Just one correction that I'd like to clarify; In the video I referred to the Coleman Chiller as having a compressor and it in fact has a solid state thermoelectric cooler with a fan.
TrailRecon I hate the video of the coleman cooler when you buy one it come with a 1.200.00 rpm fan adds up to a cheap fan put a evercool fan 12 and 2.300.00 rpm it works great cooler get cool nicely I had minds for three years when I replaced the cooling fan with a better one it works so much better
Quick tip for the cheap cooler. It is insulated in every direction except for the lid. You lose a lot of thru the lid. If you drill a small hole in the underside lid you can inject the foam insulation that is found in cans. I did this to all of my coolers and it made a big difference. Happy Trails.
I don't know if I love or hate your content. On the one hand, they are amazingly thorough and informative; on the other hand, I keep buying things you suggest.
As someone who has a Dometic CFX75 and a 55qt Lifetime cooler, I much prefer the Lifetime cooler for 1/15th of the price. With the Dometic, I have to spend another $500 on a power supply. In addition, if the fridge goes down on your trip, you're done. With the Lifetime, I can drive into town and replenish. I was just on a 5 day trip in Death Valley and the Lifetime still had ice up to the last day before we dumped it all. Here is a tip, putting frozen water bottles in your chest will do double duty as a beverage and keeping your food cold. I never have to worry about the reliability of my ice chest especially off road when it's getting shaken to hell especially on washboard roads.
@@AgentJRock805 Thought the same thing initially, but I think he means as the ice melts, there is room for more ice and as you add more ice, the weight increases. The rubbermaid cooler (correct name Esky) needs a drain plug to drain some of the water when you restock the ice. Dont drain it all as the ice slurry is colder than just ice. Beer is best on ice, no doubt in my mind, but I use a dometic CFX50 so much easier when your miles away from a shop. Cheers
@@crankyoldcoot7212 But you would simply drain the water as you add more ice. Otherwise, why not start out with an ice chest half full of water and ice.
I use the Coleman chiller. There are a couple of things you can do to improve efficiency. First, orient it with the element up so it cools the warmest air inside and let thermodynamics take care of the food below. Second, freeze what you can before packing it. These two things help me keep food safe in there for nearly a week, even when I have to unplug it over night.
I already tried to put dry ice and freeze things I had it sitting up with the compressor on the top like a mini refrigerator unfortunately perishable foods or certain other fruits like frozen food less elastic less than a day the meat was defrosted and not up to temperature. It's only good for putting apple juice or Gatorade or soda and it prevents the heat on the outside pop into cans of soda from being too hot but using the dry ice to pre chill it is the way to go when you have a bunch of gatorade's Frozen helps out when you want to keep everything chilled and you have to keep it. Have so much are gaps inside which is very hard when you have bottles inside how do you actually fill in the gaps which I think the best way is.. using Ziploc bags using the are locked in a ziplock as a insulator using different sized ziplocks will take care of big gaps or small gaps snack size ones or a quart sized ones you want to fill every gap of space that is not used by a can of soda or drinks
The size of the Dometic actually worked slightly in my favor. I used to use a 50L cooler which took up a fair amount of space. I got lucky enough to find a Dometic CFX28 (the smallest in the range) on sale for $280 so I jumped on that deal. The dometic is a little bit shorter than the cooler. Even though it's only 28L internally I can put about as much stuff in it as I did the cooler because of no ice taking up space. Well worth the investment.
A lot of cheap ice chests don’t have thermal insulation on the cover. There is a mod you can do that involves making small openings on the inside and filling the space with an expanding foam spray can.
Great vid thanks! I learned long ago when gold dredging a week long using the marine ice chest had to send someone in for ice, so years later I purchased the Cabelas Polar 100, and bought an ice maker, most my camping after that was near water, worked great using creek water for the ice, now have the Dometic CFX3 95DZ, what a game changer! OH and for power a few years ago I built a solar generator 400 amp hr 4 Battleborn Lithium LiFePO4 batteries 3,000 watt pure sine wave outback charge controller and 4 sunpower flex 170 panels, runs fantastic.
We run an ARB 50L fridge/freezer. It comes in handy during emergency situations (e.g. power outages), or when we are on expeditions without regular access to ice. It's nice to have a tightly-controlled environment for those traveling with us that need to keep medications (e.g. insulin or ABX) at guaranteed temperatures.
I knew absolutely NOTHING about these devices, the pros and cons and etc before watching your video. You have taught me so much. Thanks so much for your help. So appreciated. Now I can make a better decision. Thanks again and God Bless!❤️
You should look into Engel fridge/freezers as here in Australia we use them in the transport industry for our line haul trucks and of course the 4wd in the outback
The D250SA is a nice unit, but it is only rated to IP65 and would also be a single point of failure for your entire charging system. The Noco Genius GenM2 (underhood and IP68 rated), Morningstar MPPT 40A (obviously in the cabin), Genesis & dual Odyssey Group 34M, and OEM alternator are my go-to. This provides 3 independent charging sources plus a backup battery.
Christopher Michaelson good point but after doing 3 vehicle solar setups the D250 is my preferred way. I started off with separate MPPT and Bluesea LVD to allow for 100Amp+ devices but at the end it was smaller/cleaner/easier/cheaper to run the D250 for low draw in the rear like fridges/chargers and use Anderson plugs in the front for the high draw items like a Oxx coffeeboxx with engine running. Ctek makes a quality unit so if things were to ever go south I’d just parallel the starter and service battery. What vehicle are you running that is making 40amps of solar?
2A556FMJ nice screen name BTW. Anyway I don't have 40A of power but I went with the bigger unit so I can run remote panels. The string selection tool helped with that decision. I'm a huge fan of Morningstar because the unit is FCC Class B compliant ... which makes a big difference to our HF, UHF, and VHF radios. Power distribution is with Techflex Insultherm covered 1/0AWG SGX cable, to 3 Cooper Bussman 15303 boxes in various locations. For example, one in the right rear that the Morningstar connects to directly. I ran remote volt and temp sensor wires straight to the accessory battery.
Great comparison video. I guess I'll stick to my Igloo cooler which has served me well for a couple of years now. Cross country and overnight trips (short camping excursions) are what I need for the cooler to handle. Eight hundred bucks for the Dometic is out of my price range.
Fantastic comparison review of these different cold storage options man. I used a Coleman electric cooler for years but eventually switched to an ice chest once I started packing lots of raw meat and fresh veggies. It just doesn’t keep cold enough in warm weather and real food will go bad. In cool weather it freezes the contents because of the 40° below ambient design. With ice chests, anything buried in the ice will be at 32° all the time, even if much has melted into water, so waterproof your meat containers and bury them. It will be 36-37° on top of the ice and nearer the lid it will be warmer but still safe for things like non leafy produce. That refrigerator looks awesome! I may have to start saving for one now ✌️
another pro point, use an old laundry container (we use the tide button push) clean it out, and use that as a hand/pots cleaning station. it works great, sit it up when not in use, lay on its side when using and push the button for clean water.
I was going to make the same comment about extra water for different usages.Cold water from the drain is also a great way to wash up when you are out in the heat doing different things and feels great to splash on your face to cool down.
the only way to know if it has bacteria in it, is if you drink it and feel bad afterwards, so no...there's no way to know if it's contaminated, you can always boil it but you mentioned "emergency" so boiling it does not apply here.
I've had a Dometic fridge for my overland trips for a couple years now and I love it! I run a dual battery system in my Jeep and never need to worry about it even on longer trips. It's fantastic!
One trick I learned many years ago was to wrap an old sleeping bag around an ice chest. Keeps the ice in there for a couple of days longer. Just make sure you don't use a sleeping bag you plan on using that trip because sometimes it gets wet when driving around.
You sold me on the Dometic .. but that price! You get what you pay for but cold drinks aren’t worth that for me. If I start eating really good on long road trips (no ramen or MREs) then it would be the way to go though. Great vid. Just subbed.
I use a RTIC 5day cooler. I pack in 2 dry bags to keep things I dont want waterlogged. To replenish Ice I got a Tabletop Ice Maker to plug into my inverter or Jackery works well for me and everyone loves having access to ice for cocktails.
