Reasonable Portable fridge alternative? (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter DetroitStyle
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So what's the best bang for the buck in the $700-1000 price range?
UnderDawg
Wannabe welder
Are you serious? You should be driving a Lexus man
Are you serious? You should be driving a Lexus man
Lexus' have 180sum body holes to weld shut. '97 40th anniversary is an lx450 minus some of that
And it says 'LANDCRUISER' on the back, not a bunch of digits
After years of messing around with the 12 volt "coolers" and Coleman ice chests, we got tired of running out of ice, and tired of loosing food because the cooler is just that, a cooler, not a fridge, we finally, just last winter purchased an Engle MD14 for right around $400, and a Yeti Tundra 75. The Engle is a dedicated unit for making ice and keeping frozen foods. The Yeti is used for everything else. After 6 days out on the high deserts of Southern Utah, The Yeti was still plenty cold, and the Engle kept things nice and frozen.. This combo works for us really well..
Has anyone tried a regular mini-fridge with an inverter?
Adventure Ready
Uncommon Adventure Equipment
Power draw would be incredibly high with this setup. You'd drain a battery very rapidly.
We carry Engel so if you're interested and are in the Seattle area let me know if we can help.
I replaced my center console with a dometic cdf-11 and love it!! I use that with a Yeti tundra 50 in the back that I either preseason with ice or do the dry ice method. It fits my needs much better than my last setup with an ARB fridge mounted in the rear. I can keep my groceries in the dometic and keep my adult beverages in the Yeti. Best of both worlds!
Kind of a pain, but just keep checking for an edgestar scratch & dent if you are on a budget. I purchased my 63qt for $300, and sent it back when the 110v didn't work, they sent me a brand new one to replace it. I use mine all the time, it goes on the back patio for parties, next to the camper on trips, and stays in the car the rest of the time. Plus I haven't paid for ice since I bought it. I normally spent $20-$25 for a long weekend and had to dig in ice and constantly arrange food so it wouldn't get soggy. And then there was the 165 quart cooler that was heavy as hell full of ice and didn't fit well in the 100.
$1000 is pricey for an ARB but I'll be buying one when my edgestar dies. If it lasts ten years, that's only $100 a year. Thermoelectric won't get cold enough for Texas and uses too much power when the vehicle is off.
$1000 is pricey for an ARB but I'll be buying one when my edgestar dies. If it lasts ten years, that's only $100 a year. Thermoelectric won't get cold enough for Texas and uses too much power when the vehicle is off.
X2 Just keep checking a couple times a day it does eventually pay off. I bought the scratch and dent 43qt for $193, a 50 watt solar panel for $90, and a charge controller for $15. So for around $300 I don't have to worry about ice or a dead battery. It took a couple months but patience paid off in the end.
I have one of those koolatron coolers and it works well enough but its definitely not a fridge. I pre-chill everything that goes in and also keep a large frozen bottle of water next to the fan. The koolatron keeps the ice frozen a lot longer than a standard cooler would. Also, in my previous trail rig I added a second battery with isolator and ran the cooler off of it. The battery would last most of the weekend without charging but when wheeling during the day it would charge and I never really had to worry about it. Someday I might pick up a real fridge but until then this does ok. Also, I'm up in Canada and a hot summer day might be in the high 80's, so I don't have to try to cool things in extreme heat.
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FJ60Seth
SILVER Star
Why not look for a used fridge? It took me about 3 months to find an Engel 45 qt on Craigslist. I think I payed $250.
Found my Waeco CF-50 for $350 5 years ago and still works. Took me 6-7 months on Searchtempest.
Tigerstripe40
SILVER Star
IMHO, the ARB fridges are the best bang for the buck. Compare to the National Luna fridges and they are a steal.
The Thermal-Electric coolers are intensely high power draw, and while the cost is appealing, I don't think they do well enough for my needs.
A few years ago Coleman was selling a Stirling Free Piston refrigerator that used helium as the refrigerant (they were remarked from a japanese manufacturer) Model 5726. It draws between .7 and 4 amps depending on the cooling mode. It was a 28 quart unit and I think they were $500 new. They did not sell very well, though, as many people thought they were the TEC units. I found a new old stock unit a few years ago and paid $400 shipped for it. It works great and my 65watt solar panel on my tacoma will run it indefinitely so long as I have sun (not typically an issue here in salt lake).
Getting the refrigerator was probably THE single best camping accessory I have ever bought.
I have been trying to find another one, but they are almost impossible to find any more. The people that own them know what they have (I certainly do). I will get an ARB unit at some point considering that the coleman unit will eventually die and parts won't be so easy to get for them any longer.
Get the ARB unit, and don't look back.
The Thermal-Electric coolers are intensely high power draw, and while the cost is appealing, I don't think they do well enough for my needs.
A few years ago Coleman was selling a Stirling Free Piston refrigerator that used helium as the refrigerant (they were remarked from a japanese manufacturer) Model 5726. It draws between .7 and 4 amps depending on the cooling mode. It was a 28 quart unit and I think they were $500 new. They did not sell very well, though, as many people thought they were the TEC units. I found a new old stock unit a few years ago and paid $400 shipped for it. It works great and my 65watt solar panel on my tacoma will run it indefinitely so long as I have sun (not typically an issue here in salt lake).
Getting the refrigerator was probably THE single best camping accessory I have ever bought.
I have been trying to find another one, but they are almost impossible to find any more. The people that own them know what they have (I certainly do). I will get an ARB unit at some point considering that the coleman unit will eventually die and parts won't be so easy to get for them any longer.
Get the ARB unit, and don't look back.
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Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
I'm very happy with my ARB unit .. altho rear all over the web that waeco and few other less expensive brands use the same compressor and overall technology .. so while they may not look as fancy as ARB will do the job the same way .?
Adventure Ready
Uncommon Adventure Equipment
Nearly all major brands use the same style Danfoss compressor with the exception of Engel which uses a pretty unique design called the Sawafuji Swing Motor.
Tapage
Club 4X4 Panamá
which it's better .. ? the danfoss or the Sawafuji .?:
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Adventure Ready
Uncommon Adventure Equipment
Don't want to say anything negative. I will say though that all the Aussies who trek to the outback I've ever talked to won't touch anything but Engel, and it seems to me that if anyone knows what they're doing its them.
The Sawafuji compressors were designed specifically for portable fridges, have only one moving part and draw a max amperage of 2.5 amps/hr (47L at freeze). And they're made in Japan not China.
The Sawafuji compressors were designed specifically for portable fridges, have only one moving part and draw a max amperage of 2.5 amps/hr (47L at freeze). And they're made in Japan not China.
The TruckFridge is the same as a Weaco or Dometic or IronMan. They are all made by the same company: IndelD. I have the 41qt version and I think it is perfect for me. And you can't bitch about the price! http://www.truckfridge.com/tf41.html
