I actually owe the op an apology I did go off topic I get caught up in technical details and allow myself to run away with them.
The real issue is tolerances. The on off styles are designed with a set of tolerances that are good for what they are met to do. It doesn't matter if it is greenhouse or small appliance whatever the tolerance is what it is, 2º. Other ones are taken from some other application and re-branded. Then there are ones designed to do the job we as reptile keepers use them for they also have tolerances based in cost I am sure Dion would love to use a thermal coupler in the herpstats but if the probes were $600 (platinum is very expensive) each nobody would buy the product.
Any can work and work really well, in the hands of someone whom has the experience to use set them up in a way that the designed tolerances are negated.
I have absolutely no doubt that RichsBallPythons has a set up that is perfect and the controllers do not allow large swings. I'd also venture a guess that the temperature of the snake room where the collection is stable.? Likely independently heated and controlled. The swing in temps under those conditions are going to be quite small. Add in thermal mass of the rack? guessing again will make it even smaller.
My set up is in an old house and the walls blow cold air, today as of this moment it is 77º the warmest it has been in 3 months. The log on my monitoring system says this week it bottomed out at 57.3º that is a lot. The Ranco I have and the johnson I tested worked fine but allowed the enclosures to vary by 5 degrees off true. I saw swings of 85-96 in a few hours as the unit struggled to keep up. It is not a failing of the unit but at all it is doing exactly what it was designed to. It is my fault that I tried to use something in my situation that was inappropriate.
I recommend herpstat (helix, ecozone or ve's) to newer keepers because they are the most likely not to have regulated rooms. These units will manage in a room heated or not they will do both a good on off will manage in a semi regulated room that does not see big swings. A rheostat work best in rooms with smaller swings again. It isn't which is best with me it doesn't matter, it is which is appropriate.
People get very defensive when others question gear they use, because if I say ___ brand doesn't work, (I am not it is just a point I am making) I am indirectly saying you whom uses ___ brand isn't keeping your animals correctly.
To my mind it isn't an argument about what is best it is what will work in a given situation. It is too bad that people new to the hobby often go to the price over the specs and buy the cheap one and expect it to do something that is beyond its capabilities.
There are no right answers in husbandry, if the conditions are correct they are correct. In a tub / tank / enclosure with, pick a heat source, and ,pick a controller, if it is keeping the environmental conditions it is correct.
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