Opinions on fridges (1 Viewer)

[MCtree]

Ladies and Gents,

I’m considering getting a fridge. I certainly want one, but am not sure if they are truly worth it or if I just want one because they are in vogue.

Right now I travel with a 75L yeti.
It can keep food and drinks cold for 5 days to a week. And keep some ice for drinks.

And buying more ice is quick and easy on the road.

But I will admit that a time or two I haven’t packaged my steaks well enough and found them water-logged. (Which also makes me suspect that everything else in the cooler now might have meat juice on it.)

So my question to you guys who have portable fridges; is it worth the $1k I’ll need to spend to match the yeti?
And then whatever more I need to spend for a way to power it.

And if anybody had a fridge and then decided to go back to a cooler, I would love to hear from you as well.

 

[AgentOrange]

Went to a fridge in my Cruiser and my wife quickly followed with a bigger fridge in her Sequoia. I won't go back. Coolers have their place for sure, but after week on a trail or a long camping trip, knowing everything I packed it fine is sure nice. I got a mid-range IceCo and she got the big dual-zone IceCo fridge. I run a dual battery setup and a single 100w panel and never have power issues. The Sequoia only has a dual battery but she plans to add a panel later on, but it's not really needed for her setup yet.

 

[CharlieS]

Your cooler is great. You most likely don't need a fridge.

In your case, to address your concern, I might buy a vacuum sealer and some good ziplock bags to prevent mess and cross contamination.

I love my National Luna fridge, and have had good luck with others including a couple of Dometics and an Edgestar. But they aren't required by any means. A good cooler is fine, especially if you are near civilization and can get ice easily.

 

[MCtree]

Oh… wow. Capital idea on the vacuum sealer! I am sad I didn’t think of that.

And yeah, I guess I’ve never been away from civilization for more than a week. That’s about as long as I can go between showers - or filling up the 200’s gas tanks.

Though any longer than a week and I guess that means you are keeping meat frozen? Since it only keeps about a week at above 32.

 

[tbisaacs]

My fridge is literally the one thing I wouldn't give up.

 

[daneo]

I think it all depends on how long you're going to be out. If you're only going to be out for 2-3 day excursions, you can get some blocks of dry ice at the bigger supermarkets to avoid soggy steaks. But beyond that, a fridge sure is nice. You can go much smaller than your Yeti since you don't need to fit ice in there to keep stuff cool. A 35L would work for 1-2 people for up to a week comfortably in my experience.

 

[daneo]

PS: I'm kind of surprised I didn't see it mentioned on this forum, but Anker is coming out with a fridge that has the battery integrated. You would be ready to roll just by plugging a USB-C adapter into the AC socket in the hatch area.

Anker EverFrost Powered Cooler—Everlasting Coolness. Anytime, Anywhere.

With Anker EverFrost Powered Cooler, get long-lasting and ice-free cooling anytime, anywhere—perfect for adventurers and anyone who enjoys a refreshing cold beverage on the go.

www.anker.com

Kickstarter backers are supposed to be shipping soon. So regular stock should also be on the way.

 

[CharlieS]

Honestly, I have yet to go many places where I couldn't buy food every few days if I wanted to.

Most of the time I go many days between reprovisioning, but I do it by choice, not necessity. I think the longest I've had to go due to remoteness is 3 days.

Sometimes I start with frozen food (meats, etc) and keep them in a way that I can eat things as they thaw. That'd work with a cooler too.

I just have the option to keep things frozen in the electric fridge. Not needed. Nice to have, sure. Between fridge and slide, it's a lot of coin to have that feature.

 

[TeCKis300]

If you're regularly using the cooler and often go on trips, I would highly recommend a fridge! Especially in a warm weather region like Houston. Never having to worry about ice/melt and it's such an awesome thing. Especially backcountry camping where getting ice is not really an option and even the best coolers in the middle of summer won't keep cold for long with opening and closing.

There's a balance you'll need to decide on. Big fridges and multi-zone fridge are awesome, but the space they take and the power they draw are not. Especially in summer. I like this Iceco 42L rotomolded combo fridge/cooler unit. Smaller but since there's no ice to pack means it can be relatively smaller for the same functionality. Sips power.

Whatever fridge you decide on, it's an awesome thing to be ready for any perishable without needing to run home.

 

[residualboulders]

I agree with the above comments. I did the Yeti thing for a while and it worked fine. Disadvantage is soggy food, sloshy water noise on trails and having to drain the cooler and refill with ice. Disadvantage of the fridge is the power draw and price, especially when you factor in dual batteries and solar if you go that route. @CharlieS is right, do you need it? no. Is it really nice to have instead of a cooler? in my opinion yes. Also it's just nice to have it wired in, on a drawer slide, secure and ready to go whenever i need it with no stops for ice required.

What wasn't mentioned above - and maybe I'm the rare case - is that I use my fridge all the time (except our coldest winter months), not just on trips. We live a couple hours from any major town so we tend to drive a lot, especially for our kids high school sports. I keep the fridge stocked. It's just nice having a cold jug of water or beverage whenever and handy to be able to throw in a lunch or snacks. Wife and kids love it for that and it saves me a bunch on overpriced gas station drinks. We also use it quite a bit for Costco runs since we have distance until we can get home to put things in the fridge.

I have a 75L dometic fridge freezer and other than costco runs it's too big - much larger than needed for most things. I'd like a smaller one that takes up less space and power for my 200.

