Fridge vs. Yeti cooler

[grimmjeeper]

I've been running an ARB fridge for the last several years and I'll never go back to a cooler.

I've done extended camping where I leave the fridge on overnight and it does not even come close to draining the factory battery. You do want to drive the vehicle for a while every day but when you're on a week long trip going off road, that's a given. Or you can just as easily hook up a solar panel if you're going to park for several days.

The biggest advantage of the fridge is that you don't need to buy ice. The compressor hardware takes up the same space as an ice block or two so you get about as much usable space in the fridge as you do in a cooler with ice. But not having to deal with ice, or frozen water bottles, or any of that is worth it all by itself.

For week long excursions, I can take my moderate size fridge along instead of packing a huge cooler (or several moderately sized coolers). It just has to be big enough to hold the perishables and half a dozen water bottles. Every time I grab a cold drink, I grab a warm one and put it in the fridge. Having the smaller fridge leaves me more room for gear. Sure, I may take up some space with an extra case of water bottles or two but it's still a much more flexible arrangement since water bottles can be tucked into the nooks and crannies.

And, as has been said before, I can control the temperature to be exactly what I want. If I want to take ice cream to a big gathering, I can keep it that cold. Or I can keep it at refrigerator temperature and keep my perishables just the right temperature, even in Moab in the summer for a week or longer.

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[Wizard1183]

I'm naturally going to get a large cooler for the trunk of my Bronco. But then I remembered this [really pricey] mini fridge that looks to be a more integrated solution. Does anybody have experience with these, compared to coolers?
Looks tiny

I have a pretty capable bookbag style portable cooler thats great for transporting beers to the beach or the woods. But my purpose with this second cooler is storage for meats, cheese, food, etc that id take with us on our camping trips. Would the mini fridge provide any benefits over say, a large YETI COOLER?

Thanks for the answers

YETI= (Yankee's Expensive Typical Igloo) OR more realistically an EOPIC (Extremely Over Priced Ice Chest) Just go to walmart and buy an ice chest. Theyre no better than an igloo. Ive seen the reviews and crap spewed over it. Basically for a YETI or ANY ice chest to function correctly? You fill it to the brim with ice and never open it. Any air inside the ice chest is warm. It melts ice. I can guarantee you my walmart Lifetime 55qrtr extreme (was $98 when I bought it. Now $120) will last as long as a ($400-500)YETI under the same conditions. Unless youre the type who has to show off everything you have? Then by all means blow your money...

 

[Vigor]

I've been running an ARB fridge for the last several years and I'll never go back to a cooler.

I've done extended camping where I leave the fridge on overnight and it does not even come close to draining the factory battery. You do want to drive the vehicle for a while every day but when you're on a week long trip going off road, that's a given. Or you can just as easily hook up a solar panel if you're going to park for several days.

The biggest advantage of the fridge is that you don't need to buy ice. The compressor hardware takes up the same space as an ice block or two so you get about as much usable space in the fridge as you do in a cooler with ice. But not having to deal with ice, or frozen water bottles, or any of that is worth it all by itself.

For week long excursions, I can take my moderate size fridge along instead of packing a huge cooler (or several moderately sized coolers). It just has to be big enough to hold the perishables and half a dozen water bottles. Every time I grab a cold drink, I grab a warm one and put it in the fridge. Having the smaller fridge leaves me more room for gear. Sure, I may take up some space with an extra case of water bottles or two but it's still a much more flexible arrangement since water bottles can be tucked into the nooks and crannies.

And, as has been said before, I can control the temperature to be exactly what I want. If I want to take ice cream to a big gathering, I can keep it that cold. Or I can keep it at refrigerator temperature and keep my perishables just the right temperature, even in Moab in the summer for a week or longer.

That's awesome. Yeah for the reasons you stated, I'm leaning towards fridge

 

[JamesC]

That's awesome. Yeah for the reasons you stated, I'm leaning towards fridge

We run both but if you really are leaning towards a fridge you might look into 'Indel B' or 'Truckfridge' (which are the same company) and high quality compressors. They always do well on reviews, great starter fridge and good balance of performance vs cost. They have a 41 and a 51l that would do more than cover your few days. Their main line of business is in-cab compressor fridges for Semis so they need to perform. If you want a top performing product look into National Luna's dual compartment/controlled units.

Run it 12V as stated elsewhere here. You don't want to lose all the efficiency by going to 110v then back to run what is already a DC compressor. Most of these fridges come with both a lighter plug 12V outlet and the two prong AC plug. They have onboard battery monitors to shut down if detecting the source too low and they do work - but I'd watch carefully all the same. If you are worried, have a battery generator backup on hand, something between a 400-1200 that can also handle solar panel inputs. It sounds complicated but it's very easy once you get used to it - set it up and monitor in the yard before trips!

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