opinions on best fridge? (1 Viewer)

[staffaction]

My apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere. I tried doing my due diligence to look for a good thread.

What are your opinions on the best options for a fridge in the back of GX470? We are starting with a blank slate here and not looking to go "all out" with the rear. But for camping trips that are 3-4 days or even day trips in Arizona heat we need to get something that will do a better job than a cooler.

I like this setup from McDuff123. https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/ruggedbound-drawer-and-fridge-platform-gx470.1260876/. anyone else have something that works especially well?

 

[staffaction]

I'll add that one of the struggles here is that it seems like no matter what we research - poor reviews are plentiful. I guess on the one hand that's true of everything. But still, for such an investment I want to be able to trust what we pay for..

 

[REKCUT]

I have owned several arb fridges with nothing but positive experiences. My oldest had a sensor go out that turned the compressor off when it reached temp but it was less then 10 dollar part. Has basically been running non stop since 2008. I have 2 more that have been running pretty much non stop for 6 an 10 years.

I know several people with snow masters and they are also happy

 

[markthegrea]

I bought this one 2 years ago and it has been a faithful friend:

Amazon product ASIN B07G132X2F

 

[staffaction]

I bought this one 2 years ago and it has been a faithful friend:

Amazon product ASIN B07G132X2F

price point is certainly appealing.

 

[markthegrea]

price point is certainly appealing.

Yea. There is another model slightly bigger. I would get that now as I can't fit a gallon of milk in this one. There are a lot of bad reviews out there. Not sure how to pick one. Good luck!

 

[ArBrnSnpr]

I have an ARB elements that I got an amazing deal on. It's been trouble free for the most part, but had an issue about a year ago where the compressor wasn't kicking on.

I took it apart and blew off the compressor and all connectors with compressed air and never had that issue again. Not sure what happened, but besides that incident, it's been running for about 3 years non-stop.

 

[orangerock]

We rocked an Alpicool 40 off Amazon for over a year that was decent. It started to get really loud so opted to spend the money on a Dometic. One of the main reasons I went with Dometic over ARB is REI carries them.. get some dividend points and the return policy there is top notch if something ever goes wrong. Hard to go wrong with ARB or Dometic tho.

 

[staffaction]

We rocked an Alpicool 40 off Amazon for over a year that was decent. It started to get really loud so opted to spend the money on a Dometic. One of the main reasons I went with Dometic over ARB is REI carries them.. get some dividend points and the return policy there is top notch if something ever goes wrong. Hard to go wrong with ARB or Dometic tho.

thanks. that's a good point on REI/Dometic. Will have to look at that.

 

[Andrew jobel]

Alpicool 40 is good as i am using this and love it

 

[Sharky1528]

Looking for a fridge also .. wasn’t there a issue with compressors or something? I think it had to do with a certain manufacture of the compressor was the one to pick?

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I just got a small iceco go20 fridge. Iceco uses a top of the line compressor SECOP(Danfoss).

 

[staffaction]

Looking for a fridge also .. wasn’t there a issue with compressors or something? I think it had to do with a certain manufacture of the compressor was the one to pick?

this is the one we are going to get:

VL60 Dual Zone Portable Refrigerator with Insulated Cover & SECOP Compressor,60 Liters Compact Freezer

Enjoy up to 30% off on ICECO Christmas Sale from Dec.9-12th. Buy ICECO VL60D 12V Refrigerator with Cover at the lowest price at ICECOFreezer.com.Dual Zone & Dual System ※ 60 Liters Compact Freezer ※ Free Insulated Cover ※ Metal Shell ※ 5 years warranty Secop compressors ※Free Shipping in...

icecofreezer.com

probably should have purchased it already as inflation has pushed the price up a bit :-(. I wanted to wait til closer to install time to purchase.

 

[jiggletits]

Best fridge is the one in your house that makes ice. I run a Yeti 45. Unless you are boondocking weeks at a time, car fridges are dumb.

 

[jdevtac]

Rough country isn’t typically thought of too fondly but I just bought their fridge with wheels. It looks to be out of the same factory making bougerv’s and a couple other overseas company fridges but slightly modified, as it does not have a freezer partition, but instead one large compartment. It also comes with a removable lithium battery that by few reviews appears to last at least 24 hours of operation. The bougerv versions are cheaper but also lack the battery which is $169 separately and out of stock.

But I’m buying it to transport some meds for a few days and the lithium battery onboard is appealing since I really have zero time left to do all the wiring for the vehicle. We will see how it goes for that 3 day trip. Will make rolling it into a hotel super easy too to recharge and maintain correct temps.

The compressor type isn’t specified but it’s probably a knockoff of the secop types.

I’m also not to convinced of some of the other popups out there. Build quality and compressor quality seem to vary wildly even amongst the Chinese companies with US operation fronts and questionable customer service lines. Even ICECO mirrors many of them in web design, broken English, and such, only main difference being they appear to use genuine secop compressors.

My guess is if you want an unquestionable fridge then Engel or ARB is the gold standard.

 

[McDuff123]

Best fridge is the one in your house that makes ice. I run a Yeti 45. Unless you are boondocking weeks at a time, car fridges are dumb.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[OCGX]

I currently have a Iceco VL45Pro. I love it. I also have a GO12 for smaller trips and to use as a separate freezer.
I have used the VL65 Dual Zone, and I like how you can run just one zone to conserve energy.
The issue with entering the realm of fridges, is how do you plan to power them?

 

[4x4tripping]

The best 12v compressor fridge is this one, who fits in your setup!

The fridges today are pretty close, so the size, weight is more important than the marginal more/less power usage.

If you really care about those data`s, here I`m collecting comparisons:
The best fridge for Overlanding / Vanlife - https://vanlife.4x4tripping.com/2021/11/the-best-fridge-for-overlanding-vanlife.html

In my eyes it is more important to choose the right size

trippin

 

[HomersCanyonero]

Best fridge is the one in your house that makes ice. I run a Yeti 45. Unless you are boondocking weeks at a time, car fridges are dumb.

I’m going on a one week dispersed camping trip to Baja and that’s what led me to buying more camping gear.

The iceco go20 has a freezer option to keep ice cream frozen, so even a weekend trip could now include some Hagen Daz ice cream bars.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I currently have a Iceco VL45Pro. I love it. I also have a GO12 for smaller trips and to use as a separate freezer.
I have used the VL65 Dual Zone, and I like how you can run just one zone to conserve energy.
The issue with entering the realm of fridges, is how do you plan to power them?

I got a bluetti eb70s power station (716w) and Twelseavan 120 watt solar panel to charge it.

The power station can be charged off the cigarette lighter plug when driving the car and via solar panels when parked in the sun.

For my trip to Baja, I plan to only use the refrigerator feature to conserve the battery in the power station to last 48 hours powering the fridge.

This way I can charge the power station as much as possible every day and have reserve capacity to make sure my fridge never turns off