Agree. We also have all 3. The coleman thermo electric cooler / chiller, we freeze blue ice packs in the dometic daily and rotate them in the colemen chiller to keep it at or below 35°F. The traditional cooler we keep snack in with blue ice to eat / drink will driving
I use a dometic cfx-50 for a family of four. I used to have to unpack the cooler, empty the ice/water, and repack in the AM. I now have taken all the hastle out of a cooler in the vehicle. I use it for vacations and kids sporting events. I mix my own Gatorade on site using gallon water jugs chilled to 32 degrees. This thing is fantastic. Never once has it run my stock battery too low to start. Battery cutoff works great! Yes $800 but the convenience and savings in food spoilage is worth it. Have you ever thrown away water logged food? Never again!
First time on channel, excellent video. Saw interesting idea on a van camping video. The woman had small DC fridge that she Only used to freeze blue ice packs ( she had 12), then kept 6 in a standard cooler, with her food, and 6 being frozen at all times. Looked like a smart idea. Also, recently bought Thermos 36 cube " ice sheets" ( Tractor Supply, 4.99, 17" x 11"), which are reusable ice packs to lay On Top of stuff being cooled, since cold flows downward ".
I have the Coleman 12V Cooler, it works but certainly not for perishable items like you mention. If its 100 degrees the cooler isn't going to do anything, so...if you want cold stuff buy a cooler and use ice or the refrigerator. Now, according to Coleman you can use the 12V cooler as a standard ice chest, I do NOT think it would work that way very well since once the ice started melting you'd have water running out of the fan area. Yes, the 12V coolers/refrigerators are expensive, however, you buy that thing once and it'll be with you the rest of your life and you never have to mess with buying ice. Since the refrigerator/freezer uses very little power once it is at temperature you could go several days on a battery, and extend that by starting the vehicle or charging the battery in other ways...indefinitely if you use solar panels. I was going to buy one of the 12V refrigerator/freezers several years ago and I'm glad I didn't just because I wouldn't use it, I haven't used a cooler in 10+ years so it would just sit in the garage LOL.... Now, the 12V Coleman cooler, saved a lot of food for me several years ago. The refrigerator in our house quit working suddenly, no warning at all, just up and died. Luckily I noticed it soon enough and was able to save everything in it. That poor little coleman cooler was packed but it saved all my food and did so for about a week until our new refrigerator was delivered....that little cooler paid for itself in just that one emergency. Sure I used it camping too, but just that 1 refrigerator failure and that cooler came to the rescue...course it was in the house so it easily maintained a temperature well suited to keep the milk from going bad I believe the 110V adapter was like $20 or $30 on top of the cost of the cooler, but several hundred dollars in food was saved for about $100 in a cooler investment which has been used off and on for several years between camping, hunting, etc. Yes it consumes quite a bit more power though because it runs all the time.
Thank you for making this video! I drive around town for my job and like camping, so I'm considering getting a fridge for my car. In my head its better than getting ice every few days, but the up front cost is so high! Its currently at about $200 for a 20 L which is much better than your $800 fridge 5 years ago. Anyway; thank you for the information!
I use a Large Coleman wheeled Ice cooler. I precool the night before. I freeze 5 litre bottles and fill untill half full and pack Ice in the voids. I have a homemade grate where I stack my food on and it keeps the food cool for a week easy. The larger the bottle, the better. My first plan was to drink the bottles as they defrosted, that didn't happen, lol
Nice comparison video! I picked up a portable fridge several years ago, makes long trips so much easier when you don't have to plan around getting fresh ice. And no more soggy lunchmeat! Mine now lives in the Jeep 24/7 unless I need the cargo space for a project. Always stocked with a few Gatorades, waters and Snickers. :)
Cool vid, lots of useful info. Another consideration: if you're on the road and you go to 7-11 and grab warm items and throw them in a little portable fridge, it essentially pulls the heat out of those items and puts it in your car. Not so with regular coolers.
