Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any strong opinions on one vs. the other? I have seen ProProducts recommended but I have also read that they are not reliable. I ordered some from Helix but have no experience with them yet. I'd love to hear some comparisons. Thanks,

Mike

I have both. I ordered one pro products panel ($90), then I saw LLL was trying to clearance out some of their meduim helix panels for $55/each. I couldn't pass up that deal, so I ordered the three more I needed.

My only complaint about the helix panel is that they use FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) on the bottom of the panel and you have to let this offgas. This will take approximately an entire week at full power outside of your cage. This really annoyed me, because I had mounted them and they wouldnt stop smelling so I had to take them and hang them up in the garage from the rafters and plug them in. On for 2 hours, off for 2. Then on overnight. The heating and cooling helps them offgas a LOT faster.

I didn't have to do anything like that with the pro products panel, i'm unsure as of what they use but it's not anything that emits fumes like FRP does.

I haven't ever heard about a pro products as unreliable... mine's only been running about a month and a half now, but it's been keeping my cage at a constant temperature (on a thermostat).

They really both do a perfectly fine job, I think. However, if I had the money I would order a pro products panel because they don't need to offgas, and they affix to your ceiling a lot better than the helix panels do.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Could you measure the thickness of the ProPanel for me? I've got an idea for an arboreal rack that will allow for use of RHP's and misting systems but I need to know the thickness first.

Also, I tend to agree on the ProProducts vs. Helix thing. There is one fairly public dispute regarding the ProProducts RHP and I assume that's the reliability issues mentioned by the first poster.

I have pretty good insight into this dispute and think it's much ado about nothing.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Well I'll address this here instead of making a new thread. I just received my Pro Product RHP and now..to install. No idea what to do. I really dont want to glue it on, I'd rather use the screws provided but their instructions are less than clear.

I'm putting it in a boaphile cage. After the screws are in the RHP theres only about 1/4" sticking out, will that be enough to secure it to the top of the cage or do I need longer screws? And, only one of the screw holes on the RHP are clear. The other one has some excess metal blocking one of the screw holes. I should just be able to punch through it and not have any problems, correct? Hope so anyways.

I'm unsure of boaphile cages, but they are probably a pastic, correct? The screws that are supplied with the heaters are machine screws with nuts. (or at least thats what was supplied with mine). To mount with these you will need to drill a hole through the top of the cage, then shove the screw all the way through and atach the nut on the other side.

This is not the optimal way to mount such a heater. Or anything to the top of a cage, for that matter. what exactly is your cage made out of? that'll help a lot.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Yep. Some sort of plastic anyways. What is the optimum way to mount the RHP then?

how thick is it?
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Its probably about 1/4" thick, which is why I was worried about screw length. Good thing my dad is good with these type of things. Now I just need to convince him to help me LOL..and also help with modifying my other cage.

Mounting RHP's to plastic cages seems to be a popular topic on many of the forums, perhaps even the one hosted by the Boaphile website. Everyone wants a flush-mount solution so the cages can be stacked.

I can't remember the solutions, but I believe some have used something other than the available mounting bolts.

Might be worth searching around. Sorry I could not help more.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

I was hoping chris would have a definate way to do this, lol.

what i would do is take the panel down to home depot and look at the screws they have hanging up in the little plastic bags. there are some corse threaded wood screws that are 1/2" or shorter. Since a pro products panel will flush mount you wont need to worry about the animal weighting it down. I would use a #8 screw and shove it through, and see how far it comes out. You want it to come out just under 1/4". drill a pilot hole and it should work. you may have a little gap inbetween the panel and the plastic, however.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

I forgot boaphile has forums, may have to wander over there. I'm not worried about stacking the cage since this one is on the top of the stack. Thanks for all the help, hopefully this won't give me too much trouble. I just don't want the thing to fall.

The pro products is 1 3/16" thick mounted. This particular panel is 11 3/4" wide x 17 3/4" long. I don't know if the size will make a difference in thickness. I don't think it would, however.

I havent heard about any pro products panels failing... but they have a 10 year warranty vs a 1 year on a helix. For comparison, my helix is about 2 5/8" thick.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

Good timing... I just got Bob on the phone. Ended up learning things I had not planned to as always.

Thanks for the information. He told me to plan on 1.25" as well.

I'm hoping to heat my room with three of the large 2'x4' (375 watt) panels but won't be able to afford that right now. I'll be tripping over my @%$# oil-filled heater for another year at least.
-----
Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

.
-----
Symatic

"You can't appreciate Shakespeare until you've read him in the original Klingon."

Thanks to all who responded. I know nothing of the dispute aside from what I read online, but it scared me off of the Pro-products panel anyway. I ordered the Helix ones. They were straightforward about the outgassing. It sounds like Pro-products makes a good heat panel. Maybe I'll post again in a month or so after I've become familiar with the Helix.

Mike

well the reason you dont read about the pro panels offgas time is that they dont need to.
-----
-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

The Wildlife Discovery Center, where I work part-time uses Pro-Product heat panels on almost every display cage we have and they've proven very reliable and an excellent heat source. However, beware that they are so efficient, they have a tendency to really dry out an enclosure. So if you're using them with a humidity-loving species I at the very least recommend twice daily heavy misting, or the installation of some misting system or other humidity-boosting device.
-----
Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois