Why I hate Helix

[AjBalls]

In October, I'm getting ready for breeding. I've got planned who's being paired to who. One day, I walk into the 'snake room' and decide to pull out my favorite adult female ball. I notice that she is very cold. So I place her on the warm side and proceed to check on my other snakes. They too are cold. I start inspecting and put my hand on the heat panel, ARS rack. I find that it is giving off no heat. My first thought is that it is not plugged in. Sure enough it IS plugged in. Then I look up at the Helix, it is not on. I unplug the Helix to inspect it. I plug it into another outlet and it does not turn on at all. So I call up Helix and tell them what happened. They told me to ship it to them and they'd send me a new one, but I had to pay shipping both ways. No problem.

When I get the new Helix, I plug it into the hatchling rack; while the adult rack is now on a Herpstat. All goes well for about 3-4 months. Until today. I did my morning checkup and noticed it seemed a bit warm in the room. I look at the mini heater and that is fine. I look at the Helix and it reads 107! I decide to grab all the snakes and put them in a different tub. I reach my female pastels tub and there she is, dead. I picked her up and she was super stiff and very warm. This was a real blow to me because she was in my top 5 of favorite snakes and was one of my best eaters and growers. I just don't know what to do at this moment. I'm done with Helix. Tired of their stuff malfunctioning on me.

This is not the first time I have heard of a Helix malfunctioning either. About 2-3 years ago I heard a story where two kids (and wife) father passed away. They were left some $300,000 from his death. For some reason, they decide to invest in ball pythons. They get everything from normals to pinstripes; keep in mind this is when pinstripes were still some $20,000. They have their set up, they excited, can't wait to get started. And then one day, their Helix malfunctioned. It killed every snake they bought. How do I know this isn't just a story? It may be. But I get the same story from 3 different breeders who claim to sold the kids a snake...

[ErikM]

That sucks man. I use both Helix and Herpstat and I have never had any problems with either. My herpstat pro is definitely my favorite thermostat though!

[Hotshot]

I have one I hope I dont have this problem (sorry for you're lose)

[Skiploder]

In October, I'm getting ready for breeding. I've got planned who's being paired to who. One day, I walk into the 'snake room' and decide to pull out my favorite adult female ball. I notice that she is very cold. So I place her on the warm side and proceed to check on my other snakes. They too are cold. I start inspecting and put my hand on the heat panel, ARS rack. I find that it is giving off no heat. My first thought is that it is not plugged in. Sure enough it IS plugged in. Then I look up at the Helix, it is not on. I unplug the Helix to inspect it. I plug it into another outlet and it does not turn on at all. So I call up Helix and tell them what happened. They told me to ship it to them and they'd send me a new one, but I had to pay shipping both ways. No problem.

When I get the new Helix, I plug it into the hatchling rack; while the adult rack is now on a Herpstat. All goes well for about 3-4 months. Until today. I did my morning checkup and noticed it seemed a bit warm in the room. I look at the mini heater and that is fine. I look at the Helix and it reads 107! I decide to grab all the snakes and put them in a different tub. I reach my female pastels tub and there she is, dead. I picked her up and she was super stiff and very warm. This was a real blow to me because she was in my top 5 of favorite snakes and was one of my best eaters and growers. I just don't know what to do at this moment. I'm done with Helix. Tired of their stuff malfunctioning on me.

This is not the first time I have heard of a Helix malfunctioning either. About 2-3 years ago I heard a story where two kids (and wife) father passed away. They were left some $300,000 from his death. For some reason, they decide to invest in ball pythons. They get everything from normals to pinstripes; keep in mind this is when pinstripes were still some $20,000. They have their set up, they excited, can't wait to get started. And then one day, their Helix malfunctioned. It killed every snake they bought. How do I know this isn't just a story? It may be. But I get the same story from 3 different breeders who claim to sold the kids a snake...

Sorry to hear about the pastel.....

I gave up on Helix about 18 months ago. I had three DBS1000s fail within five months of each other. Yeah, yeah, I know a bunch of people swear by them but along with my issues I've hear alot of grumbling about failures.

I made the switch to Herpstat at that time and have had nothing but good luck with Dion and his products.

[bg77]

Glad I decided to buy 2 herpstats instead of the helix......

[clipclopclip]

I also had issues with my helix....I would have to turn it up too high to get proper temps in my tanks for a while, and then it would shut off like the temps were way too high...???? They weren't! I checked with multiple thermometers.....ug. The temps would just dropa nd drop, then it would click off, which it shouldn't do anyways (what the costumer service guy said). it was also showing an error code, but worked perfectly with their "test". I am not sending it back because I don't want another...I'll go with Helix.

[Gloryhound]

Sorry to hear about your pastel. I have two Helix controllers and have not had any problems yet. I also have a Herpstat pro and it works fine as well. I ordered another Herpstat pro for some additional racking I am building, but the main reason I went with the herpstat pro was economy. Herpstat Pro - 4 Thermostats for $320 compared with 4 Helix for $520. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Also the herpstat has built in night time temp drop and reminders for breeding season. We also use Rancos for the incubator and I've had no problem with them to date.

[Tosha_Mc]

Sorry about the pastel.

I've used Helix on my Chondro cage and on my incubators without issue. I use Johnsons on my racks since temps don't have to be perfect.

I wonder if the wattage load has anything to do with the problems?