New Brunswick Scientific is one of the leaders in the manufacture of incubators. I have found that an Excella incubator will last just about forever. I purchased a benchtop incubator for growing bacteria for recombinant protein expression which also allowed inductions at below room temperature. With a temperature range from 15°C below ambient to 60°C (accuracy to within +/- 0.1°C), the Excella E-24R fit the bill. This is also a great incubator for a small lab (<10 people). The footprint is only 22” x 30” x 24” and it weighs approximately 180 lbs. Additional specifications can be found on
New Brunswick’s website.
We typically use the incubator for a number of applications including 5 ml to 1 L bacterial cultures for plasmid and protein purification. It is very useful to have a small incubator which can be used for below room temperature applications (such as protein inductions at 17°C). It typically takes the instrument 5 minutes to go from room temperature to 37°C and a little longer to go to 17C. The keypad is very easy to use and does not require you to read the instruction manual prior to use. The lid opens and gives you plenty of room to pull even your largest cultures out without a hassle. The lid is clear so that you do not have to open it and close it to check on your cultures.
This instrument comes set up and ready to plug into an outlet. The only disadvantage to this piece of equipment is the fact that you must buy everything separately. You need to buy the universal platform (which you MUST have in order to use the incubator) as well as the clamps to hold the flasks in place separately from the incubator.