Odd....I started some pepper seeds in cells along with some tomatoes. I regretted it almost instantly, since last year these seed took FOREVER to sprout. In fact, I had all but given up on them when they finally showed up. Must have been about a month before they came up. Anyway, just 8 days, and they're starting to come up. Actually had three peppers up before the first mater planted at the same time. Can't think of a thing I did differently this year. I started them a bit later, but conditions are the same. Weird...
I'm usually in the 7 to 10 day range before seeing tomatoes pop up. The area where I start seeds is probably between 68 to 70 degrees most of the time. We might gave had a day or two last week where the day time temps got into the mid 70s for a while...
Yeah, I'm talking about starting them indoors with bottom heat from a heat mat. Even if the outdoor temperature is the same as the heat mat temperature, bottom heat seems to be more effective. But a few days difference isn't important.