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Originally Posted by KMG

You know I had a thought and wanted to make sure you were aware of this. Not all power strips are surge protectors. They look very similar but they are not all the same. Maybe you has a power strip and that's why it fried the tstat.

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It was definitely a surge protector. An expensive one. I'm pretty sure it was rated for 2,000 Jules.

Inkbird are cheap as can be and I have used them for years without them themselves failing. I double up on them to prevent overheating just in case, and it saved an entire rack of 14 (8 were gravid) adult females a couple months ago because a probe got dislodged somehow. That $25 extra bucks saved me thousands of dollars and a lot of heartbreak.

I've had great results with Herpstat as well. They are on the pricier end, but still not outrageous, and they do have some really nice features. These would be my preferred choice over inkbird for running CHE or RHP. I still use Inkbird as a backup with my Herpstats.

If Herpstat is a bit outside your range right now, Herpstat + a backup definitely is. I would grab two Inkbirds for now and upgrade the primary to Herpstat when you can if you really want one.

I wanted to say I also use JumpStarts for my desert enclosure and our Japanese ratsnake's enclosure. If you don't want to go expensive, I think they are a good option... They're the only ones I have used, however, but I've had mine running all the time for almost a year now and it's still doing great. Easy to change the temperature and I hang mine on the wall behind the enclosures to hide it; you can just pop it off the nail if you want to adjust it.

Mine is on a surge protector but I've never had lightning strike my house, so I can't really say whether it works... I guess have enough big trees around the house to not get struck?

I have 2 ZooMed Reptitemps and they have been great. The only issue I have is the probe wire is EXTREMELY thin so you can run the risk of snapping it in half if you're not careful. They recently dropped in price too so they're running at 30-40$ on Chewy. There seems to be a lot of hit or miss reviews on this one though.

I also am running a VE300x2 - This is the one that has me scratching my head. Every now and then the temps just drop below my threshold on one source and it it will alarm just fine. I just still am trying to work out why I have this issue every few months. I'm in Southern California, so the temps are 'fine' if there is a lack of heat. So It hasn't bothered me there... but I'm starting to wonder if it's a faulty thermo and not feeding my heat tape enough juice at times. The 2nd probe/heat source always runs like clockwork.


No issues with the California brownouts and blackouts with either at least. =D

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

It was definitely a surge protector. An expensive one. I'm pretty sure it was rated for 2,000 Jules.

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Electronics is NOT my speciality, but 2 kW for surge caused by lightening doesn't seem a lot for the energy lightening transfers!

I'm in the UK, and although surge protectors in multi-plug adapters are available, not many people tend to buy or use them around by me.

But I do share people concerns with thermostats. To the point where I'm considering building my own into the next terrarium cabinet I build (as my collection grows).

But this has its risks attached also. Hardware robustness and software efficiency the priority factors on my mind!

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Originally Posted by Bleh

Electronics is NOT my speciality, but 2 kW for surge caused by lightening doesn't seem a lot for the energy lightening transfers!

I'm in the UK, and although surge protectors in multi-plug adapters are available, not many people tend to buy or use them around by me.

But I do share people concerns with thermostats. To the point where I'm considering building my own into the next terrarium cabinet I build (as my collection grows).

But this has its risks attached also. Hardware robustness and software efficiency the priority factors on my mind!

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It really is nothing compared to a lightning strike which on average is 1,000,000 kW. Which is why I'm just looking for affordable replacements. If they last a long time then great, but lightning has struck my house twice! You know the odds of that happening? I hope it doesn't happen again but I definitely don't want to have an expensive thermostat fried because of it.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

It really is nothing compared to a lightning strike which on average is 1,000,000 kW. Which is why I'm just looking for affordable replacements. If they last a long time then great, but lightning has struck my house twice! You know the odds of that happening?

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If it's happened twice, I suppose you can expect it a third time!! And I completely understand your worries. I often contemplate what ifs and how my animals will cope.

Just off the top of my head as I write this, but may an inverter with a change over switch and an external power supply be more suitable for your concerns?
If an excessive current, or cut to supply be detected, it should be able to alternate between the most appropriate power supply based on your requirements!

Obviously going to be more expensive, but may offer a greater peace of mind.

But also, I could be talking total horse waddle as this has literally just popped into my brain and it may not be plausible. But my initial thought is mains supply to trip switch, to change over switch to inverter.

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Originally Posted by KMG

I have five Herpstats, a few 1s, a 2, and a 4. I will be getting another set of 2s soon. Having them I have never had an issue so I have stuck with them. They have served me very well.

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Herpstats are the best! They are definitely worth the $150 for the Herpstat 1. I also have a VE-200 running my incubator which does the job nicely. I believe both have built in surge protectors but I'm not 100% sure

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

I've heard about the Jumpstart ones before and was debating on one of those. Since this is the 2nd in 2 years that our house has been struck by lightning, I think I'll probably have to replace it every year anyway but ideally if I can buy a cheaper one that lasts a long time and does it's job then I'm happy. I personally don't need all the bells and whistles. I only have one snake and he's still a baby. He can slowly get upgrades as he grows and as I save up the money. Lol

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I have a two year old Jumpstart and it works fine.