Which incubator would you buy?

[SunshineSilkies]

I have 2 LG's. One with the fan, and one without. Have had decent hatches with these.

Purchased 2 Hovabator Genesis 1588's and without a doubt, I LOVE this incubator!!! Never have to worry about a temperature problem again! Holds the humidity level good also. Have had good hatches with it. I like not having to worry..

 

[feedstorechick]

I have both the R-Com 20 and the Hovabator Genesis 1588. The R-Com is incredible and it looks great. Every man that sees it has to check it out. I guess it's the sleek design, lights, and the digital read out. You are limited to about 20 eggs. The R-Com does play a little tune when it turns the eggs, but you stop noticing it so much in a couple of days.

The Genesis was bought to replace the LG I dropped and broke. As far as performance, the Genesis has the LG beat. The temperature is preset and has been perfect since an hour after I set it up. The humidity has been stable too. Even with the turner, the Genesis is double the capacity of the R-Com 20.

Also, the Genesis has a full view window compared to the LG. That's a great feature.

The Brinsea line is also supposed to be excellent. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the models you are looking at.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

I have both the brinsea octagon (but its the 40, not the 20), and the hovabator genesis 1588. I love them both, but I would choose the brinsea, as its made of plastic and will hold up better over time than the styrafoam types.

 

[Laurieks]

Quote:
The instructions are... interesting. Yes, a poor translation.

I found info here, plus the importer (the place where the registration card gets sent...I think the # was on the instructions) has a sheet they made up that clarifies some of it.
I recall seeing somewhere that you could turn off the egg turner's tune, but haven't found it yet. I started leaving the turner off for the first 2 or 3 days to let air cells rest without letting eggs get too old, so the turner is only on for 15 days to bother DS & DH with its tune.

I love the window-I can see the chicks clearly, and use it for a brooder for a day or so (3 days for Silkies). The logo emblem fell off, so now I can see even better.

The lid fogged up after rinsing off exploded egg (scrambled in shipping, I thought it looked partially developed so put it in just in case, and it blew!), I thought it was damaged in shipping (it was bouncing around loose in the box on arrival), and they sent me a new one, free, but mine was fine... looking at the new one I saw they are not sealed and are ok to take apart to clean (the 2 halves nest like 2 paper plates).

Now I need another one!

Happy Hatching!

 

[hencackle]

Thanks for all the responses!

I came so close to listing the Turn-X TX6 or TX7 as choices. If anybody that reads one of these Turn-Xs, let me know...PM me or something because I would like to place my incubator order by tomorrow afternoon.

The instructions are... interesting. Yes, a poor translation. roll I found info here, plus the importer (the place where the registration card gets sent...I think the # was on the instructions) has a sheet they made up that clarifies some of it.
I recall seeing somewhere that you could turn off the egg turner's tune, but haven't found it yet. I started leaving the turner off for the first 2 or 3 days to let air cells rest without letting eggs get too old, so the turner is only on for 15 days to bother DS & DH with its tune.

I'm not worried about the tune that plays as the eggs turn...I doubt that I am able to hear it anyway. The 20 egg capacity isn't a problem either as I don't like to incubate more than a dozen eggs at a time. I can't imagine keeping 40 chicks in my kitchen!!!​

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

My boyfriend got me the Brinsea Octagon 20 Advance with the turning cradle and humidity pump for Christmas. We go camping a lot and are sometimes gone for 2 or 3 days so I wanted to get the most foolproof incubator I could find. I've also never hatched anything before and I was a little nervous about it. These are precious little lives we're dealing with here! I just hatched my first batch this past weekend. So far so good. I never caught the temperature and humidity fluctuating much at all! And believe me, I checked. Heats back up within minutes when you take the cover off too! 12 out of 15 adorable golden laced cochin babies are happily peeping in the other room as I type. I hear that's pretty good for shipped eggs. Set it and forget it is right!

Edit: I would also hesitate to spend a bunch of money on something made of styrofoam, the Brinsea is durable and easy to clean. I could see the chicks very well through the cover. Here's the first little one to come out and say hello. This picture was taken with the cover on, pretty clear huh!

 

[hencackle]

Scratches, that was a nice gift your boyfriend gave you. Sounds like you got a keeper.

Well, dh just ordered the R-Com 20.

I guess I can pester Laurieks if I have questions about the poorly translated instructions.

 

[ScratchesWithChickens]

Quote:
Yeah it was TOO nice, I helped pay for half of it.

 

[Ban seabhag]

The Octo Brinsea is great for shipped eggs...I've hatched 2 batches in it and had better than average results. We are in AK and those eggs come a long way. I have 8 Favs in right now and 6 of them are developing for certain. Mine is the hand turn, but you never open the bator to turn it. I really was worried about that feature but it works really well. I had a hovabator but sold it. I get enough space in the 2 Brinseas and the fan motor in the Hova (mine was noticable) really bothered my husband . Something about the pitch I believe, but the Brinseas don't bother him at all

 

[bel]

Havent put eggs in it yet but I have had a King Suro running a bit over a week to monitor stability of temp and humidity, and its been very stable staying between 99.5 and 100 and the humidity has stayed where I set it.
It was between it or brinsea, ended up going with it because it looked well built and the humidity pump was included. One thing it really needs is a manual, the instructions are really annoying. (btw if you get one on the cradle instruction where it says "volts" it means screws)