I switched from a Yeti 35L to an Engel 45L and other than the increase in size (space used in the JKU) I love it! The Yeti is heavy and when they are both full the weight difference is not very much. Like the Dometic, the Engel draws almost no power - I do notice that it is louder than you describe the Dometic and I think that is because of the Swing motor vs. the Danfoss in the Dometic. Thanks for another great video!
you can hardly tell when the ARB is on - very quiet - plus a safety feature to detect if your battery is getting low. we have solar so our batteries are always fine.
One other con of the regular cooler, is the cost of ice purchase before/during each trip. I was able to amortize the "ice cost" from one years travel/camping ice consumption before my ARB purchase...and totaling it up, the fridge paid for itself in just under three years. Well worth the extra volume and ability to pack perishable with very little or no risk. Finally, one other con of the fridge route...you lose the "audible slosh" clinometer. Great content, thank you Brad!
How true-but you know how much ice to buy n how long it will last.Depending on the campsite,a person could go get more ice.Cheap.Nothing to fail.This 40 pound refer(empty weight)is nothing but electronics-even wifi controls-fans,etc.All prone to failure(some point).You need 12v or ac.Price over 700$.Not saying it's good quality or not.Just a few coolers packed w/enough ice for the trip is cheap n failproof.
I've owned my ARB 50 qt for 8 years...and it hasn't failed me...once. I completely understand the draw to traditional, technology-less coolers. Simple, ice in, cold (but sometimes soggy) food out. The advantages of the 12V refrigerators work for me...more volume for perishables, ability to camp remotely for longer periods of time without ice re-supply...it's my preference having ice/cooler camped for 30 plus years.
I have a Koolatron that I bought in 1986. It is still working. It is the best cooler they made. It has an on/off switch and a second switch to go from max cooling to thermostatically controlled. I don't know why they stopped making their coolers without either. I think they wanted to make them cheap. The trouble with max cool is that if it's cool outside, You will freeze whatever is in it. I've frozen big jugs of milk etc, because as Brad said, it drops the temp by a specific amount. About 48 degrees F.
I have a really small 6 pack chiller I leave in the back seat for drinks that works perfect. When I take breaks I move stuff from the cooler up the the chiller as necessary. Also I use cooler shocks and frozen water bottles in the cooler so no water logging or excessive weight. Havent been out to the desert yet but its been everything I need for 1-3 day trips.
Thanks for your comparison. The Coleman 12 volt unit doesn't have a compressor. It uses a Peltier circuit that transfers heat between two conductors, and as you said, it will drain a regular car battery if the car isn't running faster than you can say "Call AAA". Those fancy big Yeti type coolers will hold a lot of ice and keep it for a relatively long time. In addition to draining your wallet, they will also arrange for you to have an impromptu visit to your local Emergency Room when you destroy your back (and vacation) lifting it when it's full of ice and your tasty snacks. I've had an ARB 12 volt refrigerator/freezer for 7 or 8 years running constantly on solar power. It has never hiccuped even once. On the other hand, my brand new Maytag refrigerator/freezer quit cooling just after the warranty ran out and cost me $400 to fix.
Greetings from Australia, The Coleman is what's commonly referred to as a Thermo Electric, most Thermo Electrics are cooled or heated by changing or switching the polarity this is achieved what's called a PELTIA. Some Thermo Electrics have have one or two Peltia's, for each Peltia they draw a constant 4 amps/ph. They are designed to maintain temperature not to make temperature. Whatever you put in must be precooled, they are definitely affected by outside ambient temperatures. The target market for a Thermo Electrics are day trippers because of the high power consumption. Your Waeco/Dometic CFX is extremely popular here in Oz particularly for camping. When I've been in the states the biggest question is what about batteries and flat batteries, the CFX has 3 levels of battery protection, this is certainly the biggest feature for people trying out a compressor fridge for the first time. LOW/MED/HIGH, what does this mean? HIGH = the cut off is 12v virtually on and off with vehicle ignition - MEDIUM = the cut off is 11.4v allowing longer running time on a single battery car (no flat battery) LOW = the cut off is 10.4 allowing fantastic running time, this would be suitable for people with dual or multiple batteries or the Goalzero Yetti which does not need to start your car. The low average power consumption is great for running the fridge over a long period of time. Don't go back to the ice age, compressor fridges are awesome. Great presentation! @dirtroad4x4 @trevryanadventures :)
Thank you for sharing this. I live in the UK and have just started doing longer trips... :) I have just ordered a dual zone fridge freezer. Smaller fridge on my own or more space when needed. ( The misses...) I was worried about the choice but a fridge is definitely the best choice. Thank you for your great work. :)
Great video ! I have the Aldi knockoff of the Coleman chiller , about $50-, and found the same thing. Drawing 65 watts out of the DC side of a 600 watt solar generator, I got about 7.5 hours for mediocre performance. Skip it, and put the money towards a fridge/freezer. I just got an Alpicool CF55 58 quart single zone for about $300- on amazon. MUCH less power consumption, better performance, and when you factor in the cost and hassle of buying bags of ice, $300 becomes reasonable real quickly !
