Thread: OMG! Here we go.... Which fridge to buy :-)

Can I just say that I voted engel. I think they are great, and not at a huge price premium either.

Anyway i should mention that this poll probably isn't all that good, as there are a lot more Engles out there than any of the other brands. They have been around a long time in Aus.

My fav's the Evakool Fridgemate (thought they do fibreglass ones)... big bright polyurethane thing that has a movable divider to alter the size of how much is fridge and how much freezer etc... Also if a member of any Inc. 4WD clubs at the moment they'll throw in a free 50L Evakool icebox too.

Im not going to vote Ive had experiences with all of the fridges and under most circumstances providing you have a decent battery setup its all a much of a muchness.....

I have 2 engles that I picked up for bugger all at garage sales because they were missing cables not a big deal but you dont know if they work or not....

I have a full set of the cables now and take them with me so I can test them out.

IMHO the metal Engles look proper in a defer and a series and the plastic sided ones look right in a disco...

The aircon setting in a new rangie should eliminate the need for a fridge.

I voted something else as i have a chink Ebay job one of the 55L stainless skinned jobs ive had it for just over 12months and has run faultlessly except for me buggering the the power cable which i repaired easly its a 60 watt unit with a 45L fridge/freezer compartment and a 10L dairy section i find that as a freezer and fridge its great as i use a peice of ply to divide the frozen stuff from the beer and this works great and it is also great at making ice to support the esky in my opinion $600 delivered with 2 year warranty im happy

Originally Posted by Treads

I need to buy a proper fridge before the Cape trip next winter and have been pretty overwhelmed with all the choices of fridge. I'll be looking at around the 40-60L sizes and will need to fit it in the back of both the Disco and the Defender.

I was hoping to use it as the primary fridge on shorter trips, but as the freezer on big ones. So the idea was to get one of those $200 20L cooler/warmer types as the fridge for drinks, milk, butter etc on the big trips. Any other suggestions to this way of thinking?

What brands do people here recommend?

I have a fairly decent dual battery setup, but would consider a 3-way fridge if convinced of their merits

Didn't vote as I think if you just make sure you get a compressor fridge you should be pretty right.

I personally have used a Waeco for the last 7 years and apart from a hiccup within warranty it hasn't missed a beat.

As far as the cooler type ones go forget it - we have a small one (got it for free) they draw high current and will only cool X degrees below ambient so on a hot day it will let you down. The same goes for 3 way fridges, they work OK (actually well) on gas in cooler weather but again will let you down in hot weather (35+) They also have high current draw on 12V. Our trip across the Simpson in 2000 was the reason we ditched the 3 way and got the Waeco after a couple of 40 degree days (this was September) I ran out of cold beer and meat.

A small fridge to use as a freezer and another as a frig would be the ideal, or if you are travelling with another cart consider sharing - one has the freezer, one has the fridge.


Martyn

Originally Posted by EchiDna

how skinny was the barra, or how big was the lure??

Oops. Where is the "How could I have been such a goose" emoticon?

A 7 metre barra - now that would test out the capacity of even the biggest fridge.

It took me a while to get the point of your post. The problem was I kept rereading your post without looking at my original post or the detail of the bit you quoted.

Ok the barra wasn't really as big as the larger crocs up that way, but it was still great fun catching it from a canoe with very light gear.

I bought a 15 ltr Engel in 1978 it died around 1996. I bought a Superkool/Evakool in 1997 and has been faultless the desert twice, the cape etc. etc still have it for shorter trips. Bought a Explorer for the camper last year 47ltr fridge/27ltr freezer worked a dream for 6 weeks in N.T./W.A. I don't know if that is any help. Suggestion we bought a cryovac sp??? machine and run it on a inverter so you don't need a freezer just vacuum pack the meat when you buy it.

Mrs ho har

Here's my experience, we were looking for a fridge like you and like you didn't know which one too buy, so we went looking, at stores and 4WD shows, compared prices, power usage, reliability, durability, size, and reputation.

After about 3mths we ruled out most of the brands and narrowed it down to the, Evakool, Waeco and Engel, we chose the Waeco and the main reason at the time was, price and the Waeco was the only one that had battery protection and it has 3 way protection, you can set it to cut out when the battery gets too low, the others will just keep going until they completely flatten the battery, but if you have a Traxide dual battery contoller it will look after your battery anyway and battery protection in the fridge isn't needed.

The Engel didn't have this and also the cooling element has a half inch gap between the fridge body and the element, just perfect for trapping crap in, it's a lot heavier and a lot bigger externally than the same size Waeco.

Now the Engel has a great reputation, because they are a great fridge, but, the newer ones don't seem to be as durable or as reliable, if i was to buy one i'd buy an older Engel at least 5yrs or older.

We have had our Waeco for 2yrs, it runs 24/7 at home and 24/7 in the car, we have only had one problem, the interior light stopped working the first day we turned it on, the main board had a fault according too Waeco, replaced overnight by repairer, no problem since.

Now having said all this, this was our choice, your criteria may be different and it all comes down to personal choice, we also have a 3 way in the camper, our 3 way is 33yrs old, it came out of a 1975 Cub Drifta and has been faultless and preformed exceptional in all temps, these are not recomended to run on 12 volt though and are realy only for extended stays in one spot, they run the best on gas.

Baz.