 

[bicycleagent003]

I have a Dometic CFX3 55IM (55 quart) fridge in my rig and it's the best thing I've ever done to my truck. It was a leap of faith, it cost a lot of money, and it was kind of a hassle to install the wiring and the fridge slide. But, having done it, I'll never go without one. It is so convenient, it's so nice to have cold drinks all the time, so nice not to be monitoring the ice level and draining water, so nice not to have to dig around in the ice for something. It's a total game changer. I would never go back. My vote is to get one if it's in the budget. I don't think you'll regret it.

 

[LCH21]

I have the Dometic CFX3 35. My Goal Zero 1000X can power it for four days. My 100 watt solar panel can also power it and still provide a bit to recharge the Goal Zero. Consumes around 55 watts when running. I find it big enough for three people. It will carry enough food until I need to replenish after several days. I hated having to worry about ice and soggy food. Also, you don't get warm spots as you do in an ice cooler.

 

[UPR LC]

I have a 55L Dometic that I have been using for a few years. Best upgrade and most used upgrade for being on the road or camping. Hands down.

The fridge opens up a ton of room that a cooler doesn't have due to all the ice. I would say a 55L fridge would be similar to a 75L cooler if not bigger (have not calc'd it).

My 55L Dometic makes ice cubes in special trays even when I have it in fridge mode. It can also run as a freezer if needed (but not dual-zone).

The 55L fits easily in the back of the LC.

The fridge runs on either AC or DC, so at home you can plug it into the wall outlet and use it as a backyard fridge or garage fridge if you need extra space.

The Dometic has an app for your phone, so you can track power usage, temperature, settings, etc without touching the fridge, just need to be close by for BT.

FYI, I think REI is having a sale on Dometic this weekend......

 

[Artie]

We have a snomaster in our camper, I know it’s not really comparable to putting one in your cruiser but hear me out. Having now camped without coolers I would have a hard time on switching back to coolers. I want to put an additional smaller one in my cruiser now just for the times we go out for the day in it when on longer trips where we leave the camper at camp or just for day trips to the mountains. As mentioned above, you can go with a smaller fridge than cooler because there’s no need for ice. My wife packs like a squirrel who’s a Tetris champion and it’s surprising what can fit in our snomaster 85L. I was really sold after having ice cream after 3 days camping during a Georgia August.

The clean up is easier as well.

If you have the room and can sort out the power I think it’s a mod you will cherish.

I’ll second that vacuum sealer recommendation as well, even with a camp fridge.

 

[TheIcemanCometh]

Regarding a vacuum sealer. On a recent boating trip we had vacuum sealed steaks. The kicker they were BBQ beforehand, sealed, froze. On the last day of the trip they had thawed. We just tossed them in boiling water to heat up. Once hot, we took them out of the vacuum seal, and ate them. Tasty.

As for a frig, I have been on that path and leaning towards a Truma frig. More expensive but less power consumption.

 

[Sandroad]

I have an older Waeco (since bought by Dometic) 40L that changed my life camping. Evenly cold throughout, no food floating in water, no worries about spoiled food, runs fine for at least 3 days on a group 31 battery (probably longer) and will run on the 120v outlet in the LC cargo area without issue. I would never go back to an ice cooler.

 

[lx200inAR]

I think it certainly depends on your idea of what it costs is. I have an iceco 40l fridge and a EcoFlow battery system that between the two cost about 1k, and obviously the ecoflow is good for lots of other things. At that point it’s pretty much break even on a big Yeti cooler, which makes it a pretty easy decision. I guess if you are the kind of person who has to have “the best” then you could easily spend 2 to 3 times that, in which case it’s probably a more difficult decision.

 

[SF1911A1]

I got my iceco VL45 about 1.5 years ago for $450 on a sale. Looks like prices have increased only modestly since then for that model. I really like my iceco and have had zero issues with it other than an initial temperature calibration issue that their customer service was able to walk me through over the phone. (Side note, their customer service appears to be usa based and very responsive. I was extremely impressed.) I’ve used it camping, off roading, long road trips, and as a cooler at my house for drinks at parties, and it has been flawless. I sold my pelican roto cooler for $250 which offset the cost of the fridge significantly.

My recommendation is to go mid level like iceco for ~$500 and buy the Amazon extended warranty for peace of mind. As much as I love my iceco, I will never pay $1000 plus for a name brand like dometic. I simply can’t justify that kind of cost when excellent options are available at half the price.

 

[CharlieS]

If one were starting from new and didn't already own a fancy Yeti, it might be different math. For the OP, the Yeti is a sunk cost, and buying an electric fridge (and any other supporting mods) is all net new cost. Again, I love my national luna, it is super efficient, and awesome. That being said, I got along fine before I had it, and could live without it just fine.

 

[Ratchey]

I have a 52L Indel B fridge that lived in the 4Runner and then the LX for a while (now a rental unit for the trailer). I upgraded to the 75L IceCo VLPro Dual Zone. It stays in the LX all of the time in a dedicated case on a slide out drawer. We use it several times a week when going to different stores. Either side can be a fridge or a freezer or turned off individually. I wouldn't go back to a cooler.
Very handy for left overs when you go out if you aren't headed straight home afterwards. And Ice cream on the trail... what else is there to say

(IceCo runs specials all of the time. You can generally get 10 to 20% off if you look around. There are also group buys on this board about twice a year)