Big Apple's Proportional Thermostat

I purchaced Big Apple's Proportional Thermostat about four months ago. I have the thermostat hooked up to a five foot strip of heat tape. This thermostat is dead on. Whenever I am taking care of maintnance on my cages, I make sure to take a temp reading from the heat tape. The temp is always right on. This product cost me 100 dollars (give or take a few). At the time I thought it was a little much compared to the dimmers I was using, but it is well worth the money. The peace of mind that this product has given me has been worth the price. I worry a lot less now about cooking my snakes. The thermostat takes a temp reading every so often and adjust the electricity accordingly.

I am a big fan.

Justin Wilson

I have one of these thermostats also. I agree it's a very nice unit, and compared feature for feature, it's a better value that the helix.
The built in night drop feature is handy, and it's very accurate.

My only fault with it is the single outlet. While it's easy enough to use it on more than one cage, and I do, I just think for $100 an added outlet is called for.
While it's not something I have plans of converting my entire collection over to, I am pleased with its performance.

Hello,

Is there a web address I can get the Big Apple's Proportional Thermostat?

I have had major headaches with ALife 1000 thermostats, one lasted 7 days and was defective in that it failed to switch off the heat when cages reached the desired temps. The other lasted 6 months and did the same... makes for losing a lot of sleep!

Thanks, Scott Collien

Here is a link to the page in their online catalog detailing the proportional thermostat.

Big Apple Herp Thermostat

Thanks for the link.... maybe this will provide some sleep!

Much appreciated!!

Scott Collien

Do you really think it's better than the Helix systems? I am about to invest in a thermostat... and I am torn between the BigAppleHerp one, and one of the Helix controllers...

I dont' think the Big Apple model is necessarily a better unit, just a better value.
I have two Helix controllers in use now and they are working fine. My only complaint is an error message on the digital read out of one that will not reset. It still controlls the temperature normally, but the fault light burns all the time. I'm going to have to contact them about that.

What makes the Big Apple a better value though is that it comes equipped with a night drop capability as standard on the $100 model. Helix requires the purchase of extra equipment to be able to do this.

They're both good units, but if I were to be buying another one I would buy a Big Apple.

Thanks for replying, Clay. What snakes are you using the night drop feature for, exactly? I am curious if it applies to what you're using it for, versus what I am... Thanks =)

Boas mainly, but the feature can be used by any snake. Although most people do it, keeping a uniform temperature 24/7 is not natural, and I believe there is a potential benefit in using a nighttime temperature drop with any species.
It comes in the most useful with boas and pythons though, particularly during the breeding season.

I have switched from useless Alife 1000 thermostats to Ranco thermostats. These also have a night drop feature and have proven to me to be very reliable..... good buy to the Alife 1000 snake killers!