Exo Terra and Zilla Thermometers

[UserName336]

I have 2 of the analogue round exo terra thermometers http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/analog_thermometer.php, and one zilla digital thermometer http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/specialty-equipment/digital-termometer-for-terrariums.htm

i placed one exo terra near the top and one near the bottom of my terrarium. the top one is showing roughly 75 and bottom is showing 74. i checked these temperatures against the zilla, and for the bottom it showed 74.5 and the top showed 80.9. i dont entirely believe these are accurate since i have no heat lights going other than my flourescent lights (but those arent even warm to the touch) and my house has the a/c on and its set to 71. the terrarium is right next to a vent, and i have a fan sitting on the top of it (blowing outward, so sucking out air and blowing it into my room) to help with moisture.

i dont really know what kind of question i'm asking here other than are these thermometers accurate/am i paranoid/am i doing something wrong?

 

[AlecWade]

These reptile thermometers aren't of the best quality and don't always provide the most accurate readings. However, most are "close". I'm using three different brands of digital thermometer/hygrometer. I was also unsure about their accuracy of mine. Let all your thermometers sit together with the probes close together and let them stabilize to the rooms temperature. Usually I would find all my thermometers would be within a few tenths of a degree and to me this was good enough. Some thermometers are black while some are white. The black one is going to warm up more quickly and possibly reach a higher temperature because of the black plastic so you may want to keep that in mind. Hygrometers generally vary much more then thermometers as it's much harder to gauge accurate humidity readings.

 

[dillydally]

Can you recommend a quality digital thermometer/hygrometer?

 

[chameleonkev]

Go to a hydroponic store, theres are temp and humidity and are spot on

 

[SpartyTessy]

You should not have the cage next to the vent.

 

[SpartyTessy]

You can test the accuracy of the thermometers by following Wykd's blog. Even if you cannot adjust them you will know how far off they are. The instructions are here. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/wykd/683-calibrating-your-thermometer.html

 

[Kmw]

As a rule of thumb -IMO- anything exo terra that has to "perform", by doing anything besides just existing (Example: Tanks) it's going to be AWFUL.