1) buy a dimmer switch knob to and mark it with a line to make the fine tuning easier. You will need to mark detente lines on the bator for reference points as you find the sweet spots.
2) Set your bator for 100 at the warmest part of the day. Avoid drafty and extreme temp locations. Temp should drop 2 degrees at cooler times of day if sufficient mass is in the bator.
3) When going from a cold bator DO NOT SET EGGS until bator reaches temps and stabilizes for at least 12 hours. Lack of patience is not the baors fault.
4) When warming up bator use bottles of warm water to bring temps up and hold the temps at a stable temp. When not filling bator completely keep water bottles in empty spaces. Note I find the cheap plastic containers from the supermarket more convenient.
5) STOP OPENING the bator more than necessary, and give at least 2 hours between adjustments to settle if not more. And do this BEFORE setting your eggs.
6) Many commercial bators have a second thermostat set slightly higher to cut out if the main fails. This can also be done with LGs. Simply wire the the secondary safety thermo to the common side of the cord. Turn LG on all the way and set the safety thermo to your cut out temp. Then adjust temp on reg thermo to your constant. I have my safety thermostats set to 101 they will kick back in at 96 which is a safe low temp. Actually this is mostly for peace of mind and mostly not necessary. But the peace of mind is nice when setting expensive eggs.
BTW I have set 22 shipped pumpkin eggs with my LG and hatched all eggs that were fertile and without blood rings or spots. 16 total successful hatch with the LG which is excellent for shipped eggs and the eggs were shipped during the extreme cold.
Yes the LG is cheap, and yes it is only for those with patience. But hey one can spend a thousand or more dollars on a commercial bator, for just a few eggs. At some point I would like to build a large refrigerator bator so it can be moved out of the house. With the right combination of added insulation and high grade furnace thermostat it could handle the more extreme temp shifts. A expensive furnace thermostat and 24 volt relays and power supply just is not practical for the LG.