Which incubator?

[Canadianislupus]

So I'm getting an incubator for Christmas and I'm trying to decide between the hovabator and the little giant. They appear to be essentially identical. Does anyone have any experience with either? Here's the links http://incubatorwarehouse.com/hova-bator-basic-combo-kit.html http://incubatorwarehouse.com/little-giant-9300-basic.html

 

[georgiagail]

Out of the two choices, I'd go with the Hovabator; had a Little Giant once and never could get the heat adequately regulated. I finally gave it away.

Just as an aside, I love my Brinsea incubators and find they are far superior to the Little Giant.

Gail

 

[gawildlife]

Never used a little giant incubator but I know the brand and the product I see most often is the little giant cage traps, usually mangled after its first and only use. TSC, sells these to the unsuspecting to piss off raccoons and armadillos. Both which promptly take apart the flimsy traps.

By reputation alone if I were given a little giant incubator I would treat it exactly like the "used once" cages my clients try to give me and crush it.

Now it might be a perfectly good incubator but I would find it hard to believe based on what I know of their other products.

 

[MeepBeep]

They both are what they are, low end foam incubators... With a little baby sitting and mods or additions they can perform well...

The biggest issue with them is the drift in the temps, install or get one with the fan installed, it will help even things out and then watch it daily with good calibrated thermometers... If you set it up about 3 days in advance and get in balanced out, they will generally hold temp well enough over the 21-30 days you will need... After that (or sometimes before) you might notice the temp drifting up or down, so be prepared to make very minor adjustments and be VERY careful not to toast the eggs when you make that adjustment aka make an adjustment and babysit for the next few hours to make sure you didn't go too far...

And never ever trust the thermometer or humidity gauge that is installed in those units, ignore it 100% it's useless...

 

[IncubatorWarehouse.com]

The Little Giant 9300 is very new. We haven't heard any customers not like it, but haven't heard anybody who loves it either, again it's very new. It does have the digital thermostat and reads both temperature and humidity right out of the box whereas the 1602N doesn't. Let me know which incubator you decide on and let me know how it works for you. Happy Hatching!

 

[StephensonC]

The Little Giant 9300 is very new. We haven't heard any customers not like it, but haven't heard anybody who loves it either, again it's very new. It does have the digital thermostat and reads both temperature and humidity right out of the box whereas the 1602N doesn't. Let me know which incubator you decide on and let me know how it works for you. Happy Hatching!

I just purchased the Little Giant 9300 and started my first ever hatch. I'm on day 4. I know there is talk here about the temp. being off on the 9200, but I haven't heard anything on the 9300. So far the temp on the bator reads a few degrees higher than the digital thermometer that I placed in there. I will let you know how it works out.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have a little giant that I've borrowed from my sister, (she may or may not get it back...lol) but it has the fan kit attatched so it is forced not still air. Once you get the temp where you want it, it holds pretty good. I would never trust any one thermometer no matter what the brand and would always have at least two in the bator to be sure. Out of my 16 eggs that made it to lockdown this last time, 13 hatched, so I can't complain. It also held the humidty great as well. If you make even a little adjustment it needs to be watched very close to make sure it doesn't make a drastic change. But they are the Gremlins of the bators so you can't expect complete ease.

 

[Canadianislupus]

Thanks so much for all the replies!

. I realize they are lower quality and can be buggy but I can't afford a higher quality model unless it is one of the little 7 egg ones and I honestly feel like that would be a waste of my time/money. Also I have no problems babysitting eggs. The only reason I opted for the turner is so that I don't let any heat out when turning the eggs, otherwise I would have no problems doing it by hand

. I decided to go with the little giant as these models appear to be built and function exactly the same except the little giant has a built in temp/humidity gauge and the hoverbator does not.(don't worry I will use other thermometers as well.but i am hopeful that they upgraded the thermometer/hygrometer with this model due to all the negative feedback). I also went with the forced air version as it was helpfully pointed out that they tend to form hot and cool zones without it. I'm planning on doing my first hatch for my birthday in Feb so I will be setting eggs late January...I know two months is going to be a nail-biting wait for me haha but I don't have the space/resources until then. I will start a hatch along when the time comes and post back here with my review. Also I am super glad I found incubator warehouse as even with a 55$ shipping fee it is still significantly cheaper than the exact product from my local feed store. Crazy old man wants 112$ for just the still air hoverbator and an additional 80 for the turner...didn't even want to ask how much for a fan....

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks so much for all the replies!

. I realize they are lower quality and can be buggy but I can't afford a higher quality model unless it is one of the little 7 egg ones and I honestly feel like that would be a waste of my time/money. Also I have no problems babysitting eggs. The only reason I opted for the turner is so that I don't let any heat out when turning the eggs, otherwise I would have no problems doing it by hand

. I decided to go with the little giant as these models appear to be built and function exactly the same except the little giant has a built in temp/humidity gauge and the hoverbator does not.(don't worry I will use other thermometers as well.but i am hopeful that they upgraded the thermometer/hygrometer with this model due to all the negative feedback). I also went with the forced air version as it was helpfully pointed out that they tend to form hot and cool zones without it. I'm planning on doing my first hatch for my birthday in Feb so I will be setting eggs late January...I know two months is going to be a nail-biting wait for me haha but I don't have the space/resources until then. I will start a hatch along when the time comes and post back here with my review. Also I am super glad I found incubator warehouse as even with a 55$ shipping fee it is still significantly cheaper than the exact product from my local feed store. Crazy old man wants 112$ for just the still air hoverbator and an additional 80 for the turner...didn't even want to ask how much for a fan....

Holy crap! That much? Our TSC stores carry the still air little giant for about $45 and the turner for $45, not sure how much the fan kits are. That's ridiculous. Online TSC has one with turner and fan for like $129. Congrats on the first step! (Yay for Aquarius!) Good luck when it comes time! (It's addictive-you've been warned...lol)

 

[mariacp]

After doing some research, I bought one of those "no name" made in china incubators. It was $76.00 and includes a digital read out, fan, temp control, temp monitor with alarms for low and high temps, humidity alarms plus digital readout, fully automatic turner that turns every 2 hours, and the ability to calibrate + or - the temperature controls..

Everything works great, and the temp is quite steady. For the low price that I paid for all those options, I am quite happy with it.

I probably wouldn't opt to buy it if I could afford something higher priced, but right now I didn't want to spend any more money.

It was a risk I was willing to make, and so far it has panned out. I figure one batch of eggs incubated will pay for the incubator.

And it incubates 42 eggs at a time.