Nate,
I've heard the horror stories before but nothing first hand. I heard about houses going up in flames and melted tubs but nothing first hand. I don't use anything but 3" or 4" flexwatt anymore. I used to use 11" which is higher wattage and runs much hotter. I haven't measured temps on unregulated (no stat) 3" flexwatt but it runs much cooler. Unregulated heat rope on the other hand runs extremely hot.
Jamie