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Name that thermostat...

ZoologyMajor

ZoologyMajor

100% Addicted
Please give me some names of some highly recommended thermostats. Something a lot better quality than what I have. I think once I get stackable caging I will use my current unstackable cage for quarantining. Right now I am using a zoo-med 500r for one and a homemade rheostat for my 2nd cage.
 
Helix and Ranco are popular choices--and I have heard good things about them. However, I only use Herpstats from Spyder Robotics--for the money, quality, features, and service this is my top (only) choice.
 
Using a Helix thermostat as we speak for my 10 15qt bin rack. They are one of the absolute BEST out there, and you will find alot of the "big names" use them. I don't want to throw someone else's name out as recommending a product without their consent.. But I will say if you put a list together of the top ten breeder of corns he would at min. make #2, and the Helix is what he recommended to me.

Ask around with some of the big name breeders of what they use and recommend, I think pretty much all of them will tell you.
 
I like the Helix. I used a Ranco on my saltwater reef tank to run a chiller, it worked great too.
 
Nanci said:
Herpstat and Herpstat ND. Customer service is incredible.
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I agree with Nanci. The Herpstat ND has an audible alarm if the temp probe is disconnected, plus a long list of other nice features. I'm using one for my 2007 hatchling rack & I have one on my incubator - it's spot on.
 
I now have both a Herpstat ND and a regular Herpstat. They hold temps very well, within a degree. The ND is on the 4 Aneries, and the standard HS is just on Butter. Vern's viv is running a 500R and I might change that out to a standard HS after the holidays.

I'm not ditching the 500R, though, and might even by another one or two. I saw a great idea to use the 500R as a 'fail-safe' behind the progressive stats. You set up the 500R first, and have it set to kick off at a temp a few degrees higher than you want, but still low enough to be safe, say 88*. Then you plug the progressive stat into that, and set it to the temperature you want, like 84* or whatever. That way, if the HS fails in power on mode, you won't get run-away temps. BUT, that also means you need to dial it up now and then to check that the 500R is still working.
 
Herpstat II!!!

Dion's customer service is top notch, case in point:

When I first got my Herpstat, I ran it through its paces, calibrating and making sure both temperature probes where recording the same temperature. It turns one of my probes was bad and without hesitation or cost to me, Dion sent out a new probe ASAP.

They are really nice products that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone.

Regards,
Steve
 
Dion, that owns Spyder Robotics, is the best. He really helped me get my cages dialed in, because the Herpstat lets you adjust the setting according to how efficient the enclosure is, and I was confused about which way to change it. Dion told me how he'd set it, and then gave me a couple things to do if even then the cages were still holding heat too well.

And on my last order he sent me a free spare cable just because. Which is wonderful if you want to be able to change which cage you are probing, without having to dismantle the existing probe, as in using an upper cage for summer and the lower cage for winter, or whatever.

I dinked around with a 500R for two weeks trying to get a stable temp, and never did. I'm so done with them. I took them all out and put in Herpstat NDs.
 
I have a Ranco, and it works great. Would like to save up for a Herpstat though, because its proportional. I use the 500-R to regulate temperature in my mouse room though, and it works great for that.
 
I've had and used a Helix proportional thermostat for a couple years and never had a problem. It doesn't have any alarms (that I know of), but I don't need extra bells and whistles. If I'm confident that it's worth the money I paid for it, and it has been so far, alarms aren't a necessity.
 
I feel better with alarms. Jeff Mohr just had a _double_ thermostat failure. If one of mine failed, if it wasn't while I was at work, I'd have time to do something, because I'd hear the alarm!
 
Nanci said:
Jeff Mohr just had a _double_ thermostat failure.
Click to expand...

Yes I did! I thought two in circuit would be enough.....nope! Granted they were the Alife brand from various online sources but I've never had BOTH fail at the same time. Just be careful.
 
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