Dont laugh but 1602 vs 9200.....A few quick questions please...

[KYBOY]

Heres the deal..My wifes friend asked me tonight which one I prefer..I have a 9200 and two 1588's..She dosnt have the extra cash flow right now for the 1588...Our local feed stores ell both the 9200 LG and the 1602 hovabator...
I know the 9200 has solid state thermostat and the 1602 has a wafer..
I gave her the whole take on the 9200 working just fine in stable enviroments, touchy thermostat control..etc..
She wants an opinion on the 1602 and since Ive never actually hatched in one I didnt feel as though I could truthfully compare the two in performance..
Well I thought Id ask here since Im sure several of you good folks have used the 1602..If you have would you mind giving your take on it..Thermostat control, good,better etc...Thanks
.
PS I actually did search for info on here about the 1602 and differences but just about every search I came up with was between the LG and the 1588 (of which there is no comparison)

 

[william9792]

i like my 1602n for the humidty control, but pref the 9200 for the temp control, i have alto turners in both and fans too. the 1602n is easy to just add the water to the slot in middle to control the humidty ( and holds humidty beter) but the 9200 is beter at the temps. but i use the dry incubation. i have three LG's and two 1602n. i have found that you just have to learn the bator you want to use and find what works for you, if $ are a factor why not just make one i have three of them too, ( and going to make a big one some day) william

 

[Akane]

Both will hatch eggs well but I much prefer the design of the 1602n. The plastic liner is standard which makes it easier to clean after hatching and holds alot more water and different amounts of water than the lg. You can tweak the humidity alot more with the hova. To get lg humidity up for hatching would require adding sponges or something because it only has little troughs in the middle for water. The hova has a deeper base making it easier to keep chicks from escaping when you open the bator and it holds some heat and humidity even when you open it to pull a chick out better than the shallow lg. The temp control on the lg is more sensitive and harder to set. It's so bad that to get exactly the temp I wanted I had to apply pressure to the knob but stop before I felt it actually move and repeat every hour until it had gone up a couple degrees. If it actually noticeably moved it would be 5degrees too warm or too cold by the next day.

Now the 1 downside of the hovabator is the fact it uses a wafer instead of electronic heating. To start with my hova held temps just as well as the lg but lately it's been having problems. Wafers lose accuracy and it's suggested to replace the wafer yearly. It costs around $10. I'd much rather do that than deal with the inferior design of the lg.

 

[KYBOY]

Thanks for the input