Anyone have experience with heat mat thermostats?

[Bradford_Schmidt]

Specifically this one: http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-MTPRTC-Digital-Thermostat-Heat/dp/B000NZZG3S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325280573&sr=8-1

I say that one because I really can't find any others. My main question is would purchasing one of these really be worth it? The mats say they are only capable of raising the soil temperature 10-20 degrees F, so would having a thermostat make it possible to go over the 10-20 degrees?

There are some very poor reviews of that product, but I suppose there are bad reviews for everything.

 

[Costeve]

I have run one of these thermostates for about a year now. You just set it and for get it.

There is a nice temp prob for your medium. With current temp display.

As to achieving higher than the 10 to 20 deg beyond ambient air temp, I don't think so.

 

[nitwit]

i have one and it seems to work for me

i think
you should get one for your mat
you can use some toweling or other such insulating materials and put the mat on for a colder grow room
use the humidity dome on your seed tray to keep them warmer might help
any insulation you provide will help you keep the temp where the plants want it

how cold does it get in texas?

 

[SuperHot]

i have one and it seems to work for me

i think
you should get one for your mat
you can use some toweling or other such insulating materials and put the mat on for a colder grow room
use the humidity dome on your seed tray to keep them warmer might help
any insulation you provide will help you keep the temp where the plants want it

how cold does it get in texas?

+1

I'm running with four of them and they have worked great for me. I wouldn't be without it for germination, it speeds up the process 10x!!

 

[saugapepper]

I never used one or a heat mat until this year. Speeds up things considerably! A buy for those with extra $ but not a necessity.

 

[Maxsack331]

yea I just got 2 of those and the Hydrofarm heat mats, I had germinated about 20 seeds before I got them for my first batch of plants, and am doing my second, main batch of 72 plants, and after a few days, a bunch have already come up.. much much faster than before using a warm heating plant bulb to keep the plants warm.. and I plan on using one of the temp thermostats to control my heating lamp for my grow tent when I move them in there when I pot them up..

get'em they work great

 

[Bradford_Schmidt]

I have run one of these thermostates for about a year now. You just set it and for get it.

There is a nice temp prob for your medium. With current temp display.

As to achieving higher than the 10 to 20 deg beyond ambient air temp, I don't think so.

So what would be the main benefit of having the thermostat if it's not going to go above or below the 10 to 20 degrees? I suppose it would mean more stable temperatures? Also, do you use the hydrofarm heat mat with this thermostat?

i have one and it seems to work for me

i think
you should get one for your mat
you can use some toweling or other such insulating materials and put the mat on for a colder grow room
use the humidity dome on your seed tray to keep them warmer might help
any insulation you provide will help you keep the temp where the plants want it

how cold does it get in texas?

It's about 60 in the house right now...mid 30's to 40's outside at night

Out of curiosity, what types of seeds are you starting Maxsack?

 

[Maxsack331]

So what would be the main benefit of having the thermostat if it's not going to go above or below the 10 to 20 degrees? I suppose it would mean more stable temperatures? Also, do you use the hydrofarm heat mat with this thermostat?



It's about 60 in the house right now...mid 30's to 40's outside at night

Out of curiosity, what types of seeds are you starting Maxsack?

that's about what my house temps are like right now, but I have a shelf that I put some insulated reflective stuff around and I have a plastic cover that I tape on the front, so I can get sunlight during the day, and at night I have another white plastic cover on top of that clear one to reflect the light back in so the heatmats +thermostats keep the temps pretty solid at around 80-85, and since during the day I have it facing the southern window, it gets pretty hot so I have to loosen the plastic cover sometimes but w/o the thermostat it would be really really hot..
here is a pic of my setup, I had the insulating stuff lying around from when I used it on my snake cage to help insulate the back glass that was near the window, and the shelves from walmart for $20 work great.

Top ones with the plants I started a few weeks ago (not bad considering I fried half of them when I had put in a new LED light that was too close/strong, but took it out for now and put that middle 2,700k 42w CFL in)

Bottom rack with all the new seeds I started out, have about 10 or more up today, both top and bottom have a heat mat under them, top set to 83 degrees (it lets the temp drop 3 degrees or so before turning on, so the top is usually around 80-81),and bottom set to 86, which is usually around 83-85

but anyways, I started about 20 different ones first, then I got cought up in everything and wanted more and wanted to try some superhots.. so here is the list so far, I will be getting a few random/rarer seeds from a forum member soon too.
----------Tepin, Bulgarian Carrot, Hottie Hybrid, Red Caribbean, Pretty Purple Pepper, Big Bomb Hybrid, Congo Trinidad, Cherry Bomb Hybrid, Fatalii, Jamaican Hot Chocolate, Brown Habanero, Trinidad Scorpion, Chocolate Bhut Jolokia, Bhut Jolokia Naga Morich, 7pot/pod Pepper, Aji Lemon,