Brinsea Model - need advise

[Stephanie Mitchell]

What do people have to say about this incubator? Worth the huge amount of money or nah? Did you have issues with any of the automated parts eg. Humidity being automatic? Was it pretty fool proof or did it need constant checking like the wafer thermostat model incubators?

I'm looking at selling the two foam incubators I have and investing in something more automatic. With the price of the brinsea models you could almost just buy a cabinet incubator instead and hatch twice as many eggs, however I don't need such a huge cabinet incubator I just want one I can count on

 

[mdees88]

I personally would go cabinet. You get WAY more bang for your buck. True it takes up a bunch more room BUT..... used cabinet incubators are always in HIGH demand. If you ever decided to get rid of it you can recoup a bunch of your money. If you buy a used GQF you could get all your money back when you sell.

Actually you could hatch 5 times as many eggs with a cabinet. I bought 4 very old GQF 1266 incubators a wjile back and sold 2 to my buddy. Once I got my Temps and humidity set I never have to fool with them. And this is with the old ones. Over the last 2 weeks of ny pheasant hatch I've been periodically making TINY adjustments to the thermostat to chase a .3 degree difference. .3 degrees, lol. I just fool with it because I want to fool with it. I can't imagine how nice and simple a GQF 1502 would be....

Another plus is the turning trays are flat. You set plastic trays on each shelf that fit your specific type of eggs. You can actually just set your eggs in egg cartons on the shelf. This is nice so I do not have to swap out complicated egg holders when going from quail to pheasant to chicken eggs. I have plastic quail trays and my buddy wanted me to hatch pheasant for him. Instead of buy some expensive pheasant holders and swapping them out I just set his eggs on an egg flat.

I have a GQF water reserve system, basically it's a 5 gallon bucket of water that feeds the humidity pan. This way I never open the incubator to add water, it is done automatically.

My favorite thing about GQF cabinet incubators is every single part is replaceable and is readily available. I could literally buy every single part to their incubator and build my own from scratch if I wanted too.... and some people do.

Okay, cabinet incubator rant over. I've just been extremely pleased with my very old cabinets and couldn't imagine how nice a new one would be. I had never hstched anything before and out if 300+ shipped quail eggs I hzve aversfed a 74% hatch rste on all eggs set and a 93% hatch rate on viable eggs at lockdown.

I wish more people would wait and buy used cabinets instead of running out and buying Styrofoam ones. They would be so far ahead in the long run. A used GQF can be had for less than the price of 2 Styrofoam ones with turners.

Hopefully someone else will chime in on the incubator you mentioned....

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

I’ve not had this model but I have always been more than happy with my Brinsea octagon.

I’m not totally sure but @ronott1 may have the model you mention above?

 

[ronott1]

I don't have it but do have a thread for the ovation incubators.

People like it!

That is a great price too

 

[Stephanie Mitchell]

I bought it. Might as well try it as I can always return it if I'm not happy

 

[JudysMuscovy]

I bought it. Might as well try it as I can always return it if I'm not happy

I have a Brinsea Maxi II and I love it - first time I used it all hatched !

 

[Stephanie Mitchell]

I have a Brinsea Maxi II and I love it - first time I used it all hatched !

I'm glad to hear this! Thank you!

 

[Spartan22]

What do people have to say about this incubator? Worth the huge amount of money or nah? Did you have issues with any of the automated parts eg. Humidity being automatic? Was it pretty fool proof or did it need constant checking like the wafer thermostat model incubators?

I'm looking at selling the two foam incubators I have and investing in something more automatic. With the price of the brinsea models you could almost just buy a cabinet incubator instead and hatch twice as many eggs, however I don't need such a huge cabinet incubator I just want one I can count onView attachment 1409223

We have the Brinsea Ovation 28 EX, very similar you’ve posted except 24 eggs capacity, awesome incubator, we’d been using it since last year and hatch rate is 90-95%. The models with EX does the humidity regulation aside from the automatic egg turners well worth the money since no baby sitting. If you will go to the Brinsea website and buy it from there, it’s better since the older models floating around from other sellers had bad batch of fans whereas some bad rating. We also purchase a smaller Mini II EX, for 7 eggs, same result well worth the money.

 

[Stephanie Mitchell]

We have the Brinsea Ovation 28 EX, very similar you’ve posted except 24 eggs capacity, awesome incubator, we’d been using it since last year and hatch rate is 90-95%. The models with EX does the humidity regulation aside from the automatic egg turners well worth the money since no baby sitting. If you will go to the Brinsea website and buy it from there, it’s better since the older models floating around from other sellers had bad batch of fans whereas some bad rating. We also purchase a smaller Mini II EX, for 7 eggs, same result well worth the money.

So from my understanding the eco is just with Turner and settings, the advance tells you temp and humidity and the advance ex maintains humidity via pump? Is there an attachment for the eco to add the pump later or is that out? I didn't realize the one I bought didn't tell you humidity but I guess I can still try it and see what happens. Bumping up to the ex model would tack on another $300 or more..

 

[Spartan22]

So from my understanding the eco is just with Turner and settings, the advance tells you temp and humidity and the advance ex maintains humidity via pump? Is there an attachment for the eco to add the pump later or is that out? I didn't realize the one I bought didn't tell you humidity but I guess I can still try it and see what happens. Bumping up to the ex model would tack on another $300 or more..

I think the EX models are all computer/digital and mechanically factory set up, so its something you cannot add later on eco models. I had struggled with the price ($500++) and the model choices at first, but after weighing all variable and my lifestyle, travelling and working a lot of hours I didn't have the luxury of baby sitting the incubator, I wanted to enjoy the process painlessly with best results. I was able to sweet talk a friend to split the cost and we cohatch (incubate) together.