I have experience with Ranco, Herpstat, and Hydrofarm.
Herpstat is much better than Ranco in my opinion. And if you're paying $100, you can get a Herpstat for the same price.
Rancos are On/Off type of thermostat. This means that it turns on when your probe reads too cold and turns off when the probe reads too warm. It's just constantly turning on and off to maintain that temp. This can give you some inconsistent temp swings. The Ranco says it's a +/- 1 degree temp shift, but I'm pretty sure it does do a little more.
The Herpstat is a proportional type thermostat. This means it maintains a constant temp by regulating the power going into the heat tape.
You can plug a power strip to both a Ranco or Herpstat and connect multiple heating elements of the same size to.
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