My 'heat bulb' keeps going! Need advice on replacement bulb

[rebeccamonteith]

Hey, I had a par38 80w halogen bulb as the heat lamp, which produced the perfect temperatures when connected to my thermostat, 76 ish on the cool size and around 105 on the basking spot. However, this is the second of this bulb that has just went out! It was fine this morning and then all of a sudden, it just switched off. Both of these bulbs have only worked for about a week, though they are supposed to last years. The thermostat I have is a Habistat Dimming Thermostat. I'm not sure if it could be something to do with the wattage or something. I was just at B&Q and they said that this bulb is the only one which would produce that kind of heat and that their other bulbs are light only. Asda's lightbulbs are only low wattage.
I have had both a 150 w and 100 w (I think) Exo Terra basking spot light in the past, both of which have not produced enough heat.

Would anybody be able to recommend a really good basking bulb which produces a direct light onto the basking area as opposed to a general overall light? One which would also work with my thermostat without going off

 

[CooperDragon]

It's odd that both have gone out so quickly. I've found the regular halogens to last several months with regular use. Perhaps you got some from a bad batch or something is up with your fixture. It might be worth trying one of the komodo basking lights. I haven't used them but they are relatively cheap and rated well. Not sure how they'd handle dimming.