Travel Buddy rocks, do your self a favour and go get one BUT, the plug is rubbish and it takes a fair while to heat up. Click to see the vid and what the limitation are.
Its like a Engel. You put a heap of warm beers into a cold fridge, the temp goes up. You put a heap of cold pies into a small oven, it cools down.I purchased the kKickass brand due to none availability at the time(identical oven) and gotta say they are a bloody awesome oven.
Exactly. Use 15v step up converter too, and insulated door. It’s amazing the difference in performance, actually got it to 200c. Runs about 170c when straight battery power so better for slow cooking. Once you learn the tricks they are fantastic
Ad an updated power supply, mine is a 12v to 15v converter, ad that to the insulated door and the difference is insane. I also have 150ah lithium so plenty of capacity. So when I want to slow cook I flip a switch to battery power and when I want crispy stuff even roasts I flip the switch to the 15v output. On battery power with vehicle turned off it gets to 170c and when in 15v it actually gets to 200c. Just preheat oven and don’t open door often during cooking and these things are amazing stationary
Yes preheating is the answer by the looks of it, that’s why it took so long, glad you didn’t starve yourself, I’m definitely going to get one of these ovens, thanks for putting up the review.
I purchased one these 4 years ago love it, it's really good while driving I cook lots of Lamb and pork roast on the go, but when it comes two camping you need a good solar set up. I run 400 watts and my battery holds 14.3 volts while I cook a roast for 4 hours, if there is no sun I don't even bother its draws a lot of power 10 amps plus two fridges....
Thanks for the review mate... much appreciated. Love cooking on the fire, but one of these sure would be handy. Just a observation.... a lot of the time you were talking to the camera, you were leaving the door open.... so would’ve let a lot of heat out I’m guessing.... and prolonging the cooking time... Cheers. Robbo
Same expereince here - if you want to heat something while you drive they are fantastic. If you want to cook something you need to allow a LONGGGG time. They really should fit an anderson standard (I guess this might limit their market a little) but they do allow you to change the plug without affecting the warranty. Also great for heating Jam donoughts on the way up to the snow or High Country Vic - nothing better.....
Please use a Thermocouple to measure the temperature accurately with the door closed. As soon as you open the door the temperature changes instantly. Even better is to use multiple thermocouples so you can see the difference in temperature around the oven, you could even put one inside a pie. I have a spare one you can have which connects to most multimeters with temperature sensing.
There are all sorts of reflections and absorption issues with an infrared thermometer. I could see the laser finder bouncing off stuff behind the travel buddy and chances are that was what you were measuring - not the side of the travel buddy. Anyhoo, use a temperature probe to figure out what temperature the food is at and if you want to make sure you aren't going to give your gut a work over, make sure it is over 65oC or so. Should be able to get one at a $2 shop. I'm pretty convinced that a travel buddy will be a great addition to my camping setup. Once in a while you want to get off slow, bbq or fried food and enjoy some junky processed crap that tastes so friggin wonderful! Thanks for a great review too by the way.
I would say that the unit is operating normally. I don’t own a travel buddy, but I’ve used a 12V coffee drip machine and holy jesus it takes 15 -20 minutes to fill the pot!! it is pretty packed in there with all those pies and sausage rolls and if they were frozen then yea the unit would be trying it’s damndest to heat things up in there. Maybe preheat it first with the racks removed and then load it up with the racks full of pies once it’s up to the 200°C mark, that should help?
Just ordered one of these jiggers for the canopy of my Silverado......had been thinking of doing so for a few months, just needed another prompt!!! hahaha. Greetings from Kadina.
It’s a 12 V 10 A 120 watt system buddy there’s no an so it’s slow and uneven but it woks, have patience, they are supposed to be used slow low and long lol
As they say a watched pot never boils. I don't recall any problem with my base model Travel Buddy. I ran it from a WAECO CoolPower battery plugged into the car. It was great at heating up leftovers or frozen meals while driving from A to B. Made the car smell nice. A pox on the thieves that broke into my car and stole it.
