Sorry, Richard (imported_varanus), I hadn't seen your post as you had posted while I was typing my post. I pretty much repeated what you'd said.
Benny, the reason outside with no heat is okay is the heat of the sun trumps any basking light humans can create. Get a temperature gun and measure the surface temperature of a rock on a sunny day and you'll see that it far exceeds high 30s. As for the substrate, you're making the same mistake a lot of people seem to make. They try one item, which doesn't work, and then throw out the entire concept. Wood shavings are not the only substrate out there and misting is a band-aid.