JumpStart by Hydrofarm Digital Thermostat Controller for Heat Mats, MTPRTC, Water Resistant Probe, Celcius or Farenheit Read-Out, 6' Cord

I have used Hydrofarm seedling heat mats, thermostats, and lighting systems for years now and can attest to overwhelming success these have afforded me in getting my garden plants started in late winter. This thermostat is a perfect accessory to help keep your plants at the proper temperature. Depending on where you set up your seed starting equipment, you may find this thermostat indispensable. Seed heat mats are designed to keep your seed tray about 10-20 degrees above ambient temperature. If you keep yours indoors in a 65-70 degree environment like I do, you might consider getting this thermostat to keep your young plants from getting too hot. This thermostat is easy to perform the initial set up on, then very easy to make adjustments to if needed. It has an integrated probe for placement into the soil so that a direct reading can be taken and regulated accordingly. Heat mats and proper lighting are the key to consistent and prolific germination of seeds started in late winter to be ready for springtime planting. Here's the setup I've used for the past few years: -Park Seed Park's Double Bio Dome with 80 Jumbo Cells. I actually use 2-18 Jumbo Cell for a total of 36 plants. There are several sizes of the Bio-Dome system. I have the DOUBLE Bio-Dome which allows for two seed starting cells (Purchased from Park Seed) -Hydrofarm MT10008 20-by-20-Inch Seedling Heat Mat (Purchased from Amazon) -Hydrofarm FLT24 2-ft/ 4-Tube T5 Commercial System with Bulbs (Purchased from Amazon) -Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats (Purchased from Amazon) -Style Selections 36-in H x 24-in W x 18-in D 3-Tier Steel Freestanding Shelving Unit (Purchased from Lowe's) The modular, adjustable wire shelving unit gives me the foundation for my indoor winter seed-starting setup. The shelves are adjustable so that I can hang the grow light on the underside of the top shelf, then adjust the middle shelf so that the top of the Bio Dome is about 6-8 inches from the light. This allows for enough room to remove the top of the Bio Dome in the event I need to access the plants for watering, fertilizing, etc. The bottom shelf is great for storing my remaining planting supplies. The light is almost the same size as the Double Bio-Dome and provides 100% light coverage necessary for young plants to thrive. A few years back, I tried to use a light that was only 2 bulbs and half the size of the one I currently use. You could tell that the young plants would angle toward the light hanging in the middle, and those on the outer edges didn't grow as quickly and tall as those in the middle. Take it from someone who spent $25 - $50 each year over the course of several years trying to find a light that would work well with my seed starting system. I knew about the Hydrofarm light early on, but wasn't too eager to purchase it due to it's higher cost. I wish I would have gotten it first because I would have saved money in the long run considering the poor-performing lights I purchased in years prior to getting the one listed above. The Park Seed Bio Dome is an extraordinary seed-starting system that allows your plants to grow quite large without root binding problems found in other tray-type seed starting setups. Park uses the styrofoam cell matrix with replaceable organic bio-sponges in which the seeds are planted. I regulate the temperature of the seed heat mat with the Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat set at between 85-90 degrees. This thermostat has a temperature probe you can insert into one of the organic bio-sponges to obtain a direct soil reading. I route the probe through one of the vent holes in the lid of the Bio-Dome. In order to capture the most heat from the heat mat, while allowing the thermostat to regulate the temperature of the mat, I first take a folded beach towel and place it on the middle shelving rack. I then set the heat mat on top of the towel, then place the Bio-Dome on top of the heat mat. This allows me to recover most of the heat that would otherwise radiate from the exposed, bottom side of the heat mat. Watering with the Bio-Dome setup is easy and, depending on how you have the vents adjusted in the lid, performed infrequently at best due to the efficiency of water vapor recovery of the Bio-Dome system. I typically start tomato and pepper plants in mid-February so that they are ready for planting by the first week of May. You may want to check online for your indoor planting and outdoor transplanting dates depending on your region and climate. I hope my sharing with you what has worked quite well for me will help you in your seed-starting endeavors!

