What is the best brand of incubator?

[cryptid_hunter]

I was pricing some egg incubators today over the phone with several different feed and seed stores in my area. I found two different brands of incubators, the Miller brand "Little Giant" thermal incubator for $48.99 and the Hova-Bator thermal incubator for $40.95.

Is there anyone here who has used both brands that has a preference for one or the other?

And I'd just like to know if anyone out there is using either of those brands and what their thoughts are about it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[robin]

i used hobavators for years with excellent results.

 

[cryptid_hunter]

Cool, thanks for the reply.

I just got a similar response from a buddy, except he says the same about the Little Giant, lol. So at this point I'm hearng they're both good incubators, and that's basically what I needed to know because until today I hadn't seen or heard of the Little Giant brand. I had just been looking reptile supply websites like LLLreptile and they just have the hova-bator and then a larger, more expensive, digital one that looks like a mini oven.

 

[acpart]

You may be interested in this website where someone is testing/comparing the hobovator and little giant. Of course, he is testing it for bird eggs, but the info about the temps is relevant to reptile people: http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/incubator/batortest.html

Obviously, don't get the egg turners! I can tell you that after 5 years with the hobovator, if you live in a place where the ambient temp in the room you keep the incubator in is going to fluctuate a lot or get above 85-86 degrees, you will have a problem maintaining the temps you want, especially if you're incubating for female. I just converted to the mini-fridge design which heats and cools so I don't have to put my incubator in the basement every summer.

Aliza

 

[Gregg M]

You also may want to look into the MR-148 from LLL Reptiles... It is a big step up from the hovabator style incubators for just a little more money... Much more reliable in my opinion... We have one here that we have been testing with all types of incubation methods/substrates and it is working perfectly... It looks cool and it is functional...

 

[spykerherps]

Natures Spirit. I have had mine for several years . it works greate
But even well made homemade incubators can work perfectly.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

I use both Nature Spirit and the MR-148. Both work excellent and I recommend them. I used Hova Bators for years before I got these and they too work very well as long as you set them up right.

 

[reptilenut]

not really a comparison, but I know both incubators have built in ventilation. I am going to be getting one of the little giant incubators, do I need to close off the ventilation to make it a closed system, or is it pretty much ready out of the box?

 

[Herp_junky]

My little giant came with some small holes in it and then has red plugs that you can remove if you need more ventilation. I have used mine as it came out of the box and its worked pretty good. You may want to cover some of the premade ventilation holes and cover or uncover till you get everything where you need it. Mine at 86-87 is holding 60-62% humidity and inside my deli cups with the eggs is 80%. I'm gonna test out with my next one since this one is about full and cover the holes and see how it all holds.