Brinsea Ovation 28 Eco Egg Incubator, Turns Automatically, Digital Display

Received the Ovation Eco 28 well packed and undamaged. This is my first use of a Brinsea after many years with circulated air styrofoam incubators. The difference is amazing! My first Brinsea hatch rate was 96% compared to an average of 50% with styrofoam. The biggest difference I've noticed is the demeanor of chicks hatching in the Brinsea. They are so calm and contented compared to styrofoam hatched babies. No loud yelling during the hatch, the fluff dries quickly, the hatch finishes in less than a day compared to 3 days in styrofoam, there is no meconium eliminated in the Brinsea and no gunk from the insides of the shells smeared all over the floor of the incubator. And the most telling indication of chick contentment, in the Brinsea, the babies all gather together in the center of the incubator and fall asleep. This leaves the remaining hatching eggs free of disturbance around the outside area of the incubator. Even over a week after the hatch, the chicks seem calmer and happier than babies hatched in styrofoam. I have only two complaints: 1. the Brinsea is louder during operation than my old styrofoam incubators. The fan runs continuously and sometimes sets up a vibration on the lid. Moving the lid slightly helps to stop the loud vibration when it occurs. 2. The water wells for humidity are too shallow. My model recommends using just one well during incubation, and filling both wells at the time of hatch. I have to fill the reservoir every day. That gets a little old, but at least it's easy to fill. Wish the wells were deeper. Overall, I am thrilled with the results and can barely wait for the second hatch! 12/31/2020 Follow Up: I've used this unit for 3 hatches per year for 4 years. It is still working great! Every hatch 96-100%, I love it! The chicks love it! I find it somewhat annoying to clean as it has to be taken apart to separate the two clear plastic lid layers to get all the down fluff out. I'm getting better and faster with practice. I clean it between each hatch. Takes me about 1/2 hour total to clean. The lid vibration has been greatly reduced since I tightened all the screws better than they were tightened from the factory. I have experienced no failures of the unit, it is very dependable. At first I did not like opening the lid every day to add water, but I've learned it is actually good for the eggs. Breeders have reported better results by allowing the eggs to cool slightly for a short time every day. This cooling feature is actually incorporated into some newer Brinsea units. This is an amazing incubator, it's already paid for itself. I would not hesitate to buy another.

We have successfully hatched chicks with this incubator. However, the fan broke after the second hatch. We bought a new one to replace it. Now, in just a year and after only a few hatches, the motor for the rocker stopped working. We have eggs in the incubator and will have to buy a new incubator to move them into. In addition, this incubator is very difficult to clean. It requires a screwdriver and the removal of 8 screws after each hatch. I do not recommend this incubator.

This is an excellent product, easy to use, keeps great temperature, even temperature and super easy to clean.

The temperature control is accurate, however, this model does not have a humidity monitor so you have no idea if the humidity is 30% or 100%. I found humidity to be a problem when I locked down on day 18. Eggs were 2 days late on hatching do I started to panic a bit and trouble shoot. The manual recommends a vent cover that you have to buy separately. Two are needed at an additional $13 each. There are two water wells. I filled them both but suspected humidity was too high to hatch so I siphoned water out of one on day 22. On day 24, I got a 66% hatch rate. That’s pitiful for collecting eggs from the coop and escorting straight to the incubator. 27/28 developed. 18 hatched. I would recommend buying the Brinsea Ovo Advance over this one. I wish I could return it and purchase an upgrade.

I bought the Ovation 28 Eco because Brinsea reputedly makes the best incubators. I stored for three years, using it only once for a week or so on backyard chicken eggs which proved infertile. When I used it a second time, the fan started making noise after a couple of days of operation. I ordered a new fan from Brinsea and replaced it, but then the incubator would not generate any heat. So I lost a dozen chukar eggs. I emailed Brinsea a couple of times but never received a response. That's what bothers me more than the malfunction. I would like to repair the incubator rather than throw it away, but I don't know how to do so.

I wish there was a way to monitor humidity on this one. It does keep temp well.

Product works great! I improved my hatch rate significantly! 100% recommended! Almost 100% of the fertile eggs hatched! The only thing they need to improve is the cleaning method. You have to take the screws off to reach the internal part of the lid.

I received myincubator Dec 29,2020. My first hatch was 40%, unfortunately that was after the 30 day window for return. I use a Govee temp/hydrometer to measure with. My incubator was set to 100.5, govee said it was 96.7, and another thermometer placed inside said 98.2. I had 18 eggs that never even popped, a d when opened 2 days after hatch date, had fully developed dead chicks. That same hatch I had 6 chicks hatch. Customer service told me it was probably my ambient humidity, only Problem with that excuse is why did my NR360 incubator have an 80% hatch rate?? These weren’t shipped eggs, but my own. I thought, by buying a brinsea I could increase my hatch rates even more, wrong! I could buy 2 of the NR 360s with what I paid for this useless incubator. Don’t waste your time with customer service they only knock you hygrometer, your ambient humidity, and make excuses for their product. Sad, because I have wanted a “Brinsea” for two years, and out off spending the money. Wished I would have never even heard the word Brinsea. I have since talked to others and heard that they have to crack the lid to get the humidity down, and it’s a waste of money.

After the first use I tried to remove the screws that hold the inner lid to the outer lid as a lot of chick fluff gets caught in there, and the metal for the screws is extremely soft and easy to strip. The last screw was impossible to remove and after much back and forth with the company they wanted us to send the lid back to Florida for repairs. Consider that when purchasing. They will pay the return shipping for repairs but you are on the hook to get it to them. The cost for me to ship was over $100 on top of the cost of what i had already paid for the machine. No clear understanding what happens for customs/duty for canadian customers when the parts come back across the border...costs are unknown. Not very happy.

After reading reviews of all kinds of makes/models of incubators I bought this one and 2 hatches later I can say I am not disappointed. Easy to assemble run and clean. I have no problem keeping the correct humidity and temp during incubation and lockdown to hatching - keep one tray filled except at lockdown I fill both trays. I use 2 hygrometers/thermometers as back up just in case something happens but it maintains the temp and humidity level easily. Zero complaints.

Brinsea claims to have a 3 warranty but it doesn't stand behind it's product. It's was impossible to get in touch with either Brinsea or Amazon. Amazon is not taking calls on the 1 800 number or accepting emails or chats. So how does a person return a defective very expensive item?

First Batch : 80% of hatces rates ! Really impress by that stuff . just miss the hygro automaticly

Cant beat Brinsea. Plug it in and away you go. Follow the instructions that come with the Incubator. I’m not impressed as far as Amazon goes. I paid $579 and a couple days later it was $450. I should be refunded the difference but I can’t even find how to contact them.