Yeah you get what you pay for. I look for things that I want a thermostat to do and decide then what does it best. I have a herpstat a helix and several VE-300's. The herpstat has worked great on my chondro's cages for well over 6 years. I honsetly don't like my Helix but it does the job on the juvi-balls rack system. I love the VE-300's and the only reason I would change from them will be for the dual ve-300's that just came out. Search for what you want and then budget for it. This is one place that I would refuse to go with the cheapest thing you can find.