alot of them are styrofoam. the one i have is. its a little giant 9200. (did you by any chance catch the brand it is?) it works very well, especially when you have a good thermometer in it. i asume the 38 buck incubator doesnt include the turner with it. so i would suggest that you get the turner also, its very handy. it usually runs around the same price as the bator. my hatch rate for my guinea eggs wouldnt have been this high i'm sure if i didnt have it. but you could also hand turn them.
I bought a little giant 9200 and the 6200 egg turner. It ended up costing about 100.00. I had the turner 1 week and it stopped working! I lost alot of eggs but still have a couple that have hung on. It is a okay but you do have to ajust it a lot if the temp. of the room changes out of the 65-70 range. I have read a lot of posts on here that say you get what you pay for and that is why I decied just to buy a better (more expensive) incubator. It is a Brinsea Octagon 40 DX and I will let you know how it works. I have heard nothing but good about this incubator, besides the price LOL.
I have the little Giant also, I am a stay at home mom and do a small daycare at home also. I have time during the day to run down stairs and turn my eggs. I do not use my turner, I dont like it and find it is more controled with out using it. I also decided that the hens get off the eggs at least once a day to eat, drink and other things so for the time it takes me to open and turn the eggs it iw the same as the hen getting off. I also have a hard time finding a place to put my thermometer that is reliable with the turner in. I used it once this year and happened to be the one time that my water ran out and the temp spiked to 104. That was about an inch below the tops of the eggs since they were in the turner so they were probably at 105 to 106.. Needless to say all of my turkey and chicken eggs were destroyed. Nothing lived through that.. Chances are they wouldnt have anyway but if they had been on thier sides it would have been slightly cooler and a few might have made. I would start with just the bator and then decide if you have time or need a turner. Jenn