Heat Tape

[3skulls]

Rich, can you get a THG rep to come on here and talk about their product?

[Robyn@SYR]

THG Heat is a new company formed by Chad and Robyn of Pro Exotics, and Rich of Reptile Basics. It is separate from either PE or RBI.

That is not a secret, it is a company formed by reptile folks through and through : )

[AMBiEN22]

I have purchased from reptile basics in the past and the service was great. I have also heard nothing but great reviews. With that said I am not here to bash anyone or say what your doing is wrong but this thread is all over the place. It has become almost a fight similar to Pepsi and coke. The fans on either side will never agree which product is better. Although I feel in this case the producers of flex watt have stepped up and admitted that their product was not fully geared in supporting the herp hobby.

Being a college student, chemistry, I understand that a lot of work needs to go into these statistics being tossed around. Sources are everything, who tests your products, who fabricates them ect....

I'm sitting in an airport so I'm really not able to proof read or further elaborate on some of the topics I brought up. But I posted this because I think the reply below incorrectly answered the question. These are the founders but who are the manufactures and what have they done?

Again I'm not trying to flame anyone here....

THG Heat is a new company formed by Chad and Robyn of Pro Exotics, and Rich of Reptile Basics. It is separate from either PE or RBI.

That is not a secret, it is a company formed by reptile folks through and through : )

[ewaldrep]

I see that bean farm sells thier flexwatt with the tape like Ed mentioned so that it can be low profile. Wish I had known about that before but at least I can hook it up for my new purchases. I generally prefer to stay with American made products and I am suspiciious of products coming from overseas so I hope a good resolutions comes soon. I don't understand why so many people have been making statements that seem to be from feeling hurt or slighted in some way by flexwatt, calorique or what ever the name is.

[Ed gilmartin]

so who manufactures it? Can you show your community who they are? How much heat film they have installed? What certifications? What safety audits they have? I got caught up defending calorique here and my original goal was to correct the untrue statements about us. I do however think you owe it to your community to disclose who manufacturers the product. Name, address, pictures, safety proceedures, quality control? Anything? You claim the manufacturers focus is on the reptile community and care about it so that is the least you can do. i readily admitted we failed in fully understanding this industry but are redoubling our efforts now.

Robyn I have been in the thin film technology business for a long time and will be running a lot of tests on your new product. I know that EVERY Korean product changes watt density and they run from it once it fails. I wish you guys had have reached out to us first to discuss what you saw as the down falls of our product but that is history. We will never be as low priced as a cheap imitation knock off but we have a quality product. If I hear another lie about Caloriques film or Calorique in general (and rememeber we have been doing this for 30+ years) I will be posting photos of your product before and after testing. They are not pretty.

I would also like to hear how you you explain the connectors? The Korean buss bars are only 2 mils and if that connection moves (which it will due to the hole punch and exact placement it needs) how do you prevent arching and sparking which is very dangerous? Our amp connectors are rated for 17lbs of pull. the reason they need the teeth is because they cannot continuously come in and out of contact with the buss bar for safety reasons.

How did the resistance change 16% when tested? I can post those pics also if you like?

You are working with another cheap knock off and that is the bottom line. I wish you success and hope no ones pets are harmed but make sure the info you are posting is correct and not lies. That is only fair.

I am pretty curious as to your response on the issues with your product above!

[Ed gilmartin]

Fellas

I think I am going to get out of your space now. I did get a little upset when the false statements were made about our product. This is no place for me to be getting annoyed. I trust that you guys will be very carefull in trusting your pets with a product that is not stable. In the meantime this has sparked me to make an even bigger push into your space. some things you need may be easy for us to do and some things may be cost prohibitive. Email me with a wish list and I promise it will not be ignored. I think you guys deserve it.

You will at the very least get a reply with a reason we can or cannot do something.

Thanks

e.gilmartin@calorique.com

[3skulls]

I'm sure everyone here would like to see the pics.

Is flexwatt the same stuff that they use to do heated floors, like in bathrooms?


I don't mind paying extra as long as I know it's safe. I don't think making a product cheaper should be a main goal here. Even $1 more per foot would only add on $10-15 more on a rack that you are already paying $400-500 on.

I want my animals and house safe. That's my main concern.

[kitedemon]

Flexwatt is what everyone has used for many years, yes it has been adapted from home heating usage.

The new product from RB is well new, the quality and consistency remains to be seen as it will take a few years to fully determine. (multiple manufacturing runs and batch to batch consistency I suspect we are still in the same batch)

I am unsure when the first time it was available but I think it has been out a few months now? Perhaps Rich or Robin can correct me.

For my part I would like to know where it is made as it is clear rich and robin are not printing it them selves. I would also need to know if it is fully UL approved connectors and tape or just the tape. The Canadian laws for commercial application are quite clear.

[AMBiEN22]

Ever since i have started my research in keeping ball pythons it seems that everyone has their own methods and ways going about things. Understanding that even basic husbandry is often argued about as well. The way i look at this situation is fairly simple, some one at some point adapted using flexxwatt in rack systems for ball pythons and the news started to spread. Once people understood that this "Heat Tape" was really accommodating for rack and reptile heat it began to catch on. Now we have Ed letting us know that this heat tape was not IDEALLY and PURPOSEFULLY made for the pet trade but did turn some profits as well as satisfy the needs of some hobbyist. The fact that he has come on this thread and is revealing that he is working on better heat tape that is marketed towards our hobby i think is an amazing thing! Lets leave it at that? Literally no one will force your hand to buy the product.

In my opinion it all boils down to what works for me. If my animals are happy, safe, and healthy then the product is 100% perfect for me.

[3skulls]

Not to down THG but flexwatt is in 1000s of homes and have been running for years. I remember seeing it years ago for heating bathroom floors, didn't know it was the same company.

As far as testing goes flexwatt has been used over and over again.
Now is it the safest thing for our snakes? I don't know. I'm running both in my home.
Sounds like both products rely on the t-stat not failing.