I used the NS incubator this year and every good egg that I placed in there hatched fine. I really don't think you can even compare them with Hovobators. I have heard some people complain that the fan in the NS incubator is too stong, but I use totally sealed egg boxes so it does not really matter for me. As a previous poster said, you can make a very similar incubator with a drink cooler if you can find one cheap, but for me it was just easier to get the NS incubator and be done with it. IMO for the price you can't beat the NS incubator.