hey ther first timer! I'm in the same boat you are. I just got my still air incubator on Monday and been running it all week to make sure it's at the perfect temperature. I bought a fan for mine and installed it, so i had to tweak the temp a little. then when i got my eggs today and put them in, the temp dropped almost 10 degrees. I waited and it went up 5, then 2, but it stayed there. So i had to raise it up a little by hand. Now that it is stabalized i actually dropped it down to 98.5-99. degrees. I read that it is better for the incubator to be lower by a hair than to be too hot, or even "just right" at the "correct temp". Also the incubator is constantly turning the heater on and off to keep the temp up to specific degree it is set on. because the temp in the egg is an average of the fluctuating temperatures in the incubator, it is better for it to be like i said, a hair lower, so you don't "bake" your little chicks. Also it's better that they don't get too hot because they usually will hatch earlier and most likely be smaller and under developed. If they are a touch cooler then they usually average the right temperature, they might be a day late on hatching but will be completely developed and have a better chance of surviving rather than the early hatchers. This is however my first time, but i have read A LOT about hatching in the last month and a half, before attempting it. I hope this helps and that you hatch a bunch of chickies!