Brinsea Ova Easy 190 or 1502 GQF Sportsman?

[Frogtown]

Does anyone have one of these? How well do they work?

I am thinking of getting a cabinet incubator and have narrowed it down to these two. Does anyone have opinion on these?

 

[hinkjc]

I have the GQF Sportsman 1502 and the Brinsea Ova Easy 380. I like the Sportsman better and would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Jody

 

[Frogtown]

Do duck and goose eggs fit in the extra large egg trays? If not what would you use?

 

[hinkjc]

I can't help you there. I don't hatch ducks or geese. I do know that my wild turkey eggs fit in the regular chicken egg trays, but they're about the same as my buff orp eggs.

Jody

 

[kstaven]

I'm on the other side of the fence on this one. I have nothing but 380's now and got rid of the sportsmans. Found heat was far more even throughout the cabinet. Universal trays that come with the 380 or 190 will handle any size egg you want.

 

[brothfeder]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I'm trying to compare these two incubators. Its not to clear how many chicken eggs the Sportsmans 1502 holds. I'm seeing 288 eggs capacity, but I'm not sure if that includes the ones in the hatching tray below?

Also some sources says it consumes 325 watts while others say 225. Is there anyone who owns this model that is able to tell me what it says it consumes? The Ova-Easy 180 and 380 say they consume 200 watts max and 100 watts on average, which is interesting because the Ova-easy has more automation (if you include the humidity pump) and that laminar air circulation with multiple fans.

 

[dheltzel]

The Sportsmans have 3 trays, each 12x24 inches. It depends on what inserts you get as to how many eggs fit each tray. I bought inserts on ebay that hold 48 eggs and I can fit 2 per tray for a total of 288 eggs. There are trays for larger and small eggs that hold different numbers of eggs, hence the confusion about how many total eggs you can fit.

Mine is never all the way full anyway, it works great for my purposes and I can't imagine having more eggs than that incubating anyway.

 

[brothfeder]

The Sportsmans have 3 trays, each 12x24 inches. It depends on what inserts you get as to how many eggs fit each tray. I bought inserts on ebay that hold 48 eggs and I can fit 2 per tray for a total of 288 eggs. There are trays for larger and small eggs that hold different numbers of eggs, hence the confusion about how many total eggs you can fit.

Mine is never all the way full anyway, it works great for my purposes and I can't imagine having more eggs than that incubating anyway.

Thanks for the input. You find the humidity levels satisfactory, even during a dry summer? I'm just trying to understand how it works. You regulate humidity by filling a tray and using sponges called waffers?

 

[dheltzel]

I think it depends on how humid the surrounding air is. I ran mine dry most of the year, but added some water in the fall. I aim for humidity in the low 30's, but don't worry if it dips into the 20's. The only time I used the humidity pads that GQF sells was when I was hatching in the incubator. It drove the RH past 80 very quickly. I decided it was better to use an old hovabator for hatching and that worked better for me. I have the attachment that allows you to use a bucket setting on top the cabinet. It works ok, but I would not buy that option if I had to pay for it (it was a used incubator and came with that).