Its hard to complain about this item when its -20 and your not carrying 5 gallon buckets of water for your horses.

The Good...
- ( were in Alaska ) When its -20 in a 100 gal rubber maid plastic tank the water is ice free. ( probably 75-50 gal in tank )
-Has coiled ( I assume zinc over steel ) cable protector for those horses that play with cords cord is also long enough to make it out of deep tanks and very stout.
-stand offs keep it off of bottom of tanks ( can be used in rubber maid tanks )
-sits on bottom of tank ( our horses used to throw out the float type ) i think this one has a thermal protection in case that does happen ( not confirmed )

The Bad...
- I wish there was a way to modify the thermostat ( I don't know the exact temp but our water is very warm say 40°+) i'd like it only above freezing not a problem with one horse but if you have 15....

Comments:
please note this is 1500 watt, if you have one circuit and you string a bunch of these together expect to pop a fuse. ( should not be an issue most of the time but below zero these things come on a lot )
-there were some comments about longevity, this is a great unit ( above par with other units ) its not stainless steel and it does have a cord on it, we've gotten about 3-4 seasons on our last one before it died ( and we ordered another one, and we will again in 4 years... )
-costs... its 1500 watt, if you live some place where its cold and this is on all of the time its like having 15X 100 watt bulbs on. its not bad, its whats required to keep it ice free when it has warmed up the water enough it will turn off. ( other have given this a low rating because of the power usage, if you only need a 250 watt one your ordering the wrong one... this is the monster truck of water heaters. ( some may need other may not )

I am a big fan of Farm Innovators pond items. I have 3 of the green deicers and they last about 2 years each. I have hard water and the lyme starts building up on the product which I'm sure has something to do with their life span. I actually just purchased a new "green" deicer along with this item, all from Pond Innovators. I have my newest green deicer along with this product in my Koi pond and together they work wonderfully. I have not had to remove any ice off the top of my pond yet this winter. All of my airlines are open due to this.

My pond liner is vinyl and this product nor the green one has melted it nor caused any damage. I may be going overboard with 2 deicers but I'm very OCD about my fish plus I have no desire to ever start carrying buckets of hot water out to my pond to dethaw thick ice.

I live in southeastern Ohio and we've had a pretty bad winter so far. Temps in the teens and quite a bit of snow. So far so good. I would highly recommend this but be aware, it's not a "lifelong" product. Expect it to last maybe 2-3 years if you have hard water. It's cheap enough to repurchase. There's actually a warranty included with all of these deicers but I've been too lazy to ever fill it out.

Shipping is phenomenal as well. Amazon said to expect the item about 1.5-2 weeks later since it wasn't Prime but low and behold, I received this product in 2 days after ordering via FedEx. THANK YOU!

Easy to install

We had a different product that burned out when the water level got too low one night.

These have been great and have had no problems at all.

This unit works well in my horse water trough, keeping it from freezing over diluting our occasional snap freezes. It does start collecting mineral deposits from the well water and needs to be cleaned with vinegar or a de-calcifier solution after use (or during if prolonged use). The thermostat appears to work well, only heating the water when needed.