So I just got my new 16 tub hatchling rack from Reptile Basics and it came with ~3 feet of 11" flexwatt already wired up and affixed to the back of the rack, top to bottom. I read somewhere that flexwatt can have a +/- 5 degree variation in temps along the length of the tape, but this is worrisome.

The tstat is set at 85 degrees and I'm showing 82.2 degrees in the bottom tubs at the hot spot and 89.3 degrees in the top tubs. The middle 2 rows are ~87 +/- 0.5.

Is this heat tape defective? If not, how am I supposed to compensate for that to keep everyone happy?