I cool off my ice chest with frozen water bottles. When traveling or at the beach, when the bottles thaw, I can drink the water if I need to. I use the small bottles which gives you more packing options and or the gallon bottles. Depends on how long I will be gone and if I may need the extra water.
Being a trucker for years the Coleman is junk. I went through countless before I went with a regular mini fridge. And they don’t cool very well in high temps.
TheTacticalHouse thank you! I’m an OTR trucker and I was debating with this dumbass local truck driver why those cheap Rubbermaid coolers and those Coleman electric coolers suck ass. Those cheapass Rubbermaid coolers can’t hold ice for more than a day, and those electric coolers don’t get cold enough during hot weather and the motor gives out after a few months. He was calling me a liar and shit when I told him that I went through 5 of those iceless coolers. Well anyways enough about him. I don’t have an inverter, but I did by a Lifetime cooler for $78 and it holds ice for a 5 days. With ice costing $2 a bag, I really won’t be missing that $2 I’m spending every week
Yes I’ve been thru a few myself, but they are always a tax write off at the end of the year too! I have both a Coleman and a Galanz mini- fridge running off my inverter while on the road. The fridge for my food and the Coleman for my drinks 👍✌️
good info! When we did the entire Mojave Road trail, we had to leave the trail on the second day to get more ice for our cheep cooler. We opted to replace it with an expensive 40L Otter cooler which is known to be able to keep items cool for up to two weeks. We figure it would have lasted at least the 3 days it took to do the Mojave. Insulation, positive sealing gasketing, and a hard shell are worth the price when one wheels across hot sand.
I actually use a chiller and have noticed if you put a couple of large ice packs in the bottom it really helps with the temperature inside the chiller, I can get below 40f on 80-90f days
A short lesson on power consumption, an ampere-hour (AH) or watt-hour (WH) is a unit of energy. Energy consumption is measured in AH or WH per hour. I have the same Dometic refrigerator and did some testing on it using a power meter. In 95^F ambient temperature I found the Dometic to consume about 1.25 AH per hour of run time with the thermostat set at 34^F. So, in a 12 hour period one would expect it to consume about 15 AH. An automobile cranking battery in good condition should easily power the dometic overnight with little chance of running the battery down. If your camping in 95^F ambients you need to save it for cooler weather.
Great review, just got our first wired fridge/cooler, the Luna. My problem was with the Pelican full of ice and things it was stupid heavy, so carrying it up to a hotel room (worrying about it being stolen) was just awful. But we do live where it is very hot and having it permanently wired into the back of the rig is nice, going to the grocery store, turn it on a few hours before I go. Throw everything in it after shopping, then I can stop somewhere on the way home (if I forgot something) as well as just the drive home, things aren't feeling that 110+ heat in the rig. It is a heavy investment, but it is nice having a spot that the cooler exists in, so that when you play Tetris packing things up, you know what fits well next to it.
