Is Brinsea Octagon a good incubator?

[MGG]

The nurture right you were mentioning... sorry I wasn't clear.

It's fine, no worries. It holds really well. It was in an air conditioned room, now it's in the basement. It held great in both locations. The digital readout was perfectly calibrated too, I checked it against 3 calibrated thermometers. It also has a temp alarm, it sounds (and is very loud) if the temp goes too high or low for a certain period of time.

 

[Alaskan]

It's fine, no worries. It holds really well. It was in an air conditioned room, now it's in the basement. It held great in both locations. The digital readout was perfectly calibrated too, I checked it against 3 calibrated thermometers. It also has a temp alarm, it sounds (and is very loud) if the temp goes too high or low for a certain period of time.

Thanks.

My Brinsea Octagon is really old now (10 years???) I think I will need to replace one of the fans soon... so I sometimes wonder if I should buy a new incubator.

But my house has HUGE swings in temp, in the same room, at least 10 degree difference between night and day. The Brinsea can keep up, the hovobator and the who knows brand incubator that I have used in the past could not manage to keep up.

 

[MGG]

Thanks.

My Brinsea Octagon is really old now (10 years???) I think I will need to replace one of the fans soon... so I sometimes wonder if I should buy a new incubator.

But my house has HUGE swings in temp, in the same room, at least 10 degree difference between night and day. The Brinsea can keep up, the hovobator and the who knows brand incubator that I have used in the past could not manage to keep up.

Wow! That's an oldie! Lol. I think it could handle it. I took the lid off of mine, sat it on the cold basement floor, and put a calibrated thermometer under it. In one minute it was at 99.5! I don't know how it warmed the floor up that much, but it did. It stayed stable for the 5 minutes while I candled. You could also probably wrap it in a blanket ( leaving the vents uncovered) to help keep it stable. It says in the manual not to keep it in room that goes under 70°, but the room it's in is at 65, and it does great.

 

[Alaskan]

It says in the manual not to keep it in room that goes under 70°, but the room it's in is at 65, and it does great.

My house almost never hits 70!!!

 

[AltonaAcres]

Ok! I'll check the Nuture Right out. Maybe I'll wait till after COVID so incubators are cheaper

 

[MGG]

Ok! I'll check the Nuture Right out. Maybe I'll wait till after COVID so incubators are cheaper

Ok. I just got my NR in April, I don't think the prices have changed on them. At least through TSC anyway.

 

[LynnaePB]

Looks like you've already got some good answers but I'd be happy to share my experience as well.

I have an octagon eco 20 (no turner or humidity pump) as well as two nurture right 360s. I get good hatch rates from both.

The octagon is a solid incubator. The 360s are my favorites though, they are less expensive with more features (automatic turning, digital temp and humidity readout) and seem to be a bit more reliable to me.

The one area the octagon shines more than the 360 for me is for shipped eggs since it holds the eggs upright so the air cells are less disturbed. I haven't actually tried eggs with loose/rolling air cells laying on their sides from the beginning of incubation in my 360s yet. I have heard of others doing so and having good luck though. I did try incubating some shipped eggs upright in a carton in my 360 once but noticed about 3-4 days in when spot checking the temperature that the cartons prevented air flow enough to affect the temperature (the temperature at the bottom of the eggs was around 97 vs at the top which was 99-100). I ended up removing the cartons and laying them on their sides after I found out but they seemed to develop normally and hatched on time (with an over 60% hatch rate which is pretty good for shipped eggs).

From my experience the octagon seems a bit more prone to fluctuations in temperature with varying room temperatures. Our room temperature fluctuates a bit and I find myself adjusting the temperature at least a few times during incubation usually. I do not know if I really needed to adjust it but if the temperature goes below 98 or above 101 consistently I will adjust. The 360 has fluctuated less and I haven't really found myself needing to adjust it.

All my incubators were bought new. I've had two fans go out now in my octagon (I've probably used it less than 15 times). So far I haven't had any issues with the 360s and I've done nearly as many hatches in my older 360 as I have in my octagon.

The 360 allows a better view of the eggs and you can add water to the channels from the outside of the incubator which is very handy if you don't want to have to open the incubator during the last few days of incubation-hatching if the humidity starts dipping too low.

Probably the most annoying thing about my 360s is the lid can be a pain to open/close. The 360s are also a bit more annoying to clean than my octagon.


Given all of the above I'd recommend the 360 over an octagon eco (I can't speak for the non eco octagons that have more features).

 

[Abigail Joanna]

The Little Giant still air when doing dry hatching is the absolute best. I can't imagine ever changing bators.

 

[Willow2253]

Thanks.

My Brinsea Octagon is really old now (10 years???) I think I will need to replace one of the fans soon... so I sometimes wonder if I should buy a new incubator.

But my house has HUGE swings in temp, in the same room, at least 10 degree difference between night and day. The Brinsea can keep up, the hovobator and the who knows brand incubator that I have used in the past could not manage to keep up.

My NR can handle temperature swings like that. My house has no AC or heat so we get a good 15 or so deference between day and night and it performs just fine.

 

[MGG]

My NR can handle temperature swings like that. My house has no AC or heat so we get a good 15 or so deference between day and night and it performs just fine.

That's good to know.