Thermostats

[DrLew]

Check out reptile basics - he has developed the end all be all of thermostats!
www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats
I have two - they're awesome!

[JeRMz]

Just received my Hydrofarm in the mail, yesterday. I don't plan on breeding snakes, just owning one.
I understand that when breeding, you should have an incredibly accurate t-stat, such as the acclaimed Herpstats, VE's, etc.
But, these H-farms have such raving reviews! Worrying about the 2 degree fluctuation, imo, is kinda silly. If your cage/tank/whatever isn't insulated enough to hold 2 extra degrees inside, for a minute or two, something must be wrong with your enclosure... Down the road I do intend on picking up a VE, and I'm fairly sure the H-farm will be one hell of a fail-safe! Got change for a nickel? There's my 2 cents.

[kitedemon]

The hydrofarms are specs at 2ºC. 4ºF up or down from accurate is possible. Then there is a 3ºC degree hysteresis. Then you get backlash as well. Personally I would only use one as a failsafe and nothing else due to the potential 6º over the set point that is possible. I would suggest an accurate thermometer but the sad fact is an accurate thermometer is more expensive than a better tstat.

Never trust the read out, make certain your thermometer is accurate as well better than average. That is the real catch here. Most digital ones are 2ºF up or down and some (popular ones) are 4ºF I believe every set up should have one temperature indication that is 1ºF of accurate or better.

Hosted on Fotki

83.8-82.4-81.6 and accurate is 80.4 These are the 'new and improved accuracy' models (LOL) they are also all correct according to the manufacturer with in the 4ºF tolerance.

[kitedemon]

Check out reptile basics - he has developed the end all be all of thermostats!
www.reptilebasics.com/thermostats
I have two - they're awesome!

I would disagree, this they have failed to advance the state of the art and are behind every N american brand (proportional controllers) for features but helix which is 20 years old. I find it quite disappointing there was an opportunity to advance equipment and it was decided not to bother.