Help with Brinsea Octagon 20 Incubator choice...please

you will find those that love the Advance, but many, many users are just fine with the Eco. For add'l $100 you get digital, including humidity and the ability to add the humidity pump. I bought the Eco and turner because I didn't think I needed the digital capability. Search for "dry hatch" and follow that method and you'll be fine. Buy a good but inexpensive thermometer/hygrometer combination.

Becky

 

I have an Eco 20 with turner, and I love it! My first hatch I actually did without the turner, manually turning the unit four times a day. However, the turner is awesome to have. Humidity hasn't really been a problem, nor has monitoring temperature, either.

 

I was struggling with the same decision last week. I ordered the eco with cradle Friday. I heard a lot of reasoning behind just going with the eco. People had advised that the humidity pump was overkill for such a small incubator. And since its 100+ for the advanced I decided to go for cheaper, because I like my money. Good Luck!

 

I just ordered a second Eco -- hatching out 20 of 24 SHIPPED eggs.. and I have one of the mini's at school.. both were first time use and I am in love. I don't have a turner but found the manual turning of the eggs isn't a problem. I have Hovabators too.. but am sold on the Brinsea after just one hatching.. clean up is a breeze.

Shelly

 

I have an ECO 20. This past weekend was my first hatch ever. I got 13 out of 14 eggs hatched. Love it.

 

I have two EXs with pumps, and one of the best things about them is that I can actually go away for a couple of weeks at a time and KNOW that everything is doing just fine with the incubators. That's how reliable and precise they are.

 

May I suggest you start with the Advance model? You cannot upgrade the ECO with an humidity pump, but you CAN get a humidity pump later for your Advance. The digital controls and readout are wonderful and with the Advance, you get the auto-turner cradle.

(I happen to have 3 EX models of Octagon20, two EX models of the MiniAdvance, and one MiniAdvance without a humidity pump.)

 

I have 2 eco's and I had turn! turning is soooo easy I didnt see much need for the turner. just tilt the whole thing 3-4 times a day and thats it. I LOVE mine. Just had a 100% hatch yesterda AGAIN!!!!