I did the same thing--deliberated on the heating pad vs the Premier heat plate, and ended up buying the Premier. I did not see the $13 heat pad, though--I was looking at a $40 one and thought heck, for $25 I'll go with the heat plate. Although I did also get the cover that's supposed to keep them from sitting on it too... Note the Premier heat plate is cheaper direct from Premier than Amazon. I've test run the heat plate (no chicks yet) and am really happy with it so far. Easy to set up and adjust legs. I contacted premier to ask if it would be capable of keeping chicks warm at 20-50 degrees. Response was that it would keep them warm enough, but the higher end of that range would be better b/c they'd move around more instead of staying under the plate. Good luck!