If you walk into any biology lab—even a small teaching room—you’ll notice one thing right away: there’s always at least one incubator humming quietly in the corner. Some are big stainless-steel towers, some look like compact benchtop boxes, and occasionally you’ll even see a DIY incubator someone put together for student projects.
People often ask us (at Labotery) what type of incubator them actually need. The truth is, incubators aren’t complicated by themselves—the tricky part is understanding why different labs use them so differently.
1. So… what’s the point of an incubator, really?
Most textbooks define an incubator as “a device that maintains controlled temperature and environmental conditions.”
That’s correct, but it sounds too flat.
In real lab work, the purpose is simpler:
You want your samples to behave predictably.
Cells shouldn’t panic because of a sudden temperature dip. Bacteria shouldn’t grow too slowly because the room was cold in the morning. Enzymes shouldn’t stop working halfway through because someone opened the door too often.
In microbiology, incubation basically gives microbes a comfortable place to multiply.
In medical labs, it’s about keeping diagnostic samples stable enough for accurate testing.
Cell biologists rely heavily on CO₂ incubators to maintain proper pH—without controlled CO₂, most sensitive cell lines simply fail.
2. The different types people talk about—without the jargon
Instead of dumping a long list, let’s go through them the way customers usually ask:
“Do I need a CO₂ incubator or just a normal one?”
If you're doing cell culture: yes, CO₂ is almost always required.
Models like direct-heat CO₂ incubators or Forma-type designs recover temperature quickly after door openings.
Benchtop styles (like Astec) are popular when space is tight.
“What about cooling incubators?”
These are for low-temperature organisms, seed testing, or environmental simulation work.
People often ask about cooling incubator prices—the range varies a lot depending on accuracy and capacity.
“We’re doing field work. Is portability a thing?”
Yes. Hach portable incubators show up a lot in water-quality projects.
“Dry bath or hot air oven—same thing?”
Not really.
Dry bath incubators heat tubes quickly (a favorite for PCR labs), while hot air ovens are closer to sterilizers than incubators.
“BOD incubator—is it specialized?”
Very.
Water-testing labs almost always need one because biochemical oxygen demand tests require stable low-temperature conditions.
“What about imaging incubators like OKO Labs?”
That’s for live-cell microscopy—basically an incubator attached directly to a microscope.
3. Lessons we’ve learned from real customers (Labotery notes)
Some labs buy incubators too large “just in case,” but half the chamber stays empty forever.
Students love DIY lab incubators, but sooner or later, someone burns out a heater.
The most overlooked spec? Recovery speed. A slow-recovering incubator can ruin a whole week of cell culture.
Stainless-steel chambers with rounded corners really do help with cleaning—this isn’t marketing fluff.
Labotery’s newer models follow one rule: keep controls simple.
Engineers know that overly complex menus lead to more mistakes, not better results.
4. Choosing your incubator—practical, not theoretical
When people compare incubator prices, they usually focus on capacity and temperature.
But these matter more:
How quickly the unit stabilizes
CO₂ accuracy over time
Whether the chamber is easy to disinfect
Door design (double-glass helps more than people expect)
Space vs workflow—sometimes two small incubators work better than one large one
Think about how your team actually uses equipment day to day. The best incubator is the one that fits your habits, not the most expensive one.
5. Final thoughts
Incubators—CO₂, cooling, dry bath, portable, BOD—look different but serve one purpose: giving experiments a reliable environment.
Once you understand how each type supports biology, the choice becomes much less confusing.
If you’re unsure where to start, that’s exactly the kind of discussion we have with customers every week. No two labs are identical, and the right incubator depends heavily on how you work.
