Thermostats - what brand and where to buy?

[Crazy4Herps]

I am having an AP cage with flexwatt shipped to me, and I need a thermostat. I'm really tight on cash, so nothing too fancy, but of course I want it to work well.

I know the Helix is a good brand... any others? I'd appreciate suggestions. And where could I buy these?

[AndrewGeibel]

For proportional thermostats I would recommend Helix or Herpstat. I have a Herpstat Pro and love it.

For on/off thermostats, I would recommend a Ranco. I use a Ranco for my room heater.

[TheMolenater2]

I hear Johnson thermostats are nice and are less expensive than helix from what I've seen. Try checking out Reptile Basics, as it seems they have several good thermostats.

[Crazy4Herps]

What are the pros/cons of proportionals and on/offs? This is actually for a rainbow boa, not a BP.

Also, do you think the night drop feature is necessary?

[AndrewGeibel]

On/off style thermostats generally keep the temperature within +/- 1 degree of the set point and is either providing 100 percent power and 0 percent power to the Flexwatt.

Proportional thermostats vary the power to the heat tape and in general keep the temperature more constant. Mine are usually within +/- 0.2 degrees.

If you can do it I would recommend going with a good proportional thermostat such as the Herpstat.

[Jyson]

Helix, Ranco and Herpstat pro are my weapons of choice. You can get Helix and/or Ranco from Reptilebasics.com

[snakedork]

I personally would go with a johnson control over a ranco. I have used both for about 2 years now. Both work well. I just like the fact that if your probe goes bad on a johnson you can replace the probe for like 10 bucks. I found that ebay is a good way to get ranco thermostats. I picked one up for 20 bucks a few weeks ago. I haven't had luck finding johnson controls on ebay but rancos are a dime a dozen.