Incubator longevity: name brand vs cheapie, thoughts?

[Susan Skylark]

I’ve only been incubating for a year, I’ve played with 5 different incubators so have some idea of their quirks in the short term but what about longevity? What is your experience with incubator lifespan (measured in incubation days) of your favorite name brand versus the Amazon look a like? If you only use your nr360 once a season that only counts as 21 days (or whatever) per year even if this is your tenth season. And it isn’t fair comparing quail (17 days) to emus (60!) either so number of incubations won’t work. Also, if you had a unit that was wonky from the start (like my borrowed little giant that ran 105 new from box) that doesn’t count either. Is there a difference in lifespan of name brand incubators (in your experience) vs no name equivalents? I’ve worn out 3 bread machines but I use them twice a week for several years, Your bread machine may be good as new but you’ve only used it twice so you have no idea on the longevity of that particular bread machine, that’s the pickle I’m in, so to speak. My main incubator gave out after a dozen hatches (roughly 240 incubation days), is this a good run or will a name brand triple that? Very interested to hear your experience!

 

[casportpony]

I have a 2013 RCOM 20, a 2014 Janoel 48, a 2016 Janoel 48 knockoff, a 2023 RCOM Maur, and a 2024 Brinsea Ovation 56 EX Connect app-controlled incubator.

The fans in the RCOM have been replaced at least once, and the keypad needs to be replaced again.

The Janoel 48 & 2016 Janoel 48 knockoff have issues, but are usable as hatchers.

No problems yet with the 2023 RCOM Maur and a 2024 Brinsea Ovation 56 EX Connect app-controlled incubator.

My main incubator gave out after a dozen hatches (roughly 240 incubation days), is this a good run or will a name brand triple that? Very interested to hear your experience!

I started hatching in January with the Brinsea & RCOM 20, so that's 121 days so far.

If you can afford it, go with Brinsea or RCOM.

 

[Debbie292d]

I have 3 Brinsea Ovation 56EXs and an NR360, and have yet to burn any of them out.

The NR360 probably hatched 6 hatches when I knew I needed more, and I found a used Brinsea Ovation 56EX fully automatic. The second year, I used them both for approximately 15 hatches combined. I did not stagger hatches.

This year, I'm running the two newer Brinsea Ovation 56EXs and the old one, which is my hatching incubator. The first two were plugged in in the first week of February and have never been shut off. The old hatching one gets shut off for a day between lockdowns. I'm at 15 hatches now, and it'll be at least twice that before I stop. I can't measure by hatches as I stagger.

The two newer ones would have about 2,030 hours on them this year alone. The old Brinsea about 1670 hours this year.

Hubby was looking at building me a second-story shelf to put another incubator into service, as I'm not able to keep up with the chick orders. I would get the same thing, another Brinsea Ovation 56EX. One has the app on it, and that's handy, especially if you're gone from home a lot. I would make sure they are fully automatic, so the humidity is auto too.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I'm still a relative incubation noob; I know Brinsea is "the" brand name but don't know what other brands are considered similarly esteemed.

I used a NR360 for 3 years, although mostly I have used it to start eggs and then move the eggs under a broody to finish the hatch. Thoroughly cleaned it after each hatch. Out of the box it seemed just fine, no weirdness. I started having trouble with it this year when I really needed it for the full 21 days to carry the eggs all the way to hatch. Had to raise the temp setting for the first time, which I suppose should have been a red flag for problems to come. I then started to have uneven heat distribution issues periodically during incubation. Warm side & cold side type stuff that I couldn't sort out. In total I'm guessing it's had around 100 days of usage, which would be around 2,400hrs. That's it's lifespan for now...I'm keep it for emergency backup purposes (a little uneaven heat is better than no heat at all should imy new incubator fail) but I won't be trusting it with any further start-to-finish hatches. Based on Debbie's experience with the NR360 it sounds like mine may be an early failure.

I got a Brinsea Maxi 24 EX a few weeks ago to do my second hatch this year, which in progress right now. I know it's kind of the opposite of the longevity question but the Brinsea definitely is better out of the box than the NR360 was.