To the OP, Vivarium Electronics is not a rebadged Herpstat. It is it's own company. Herpstats are actually Spyder Robotics. My vote is go for the Herpstat. I got a Herpstat 1 and Herpstat 2 and next month I will be ordering a Herpstat 6 so I don't have to worry about a T-stat for awhile as I'll have the 2 and 1 as backups and I have 2 Hydrofarms laying around too lol. Think i'm going to order a 3rd AP T10 this week so I can make a clean sweep on the cages for my gals and probably throw the ProLine up on CL. Either way though, VE or Herpstats both work well. I have even been hearing some good reviews of the new to stateside ISTAT t-stats. Heard mixed reviews about them from EU guys but a few guys I've talked to here seem to like them.