Need your opinions

[CDennis]

My Brinsea is in the mail. I can't wait.

 

[Unclebean]

Quote:
Mine will be here Monday!

The kids have been asking for a bator so I can pass this off as a "gift for the kids"!

 

[Baralak]

Quote:
Idiot = person hatching for the first or third time.
Stupid = Me, who forgets to add water or check temps for days at a time.

Can't Fix Stupid.....

Sorry.. had to use it.


Congrats!!!! I hope that each of you enjoy your new bators.. !!!

 

[hencrazy]

Decisions, decisions. At least I have a while to decide. I used to have a Hovabator several years ago that I used for hatching silkworm eggs (feeding a bearded dragon). It was just the plain old boring model and was a huge pain when it came to humidity. I live in Minnesota so unless it's July or August humidity is always going to be a challenge.

I think I'm still leaning toward the Octagon since I have a cat who thinks styrofoam is food. Are there any other good incubators similar to the Brinsea?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The Brinsea Eco 20 and the Genesis Hovabator 1588 seem to be the most popular models in that general size. I have the 1588. When comparing the two, I looked at it that I was only going to hatch 2 or 3 times a year and would not be using real valuable eggs, so I could not justify the more expensive model. I don't have a cat that eats styrofoam though, at least not where it can get to the incubator.

I don't have an Eco 20 so I can't say anything about it based on experience. I think the Eco 20 would be easier to clean since it is plastic and not styrofoam. I think the controls are better so it might be a little more idiot proof, but there is not a lot of adjustment required on the 1588. Just keep the water reservoir filled and put the lid back on correctly when you take it off. (The power cord for the turner was not in the correct place so the lid did not set back on right. That affected humidity not temperature for me) The more complicated it is, the more that might go wrong. Maybe that is overbalanced by better workmanship or better materials. There is probably a reason for the cost difference.

The 1588 has several different water reservoirs. I don't know how many the Eco 20 has or how the humidity works on them. Where I am, I can keep the humidity about right by filling only one of the 1588 reservoirs during incubation and filling two reservoirs during lockdown. That leaves me three water reservoirs empty that I could use if I need to. I do need to add more water every three or four days during incubation. I have no idea how often I would need to add water to the Eco 20 here.

I don't think you will go drastically wrong with either model. If you can justify the additional cost based on whatever criteria you want to use, then go for it.

 

[CDennis]

Quote:
Granted I don't have mine yet, but from all the wonderful help on here if you don't want styrofoam and you wan to stay under the 300-500 Brinsea is the way to go. You can get the basic octagon for under 130 w/ shipping and the top of the line for right about 300 w/ the humidity pump. When I was debating it was between a genius and the brinsea after much research Brinsea won and it was cheaper since they are currently on sale.