This is a Hydrofarm product, being used on three Planter's Pride covered heat trays. (Which they label as 72 cell "Heated greenhouse kits".) Each self contained 72 growing cell tray/kit uses 17 watts. The Hydrofarm Heat mat Thermostat is rated to handle 1000 watts, so well under it's rated capacity at 3 mats/51 watts. I bought 8 of these heat mat trays and was prepared to plug all of them into a power strip attached to the underside of my shelf, then plug the power strip cord into the thermostat. I use these greenhouse trays on a 2'x4' shelf unit with grow lights attached to the bottom of each shelf. I'm also growing wheatgrass on these shelves, so I try to check water every morning and night, but always at night if I miss a morning. I run all my lights on timers to mimic the natural sun cycles. It's not necessary I suppose, but maybe plants like a break too? Except for watering, my set up is automatic and maintenance free. All due to a 5 dollar light timer and this thermostat. Here's my details. Regular Basement temp - 60-62 degrees. This year I am in the process of sprouting 15 different varieties of tomatoes. So 72 cells of tomatoes, 72 cells of peppers, 36 cells of cauliflour, 36 cells of brocolli. I had read accounts of the mats not shutting off and running too hot for too long without a timer or thermostat. Sure enough, right on the heated greenhouse kit box, Tomatoes are listed as a "cooler start seed" 70-80 degrees. The "Hot seed starts" that according to their directions require the mats to be turned on and left on full time are squash, radishes, pumpkins, corn, watermelons, etc. And I don't know anybody who starts these varieties, such as corn indoors? "Hot seed start" temps were 90 degrees, a little too warm for tomatoes and such. Read your box and heat mat perameters! Their solution as stated on the box is to unplug the tray for 4 to 6 hours at night, or use a timer to try and maintain a 70-80 degree range. Which sounds like an easy way to fail at germinating tomatoes, since these mats have the capability of reaching 90+ degrees.. Well this is what the Hydrofarm soil thermostat is for, because I don't want to get up in the middle of the night and fiddle with flashlights, manual soil thermometers, plugging and unplugging units! If the ambient temperature in the basement changes, the Hydrofarm thermostat adjusts. I set the temperature at 82 degrees, stick the corded silver lead down into a growing cell in one of the trays and leave it there. The deeper you press the temperature lead down into the cell the closer you make it to the heat source of the mat. My advice would be to set it as close to the soil surface as possible without it flipping out of the dirt. (This lead then continually takes the default reading for all three trays) Water as usual, and put the tray lid back on. It took about 4 hours to get the soil up to temperature on the digital readout. I keep a cheap tiny window thermometer under the lid of one of the other trays as another safety control reading. In case the thermostat were to ever freeze and the mats stayed on, I'd be able to catch it. I ended up setting my thermostat to 82 to raise the above the soil temp in the covered tray a couple degrees which was still showing in the high 60's. So when the soil temp reaches 82, it shuts off. Soil temp seems to drop around three degrees or so before it turns back on. I assume there's an electricity savings there, but I don't know how long the trays remain off. You can't hear them turn on and off. But it's doing a super job of regulating the germination temperature. Over half of my tomato seeds sprouted in under 10 days and all at once! In less than 24 hours things went from bare dirt in the tray to sprouts pressing against the underside of the tray lid. Amazing. I've struggled with tomatoes every year prior. All the seeds that didn't sprout has more to do with seed viability than the equipment as far as I'm concerned. The thermostat does what it's supposed to do, and allows you to go on with your life and do other things besides monitor the trays all day and night. This makes starting your own seeds fun, easy, and worthwhile to do if your gardening means more to you than a hobby. This year, the cost of buying tomato/pepper transplants was instead spent on this equipment, next year it should amount to substantial savings!

It says for heat mats, but really it's just a controlled standard power outlet, so you can plug whatever you want in to it. I use it with a 150 watt ceramic heating bulb( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQCQO ) plugged into a normal lamp to keep my pet hedgehog's cage warm, and really, I could plug several of those heating elements into a surge protector with this if I wanted to. It's easy to use, and the temperature probe is responsive and accurate. While the thermometer probe seems accurate to 1 decimal place, the actually temperature control is not very precise. The power clicks on when the probe hits 2 F BELOW the temperature you set it to and clicks off right when it warms up to the temperature you set. So the best possible accuracy you could get is setting the thermostat to 1 degree above the temp you want and it would go from 1 below to 1 above what you actually want. Keep in mind also that this control accuracy depends on what sort of heating element you use, what sort of environment it's in, and where you place the probe and will only get slightly worse from what I described. I use it in open air with the probe about a foot away from a ceramic heating element and I get swings of 5-6 degrees but this will be better if you are using a heating mat in soil as described. This accuracy was perfectly fine for me, but if your application calls for more precision, you'll have to look for something else. Unfortunately, to get something better you'll have to spend a lot more from what I saw. I only saw 2 minor downsides: 1) The little suction cup to hold the probe in place isn't that great (but it works ok, and I guess it's not that big of a deal anyway) and 2) The red led control interface is slightly bright and is always on. This was not a problem for me, but if you use this in a place where you sleep or could be otherwise bothered by it, you'd probably have to make a little cover or something. Other than that I have no complaints! Compared to similar products, this feels like a reliable, effective product at a great price. Despite limited precision, for the money I don't think you'll find better

The Hydrofarm is ok and does it's job. It's an on/off thermostat which means it turns on to reach the desired temp and turns off. As the temp lowers, turns on again to reheat. All in all the unit works well but for the serious reptile keeper, I suggest spending some more money and purchase a proportional thermostat. What that does is increase and decrease power to the heating element in pulses to MAINTAIN the desired temp. There won't be 1-2 degrees difference I was experiencing with the Hydrofarm. I ended up buying a Vivarium VE-300 because of the price and features, but there are many more good ones out there (Herpstat, Helix). The VE-300 was super easy to setup and operate, even my 11 y/o daughter was able to adjust it. It all boils down to preference and features you actually need I guess. The Hydrofarm is great for it's price and I will continue to use it as a back up and for my quarantine rack system for new snakes.

