Brinsea and LG opinion

[tielsflyhigh]

I had such a hard time deciding which incubator to get that I want to pass on my experience with my brinsea octagon 20 eco and my little giant forced air incubator .

First I bought a little giant still air incubator used - it had been retrofitted with a fan and an automatic egg turner and I was able to get it for a great price becasue it was missing one plastic window. The window problem was fixed in no time by attaching a piece of plastic window.
It runs for a week now and I was finally able to stabilize the temperature around 100 degrees - it varies between 99 and 100.8 degrees despite the fact that we have a stable room temperature . The first week temperature bounced around quite a bit. It is hard to adjust because of the tiny size of the control button and it allways takes a little while until it has warmed back up after opening the lid. The only way I could get 40% humidity was by adding a sponge ( we are in a very dry climate)- I but some airline tubing through one of the air wholes and squirt water in with a syringe- that way I don't have to open the lid .
BUT- overall not such a bad incubator - you have to watch it closelybut it works once you get it stable ...

Then I decided to get a Brinsea octagon 20 eco - it arrived, I put water in one of the bottom wells , plugged it in and after 5 minutes it reached 99.5 degrees and stayed there ever since.
I added 20 bantam eggs at once this morning and after only 10 minutes the inside temperature was back up to 99.5.
The inside humidity stayes at 40% ( I did have to adjust the vent opening down a bit though) and the rocking cradle turnes the whole thing slowly.
I am so very happy and impressed by the Brisea that I will propably never buy anything else again .
It is easy to clean too, made out of sturdy plastic and can accomodate even weird sizes of eggs ( like parrot species ).
If you only incubate chicken eggs you won't need the turner - you don't have to touch the eggs at all to turn them - just lay the whole unit on it's side - it takes not even a second and is easily done 4-6 times a day...
And the price is great ( $99 without the cradle )

 

[Epona142]

Agreed.

My LG was horrible and practically fell apart after a few cycles. I won't lie, it gave me several good hatches, but a steady decline in them. It also varied temps like crazy.

New Brinsea, while I had trouble with the included thermometer (my fault really) holds temps steady and I love the easy turning.

Have quail eggs in it right now.

Can't wait to have something EASY to clean!

Will NEVER buy another styrofoam incubator. Will just buy another Brisnea, and someday, a cabinet!

 

[Wynette]

I have the Octagon 20 (I think it's called "pro" or something - the one with the adjustable temp and humidity). I love it! Easy to clean, good hatches, reliable. Yeppers. I'm with you both!

 

[ChanceRider]

I bought one about 2 monghs ago and couldn't be happier with it! We had extreme fluctuations in heat during the first week I was using it, yet it maintained it's temp perfectly. Initially (this was my first experience incubating) I was fussing over the 'bator too much. After a bit I relaxed and just let it run, adding water through a straw in the top every 3 - 4 days.

I was thrilled when 6 beautiful little poults hatched from shipped eggs! The Brinsea cleaned up so easily... it's waiting now for another shipment of turkey eggs

.

 

[tielsflyhigh]

what gets to me is the outrageous price on the styrofoam incubators - if you buy a genesis it is almost $200 with the turner - I much rather like to have 2 brinseas without the turner and don't have to worry about temperature

and I can have 2 batches hatch at different times

 

[rizq]

I have had mine just under 2 weeks and I am definitely sold! I will never buy another styrobator again either. I LOVE my Brinsea! I know I will not be happy with the size, though. But we never have more than 2 dozen eggs to set a week (unless I buy some), so I can just have 3 or 4 of them and still set eggs every week

Hi, my name is rizq and I am a hatching addict! (and my Brinsea is making it worse!)

 

[Davaroo]

The Brinseas are the Cadillac of incubators. One of these days, Im gonna get me one...

 

[PurpleChicken]

I've had 3 LGs, 1 Genesis, & the Brinsea Octagon 40. For the price I
loved them all. The LGs work very well once you learn how to use them.
In my opinion, they are a great starter bator because they force to
user to do more than just plug them in and drop in eggs. The Genesis
is similiar but requires no adjusting.

My Octagon 40 was awesome.

All my bators have been sold or smashed in the mail at this point.
Eventually I'm going to buy a Sportsman or OvaEasy.