Incubator shopping...R-com vs R-com vs Brinsea?

[Anonymous]

Greetings from over the pond all,
I found an R-com 20 Pro, 'slightly used', and needing a new humidity pad; and have found this lovely writeup on the same unit by Tim, stating that those with pads are pre 2008 and not preferred.
The asking price is $350 +25 shipping (just over half price for a new one), and I can get a new R-com 20 (non Pro) for just a bit more.
Aside from not being able to find those pads (yet) in the US, would that detail of the unit be worth the savings?
Thank you,
Laurie :?
Northern California

 

[Tim]

Hi Laurie,

The only real issue with the pre 2008 model of RCOM 20 is the sponge - this does deteriorate after a few hatches and needs replacing. You can usually find very similar sponges in the shops that make it a cheap replacement - the 'official' sponge over here retails at around £7 ($20) or so from the distributors which is far too expensive for a sponge IMO.

To be honest, unless you are hatching parrots, birds of prey or other valuable eggs I wouldn't bother with the PRO - the software is very tricky to use by todays standards. It is a bit overkill for hatching chooks.

If it were me, I would buy a new non-PRO unit but then we are all different...

Only one other thing to watch = don't overfill with water, leave a half inch from the top - if it overflows it soaks into the unit where there are electronics which a house sitter did when I was on holiday.

I'm testing the RCOM King Suro at the moment which is also automatic and also a good unit.

I have some Brinsea incubators but haven't tried their automatic humidity units.

Tim

 

[victorias poultry]

I have 4 R-Com 20' s, which I wish I hadn't bought. The first one was with a sponge that I bought new a few years ago, it has never been particually reliable (temperatue and humidity isn't what is says on the display - 60% in incubator when display advised 45%) so I use this as a hatcher now, and is constantly eating sponges!!! When they brought the new model out I bought 3 brand new R-com 20's that don;t use the pads, all have been back and forth for repair (they keep breaking down normally when full of eggs!). The power keeps going off, turning mechanism doesn't work on another, and the other has an annoying alarm constantly going off advising me the water is empty when full.
Personally i think they are waste of money, I have an Octagon 20 which has never let me down.

 

[Tim]

Touch wood, I haven't had a problem with mine - I've had one with and one without sponge but it's good to have some more feedback. At the moment, it's my favourite incubator.

I did check the humidity and temperature on mine in the early days and they were accurate however I think you can calibrate them if they are not.

I've had some really good results from mine in general with 17 or 18 eggs hatching from a batch. A breeder down the road I know also swears by hers too - it has just been the sponge problem that has been a pain for me.

It seems you've not had as much luck as me though. I wonder if there's anybody else out there with an RCOM 20? What's your experience of it?

 

[Deleted Account]

I have a RCom Suro, and as a first timer cant give you much feedback; at the moment it has 9 jersey giant eggs in it, so it should be easier to tell soon. I started off with a Corti 50 automatic, but it was unreliable/faulty, so bought the RCom 2 days later, and then a Brinsea Polyhatch. With all the messing around, only 7 of 52 eggs hatched - they are now 5 days old. I bought a second polyhatch off ebay - unfortunately, the base is twisted, so the turning mechanism doesnt work, but I think I'll use it as a hatcher for the eggs i the RCom - it looks nmuch easier to clean. I also bought 2 electric hens - one 40cm square - very fiddly stands, but suitable for kitchen worktop, and a 2' x 3' job from Solway, which has to be insulated, and which the poor little darlings are huddled under at the mo, but looks suitable for outside and for a lot more chicks. It was all overkill for 6 chicks which survived, but I am trying to get set up for next year.

 

[Tim]

I've had an Rcom King Suro for review this summer from Rcom.

I'm just about to send it back to Interhatch. I checked the temperature and humidity and they were spot on. The pump arrangement was a bit strange and not what I'm used to but once set up, it has worked really well.

I'm impressed with the humidity control, it takes time to compensate so you don't get extra water pumped in after taking the lid off and it maintains temperature and humidity really well.

Considering my chooks were at the end of the season, from this 'test' hatch, all eggs were fertile and I had 10/12 eggs hatch which to be honest I thought was good. As I was looking for the darkest Copper Black Marans eggs to hatch, some of these eggs were close to two weeks old before setting.

 

[Anonymous]

I regularly use a number of R-com 20 incubators & have found them all to be very reliable & hatch rates are very high.

john