I bought this heat mat thermostat to help me maintain a consistent temperature inside a cabinet for brewing Kombucha in my home. During the fall and winter months, the temperature dips below optimal levels for brewing and so it became necessary to find a way to get the temperature up but also modulate things so that the temperature didn't get too high. I ended up making my own heat mat out of flexible heat tape and placing it inside the cabinet with my brewing vessel. I bought this unit so that I'd have the option of submerging the temperature probe if I so choose, but for now I've been getting great results by just taping the probe to the glass pitcher. I plugged the thermostat into the wall, then I plugged the heat mat into the thermostat, and set the desired temperature. After that, I have never had to touch the thermostat or heat tape ever again. It has kept the brewing cabinet a steady temperature for months on end and I have been able to establish a consistent brewing schedule much better than ever before. The unit is super simple to use, as it only has three buttons, and you can use it to set your temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius. I also have a reptile enclosure that I'm thinking about buying another thermostat for, because in the past I had a heat mat get too hot and the glass bottom actually cracked due to the combination of moisture and heat! Don't bother with the cheap junky thermostats made by the reptile accessory brands - this thermostat is the real deal.

Quite a lot bigger than I expected but seems to work well, maybe 4 inches by 3 inches minus cords sticking out in several directions, but maintains temp within about 4-5 degrees in my application which I'll describe. I have a glass snake terrarium with an under tank heater stuck on the bottom, on the outside of the glass between the glass and shelf. Under aspen bedding the glass was getting far too hot, like 140 degrees Fahrenheit so I had to do something to regulate it. I put this device's probe inside the tank, on top of the glass bottom but nestled in the aspen bedding, and set it to 105 degrees. It did the trick. Because UTHs take a long time to heat up and cool down the process is pretty slow in both directions, but the probe temp is hovering right around 105 and it has solved my worry that my snake will wiggle down to bare glass and burn herself. With the probe at 105, the tank stays at about 86-89 (I also have a bulb running at day and a ceramic heater at night so keep that in mind, those both help a lot and I don't think a UTH at 105 would be enough for a 40g breeder) Be warned, the thermostat tops out at 108, even initiating an emergency shutdown at that temp. It's probably perfect for seed beds but I would have liked my UTH to be more like 112, which would still prevent any serious burn injury (if any) while allowing more heat to get through the aspen.

First of all, I was recommended this thermostat by someone on a forum site, and I'm using it to control heat mats for my snakes. In my opinion, this is one of the best little thermostats out there for the money, especially here on amazon. It's extremely simple and easy to use with a nice large display, and the temp swing is only one or two degrees, which is perfectly fine for most reptiles. When I saw how well the first one worked, I bought myself another one. They are just awesome, and I recommend them to everyone who needs a cheap but very well made thermostat. The only negative thing I can think of is that, since it is the on/off type, there is a fairly audible click when it turns on and off. It bothered me at first, but I got used to it very quickly, and the click also seems to have grown fainter over time. Obviously if you have the money (or for more delicate species), a proportional thermostat is the best, but for someone on a budget who still needs an accurate, reliable unit, you can't beat it.

I've been using these since 2019 for my Leopard Gecko heating pads. I love them, they last for years, and they work great. The screen is bright and easy to read. It accurately tracks heat levels to how you set it.

I bought this thermostat almost 1 year ago, after having the Zilla Brand for a short time, which was a nightmare. I set it to 90 F, and it stays between 88- 92 which is perfect for Ball Pythons. My snake is a happy go-lucky little ham, and I recommend it to anyone who may not be able to afford the more expensive ones. . Here are my pros 1. Easy to setup 2. Can set the thermostat- fluctuates within 2 degrees, which is good for reptiles, needing a ranged hot spot- a few degrees matters. 3. Probe cord is flatter with no lip on one side, so probe can meet mat directly. 4. Good price. 5. The set button has to be held down for 3 secs to change the temp, it would be hard for small children to fiddle with it and mess up your setting 6. Digital Reader, very convenient, less worry about hot spot temp checking Cons NONE. I use this only for my 1 reptile, so I do not have any cons yet. Cheers

Mi pitón bola se los agradece este invierno.

Excelente producto! Controla muy bien la temperatura del heat mat. Yo lo uso para controlar la temperatura en el terrario de mi pitón bola.

I use this thermostat connected to a reptile heat mat in my ball python's cage. It works very well! The only things I have to pick on is its somewhat unsightly design and the tendency to fall off whatever you've set it on due to the weight of the wires. Other than that, it keeps the warm spot at the right temperature. I've had it for a few months now and it hasn't let me down yet!

Hydrofarm has never failed me or my reptiles before and continues to be easy to set up and reliable! I love these thermostats, and currently own three, have never had any issues with them! I would recommend such with any heating element, but use a temperature gun!! The readings inside the tank are usually different, sometimes drastically. These are best used with one so you can get the most accurate reading.