Note: The two first reviews are coolers. The second one uses a peltier chip between two heat sinks. One side of the peltier is hot, the other side is cold. But my first thermoelectric cooler had a switch from hot to cold. They are two fans. The fan outside is to keep the heat sink from.over heating and the inside fan is to blow the cold air developed from inside the cooler. This is how coolness is achieved. It's like putting ice cubes in front of a fan when you don't have air conditioning. If you open up the case and inspect closely, you will notice ice forming on the grills (heat sink). This is only achievable when the temperature is below 50F. But if the cooler have been running for a while and it is always in shade, I have seen this in 70 degree temperatures. Just make sure the gel packs is surrounding the fan. Both the moisture and coldness will help to make your thermoelectric cooler run colder. Remember this! Although they are not efficient, when they break down, they can be fixed immediately! Like replacing one of the fans or fixing loose wiring. If your compressor goes out, you can attempt to fix it. But you need some kind of technician training. And testing equipment to identify what the source, which could be a number of sources. That's why a warranty is a must for compressor 12v freezers. Because due to cost, simply replacing them is not a go if you have to pay out of pocket. Good luck.
Just purchased the Dometic CFX40 a couple of weeks ago. Works great when plugged into an electrical outlet, but not so great when plugged into my jeeps 12 volt outlet (when the engine isn't running). When the engine is running, it cools down easily, but when it's warm (like it is here in north Texas), it won't cool down at all when plugged in and engine off.
Very useful. The Dometic is fantastic except for $800 very expensive. Interesting that it is a full refer/freezer but draws so little power. Can easily run it off a car battery. Thanks for sharing.
One good point of information you could have made on the fridge was how many times the compressor kicks on to maintain temp. Of course you would have to have figured a way to stay up all night counting lol. But that is crucial and very helpful information if your gonna have the fridge plugged in all night in your jeep. Just some helpful calculations. Calculations that would help you determine if it is a risk or not to the battery draining having the fridge working overnight.
The challenge with that is that it all depend on the abient temperature. The warmer it is the more often it will kick on. Ive ran the fridge many, many times overnight out in the desert and hit the trail the next morning without any issues.
Photos of the coolers in your Jeep would have helped to get an idea of how much space they use. I am planning to get a 2019 JLU, so close to your JKU. Your videos help with my planning of useful items for the JLU and overlanding trips, thanks.
I would recommend buying at least the 50 quart size if you have the space. I bought a Waeco CF50 13 years ago which is now Dometic and it still works great. They use the German made Danfoss compressor. The 50 quart size is adequate but you may have to put in a warm drink when you take a cold one out if you are refrigerating very much food. I wish I bought it sooner.
I have both the Rubbermaid and Coleman coolers. When we go shopping we put the food we buy in the coolers, the Coleman keeps frozen stuff from thawing, the Rubbermaid lets food warm up. So, for my use the Coleman works really well. The fridge is just too much money for me. The Coleman can and has run the car battery down. AAA said we needed a new batterry, I have thought about the Yeti 400, but I see that would not work out for me. When the car is turned off the Coleman is shut down. I would probably need the Yeti 1300, but the cost is more than I want to spend. Good to know about the Coleman power drain.
I’m definitely going to invest in a better ice chest like a Yeti. Now once I’m able to buy a house to have a garage to build a mini camper trailer I’ll add a solar system with 2-4 linked batteries and have a fridge. I’ll need the extra power because I use a cpap that will run all night which draws 70-100 watts.
So just an fyi For the regular cooler you can always do block ice on the bottoms which takes significantly longer to melt and then regular ice up top and it should last for about 4 days. We went camping with about 40 plus people and just had a home made ice chest with foam and duct tape and did this. Also if you cryovac using professional bags your food stays significantly cooler for longer periods of times because there is no wiggle room which is why when people Sous vide items it takes longer to cook even with high temps.
Let me add some helpful advice for pre-cooling all of these coolers. I use frozen half gallon plastic milk jugs to pre cool my ice chest and it works well. I also use frozen water bottles which double as ice and then drinking water as they melt. Great video and very informative and you explained it very well.
