I'd play it safe and get either a cheaper, but good, thermostat (see the hydrofarms... about $35 and good performance) or you can usually make it work with a rheostat (lamp dimmer) IF you have an accurate thermometer (like the accurite) that has a probe to put directly on the hot spot. I used a rheostat when I was getting started and it worked, but it took a couple days playing with it to find the right setting and I had to check it like 7x a day to make sure it was still at the right temp (as the room temp changes you have to adjust the rheostat).

Lamps will work to raise your ambient temp, but 3 things: 1. It will suck humidity out of your tank (there's a tank screen top foil tutorial that will help you with this somewhere on this site.. it's a sticky). 2. Get one on a dimmer or hook it up to a dimmer so you can adjust to the right temp. 3. Use either a CHE (ceramic heat emitter) or a red / black light bulb so that you can leave it on all the time and not mess up the day / night cycle.

I know all the equiptment seems expensive and a pain, but in the long run, it'll be cheaper to spend $15 on a good thermometer and $40 on a deacent t-stat rather than $100+ on a vet bill for burns. The one expensive thermostat I have (herpstat) I consider my best investment in terms of $$. I actually requested amazon gift cards for my birthday and then pooled them together to buy it (the bean farm sold it off of amazon as an independent seller).

Good luck.