Love mine I have cooked roasts and He goes in it. From scrap made by me corn bread. And cake and love it. The heating element is only on the bottom so the sides wont get as hot its just insulation on the sides and the top and back. You also have to take in account how much current draw from your battery you are using with the travel buddy and everything else plugged in. I have 4 batteries in my car. 1 for starting, 1 for travel buddy oven and 2 for fridges and everything else in the back as I run 2 40lt engels at all times one freeze one fridge.
yep if you want to use them stationary (like i do all the time) you need a voltage step up regulator even with lithium ( i use a 12v - 13.8v with a 200ah lithium battery) then doesnt matter if your driving or not.
Mates got one.. when we did vic to wa in 17, was good to get up from camp on the nullarbor, toss some pizza slices and pies in it...do say hour, hour 20 driving and pull over for breaky. not good to use consistently with out a vehicle running or good solar to charge, bit hungry on the amps i believe, and they sure aint fast, but brilliant i reckon if youre thinking ahead, you could cook almost anything in them. off road, brilliant, same deal... take some pre prepped food like lasagne etc from home, pop it in and do 2 hours of tracks and lunch is ready!! good review. G.
In less than 10mins i managed to go to my freezer, pull out 6 party pies, put it in me oven and now waiting for them to cook at 1:42am. Will watch more vids while i wait.
When your travelling your output from the alternator will charge to around 14 maybe 15 amps insted of being stationary a 10amp draw is what your getting, oviosuly will take longer, you can get boosters which trick your battery to boosting out more amps maybe that will help you
I know travel buddy recommend u preheat or warm up at least while driving maybe that’s why it taking longer to warm up once they are got they work mint
Good vid mate. I have 2x of the smaller ones and they are fantastic. But yes I always allow double the time and preheat if I can. I cooked a roast the other week on the way up to The high country and it was actually amazing. Cooked so well I was able to cut it with a plastic knife and fork.
I had the same issue with plug travelling on rough roads get to desitnation and it had fallen out, changed to anderson shortly after. Definitely recommend prewarming oven when filling right up.
love the video but you need to preheat these ovens...no different than the ones in your home...they take anywhere from 30 to 40 mins to come up to temp...then put your food in...they really are meant to be used while you travel to your next location....
I’ve got one and they are the best things I’ve ever done to my Ranger my son and my nephew and me went to Fraser at Xmas and we used mine all the time we were over there they are the greatest cheers A 👍🍻🇦🇺
Been there done that and that’s why I have moved on to bigger and better things Ford Ranger is the best pulling vehicle I’ve ever had, but everyone to themselves 👍🍻🇦🇺
Ron Carter After a very short consideration I refuse to lower myself to your level, clearly you have some issues to deal with and can’t hold a sensible conversation without using language to show that you may have small man syndrome as well as a very large chip on the shoulder about the whole world, sometimes it’s best to let the past GO and live in the present but I guess some people find that extremely hard to do, so on that basis I Cannot Lower myself to your level. Considering it was about a (Travel Buddy Oven) I said I have and use. I am disappointed in myself for replying to you I wonder what other people are saying about your comments.
Mine only works while motor running. Next to useless while stopped. Suits me. I’m never hungry when I wale up. I make a cuppa, put breakfast in the oven and stop 45 minutes down the road salivating for what ever Ive put in there. Then, later in the day, stop at 3 or 4 and put dinner in and I’m salivating for dinner at 6 or 6:30
dude you can’t expect miracles from a 12v oven especially when stationary and at night time. it’s basically a pie warmer. semi cook things before you expect to eat them.
Dude there made for running while driving at least 2 hrs or more especially when frozen to start with if you want it faster you need a microwave oven off an inverter use while traveling and when you get there diner is ready they are a great thing but use while travelling for good results
Couldn't agree more and on sidenote (long as the weathers decent) most foods can (and should:) be cooked over an open fire, portable grill, or disposable grill, especially giving how cost-effective and hassle-free it is to cook this way. Sorry, but hotdogs cooked in an oven is a travesty on so many levels ;)
A tip for you mate.....thaw the stuff out for an hour or so BEFORE putting it in the oven. Secondly, as per my reply to Ben (below), voltage of a lithium battery is NOT a good indicator of what it's doing. Think of your mobile phone.....it keeps working the same at 5% SOC (state of charge) as it did when it came off the charger @ 100% SOC.....then it dies all of a sudden. Same thing applies with your big lithium camp battery. Do yourself a favour and get a Victron BMV712 (built-in bluetooth) and keep the screen set to PERCENTAGE SOC.
to many frozen items put in old oven, hence why it was only warm after 30mins. It will take time to heat up. I dont have one but im sure if you reheat the oven first it will be ok
Interesting that your TB was showing a draw of 10 amps. We have just started testing ours and it shows a draw of between 7.3-8.1 amps. We are finding that they do take a long time to build up heat but once they finally get there, they do a good job.