@@oceandrew nope. I believe there was even a Mythbusters Episode featuring this little trick. Adding salt to ice in an ice chest cools drinks faster and makes them colder
Gordon, I see you believe that but it doesn't change the physics. Salt water freezes at a lower temperature but adding ice will not make fresh water colder. Next you'll be saying the horizon is flat therefore the earth must be flat.
oceandrew actually it’s why kitchen have so much salt on hand to cool stocks. You throw the stock in the pot in the sink then the ice and add a ton of salt on top. The ice melts but the water stays colder longer. Our stock pots aren’t small little things either. Usually about 40 gallons plus. 30 minted to cool them and fridge them.
jrit is called slush. Shaved ice salt and water. We do 10,000# salmon per day. Ecah insulated tote is 1500# ea. We then prechill 24' freightliner truck. Near frozen in three hours. We pull our nets at 9pm load truck that leaves for market at midnight. Load delivered to buyer by 4 pm salmon processed by 5 am and ready for delivery by 6 am to your store or restraun in pnw. We do 500,000# per year. A five man crww.
Dude! Damn awesome video. The Coleman doesn't have a compressor. It is thermoelectric. That fan is to cool the external heat sink and the interior fan is for air circulation.
Cheers mate, im currently using a Waeco fridge in my van (fulltime) but I've got a 45L Esky I'm considering going to full time and ditching the fridge.
I have a massive cooler and I put in at least 40 pounds of ice and it's easily good for 3 days. Also I can put like 4 12 packs wine and food for like 4 people for 3 days. The only con is that it's big. You can also use it as a bench
I have had the older light grey version of the Coleman for 8 years. Either the newer one you have is junk or they don't make them as well any more. Mine regularly has ice form on the internal heatsink when we take it camping in the summer. It also doesn't use a compressor it uses a Peltier Cooler/Heater. Only thing I have done is take the cowling off the outside and clean the outside heatsink and get debris off the fan to get it to run quite in all the years I have had it.
Use block ice in the chiller or middle one and it will fare better with the fan moving the air and the constant input from the thermal electric cooler not a compressor
The Colman refrigerator, as an owner operator specialized flat bed truck driver have owned 20 or even 30. Hard to day. If you use them a lot it will not last more then 3 months. The coil freezes over, and fan blower motor, it burns out. It doesn't get cold enuff. But I have it so what can I say
Errhka The best stuff isn't made in America. I wish it were true but that's only true for a very small number of things. You're talking about a very basic cooler. Plenty of equals out there made without slave labor, for much less money. Even then, this is 2018. Get something better. Something that plugs in. Almost nothing will have US made electronics and that's what makes these things tick.
Use Watt hours, not amp hours! Amp hours dont really give you as much information if you aren't sharing voltages, even "12v" can vary, 11v-14v can make a big difference in how many Ah you consume, Wh is a much better measurement
Great review and great presentation. Only feedback is you should consider Toastmasters. The reason being you said you know and Kinda at least 25 times each. Toastmasters can help you whip that habit quickly!
Good to know how you can use a Dometic with a portable solar setup because of it's low amp draw. I've had one for years and consider it some of the best money I've ever spent.
Coleman has a peltier cooler creates heat on one side and cools on the other not compressor at all in that. My grandpa used to crank up the ac in the rear of the semi so it would get colder
Brad, great comparison. I have been curious about portable refrigerators and if I should make that investment. I have been using coolers exclusively for years with excellent results. I find every third day the water needs to be drained and the ice replenished. With the Jeep now I would like to do more remote stays and acquiring ice poses a challenge, a weekend trip would be all good but extended stays the frig would be the ticket. Thanks
The AC adapter for the Coleman Chiller needs to be greater than 5 amps. I ended up using 8.5 amp AC adapter. I was out of power for a week and used the Coleman Chiller connected to my gas generator, so make sure the AC adapter can handle the Coleman Chiller.
I would love to get a Dometic but at almost 1,000 bucks; I will have to wait awhile and save up. That is a lot of bucks but I sure would love to have one. Perhaps you could review some of the cheaper options like the Apicool which runs closer to 400 bucks.
When you measure the temp. directly next to ice, that is what you are measuring. If you measure the temp. a couple inches above the ice it will be substantially warmer. food goes bad quickly in an ice cooler that can't be submerged in it.