The current is directly proportional to the supply voltage. Lithium batteries generally sit at 13.3 volts which is higher than a standard car battery. If you have significant voltage drop in your wiring you will also lose some voltage as well by the time it gets to the element. Assuming you have the marine version which is rated at 10amps, you will probably have problems if your only pulling 8 amps.
Voltage on a lithium battery doesn't really tell you the battery capacity as the lithium will hold its voltage until its dead pretty much - should invest in a victron bms mate
You are correct Ben. Lithium batteries are much more to do with "SOC" (state of charge). Voltage will stay consistent at around 13v and put-out good supply of current, until they go flat and turn off all-of-a-sudden. He needs a Victron BMV712 (or similar) to monitor the % state of charge. It also tells you how much current is going out (or in if it is being charged at the time).
Yeah it's what I thought too I have a victron bms 712 I'm not sure how I would go without it. But I want a travel buddy now Where can I get one for cheap cheap
@@panibe00 I don't think you'll get a genuine Travel Buddy cheap mate....unless you can find a second hand one on Gumtree etc. I just bought one a couple of weeks ago (Marine). Expensive but brilliant.
It's 'coz ya foods were all frozen beforehand mate. That's why it's taking ages to warm them up. That plus the fact that ya packed them all in tightly too, instead of spacing them out a little bit so they could get surrounded by warm air circulating around them as they thawed prior to actually warming up. Know what I mean? I've got a Travel Buddy too in my Nissan, and I travel with Pre-cooked frozen foods of all kinds in me ARB 34L Fridge/Freezer too. My TB 12V Pie Warmer (Ahem!... OVEN!) works awesome when I thaw them out for a few hours prior to jamming them in there. Also, I pre-heat it for even just 10 or 15mins, and it gets a bit of a head start on the task of heating up the meals. AWESOME INVENTION! I can't believe I didn't buy one years ago!
To each their own of course, but those 12v ovens are so slow to cook and mostly limited to unique situations... like being stuck inside your vehicle during bad weather, driving for hours in the middle of nowhere and/or driving for hours (and wanting something hot) when nothings open(?) I'm really not sure why anyone actually bothers (aside from the novelty) with the added purchase/expense, along with the added hassle of having to run one's car to insure max cooking temps (aka: max Amps/Watts). By not purchasing the oven, folks would actually be ahead in costs (and hassle) by just buying and keeping some nice sandwich shop, sandwiches in cooler on ice, along with having some chips and cookies/brownies on the side for dessert!
@@DASHOffRoad - Wow... sorry if I offended you some in way(?) My comment wasn't meant to offend and I thought my opening sentence would help safeguard against offending anyone, maybe not(?) That said, if I didn't watch the video, how else would I know for sure if the unit would work for "me" (or not)? To each their own... yes/no(?) Regardless, I actually still gave the video a "like" ... sheesh.
Chris Z the Road chef is a direct Chinese made copy of the Travel buddy , should perform the same but I'd much prefer the Original and Aussie made Travel buddy 👍👍🇦🇺🇦🇺
Mick Moriarty My Travel buddy came with an Anderson plug as well , if you buy direct from the travel buddy site , you can choose Anderson plug at no extra cost 👍👍
Just cooked a 1kg roast beef in 2.5 hours but get this, it was over cooked. First shot at it for me, will need to use less heat and less time next tome
Good if you just want to eat shit food when you're out camping. Also don't like the idea of turning a family sedan into a kitchen. Get a weber Q or something thats more verstile and you don't have to cook in your car??
This is not an accurate test , pre heat would have been better and leaving the door open like that is just dropping the oven temp . Your TB was struggling to get up to temp , appreciate you attempt but shit house execution .
