Thread: 12v fridges, You get what you pay for.

National Luna for me, 20+ years and still rolling around the back of a Defender, all over Africa and Oz...

Most modern fridges run for about 20min every hour at low ampage in my experiance so they don't use that much power But the lower you set the temperature the more power they will use.
It is handy to be able to know exactly how much power your fridge is using at whatever temp you set them at so that you can have enough solar and battery capacity to run tbem reliably.

Originally Posted by trout1105

Most of the gear I have seen in the ARB shops are rebadged Chinese products and are overpriced.
It pays to shop around and be patient and wait for the "Specials" that come up from time to time for anything camping related.
I have bought a lot of stuff from. 4WD Supercheap and have been well pleased with the quality But I would never touch one of their fridges.
Cold beer and a reliable freezer is very important to me so I am not prepared to take chances on reliability by saving a few quid on a Chinese knockoff.

A mate has the kings fridge and rates it. I've heard they are (and they also look like) a re-badged Waeco/Dometic.

When the time comes for me to get a fridge I'll probs get a Kings. I can't afford an Engel.

Originally Posted by cjc_td5

An Autofridge. Eutectic fridge, made in Botany in Sydney (or used to be). We have had one for 20 years, still going. Being eutectic they only need to be run for 4 hours per day to keep cool.

Checking out their website (now owned by Intelliquip) there is apparently a new one in the works.

Originally Posted by trout1105

Most of the gear I have seen in the ARB shops are rebadged Chinese products and are overpriced.

But you said you get what you pay for - as you said ARB stuff are overpriced but according to your logic the more expensive the better they are - so these must be good

Originally Posted by garrycol

But you said you get what you pay for - as you said ARB stuff are overpriced but according to your logic the more expensive the better they are - so these must be good

No, I said you get what you pay for.
If you do your research then you will know that most of the ARB, Ironman and othet 4WD specialist shops are rebranded products and many of them originate from China and are overpriced for what they are.
What I am saying is stick to the proven and tested brands even though they cost more.

Originally Posted by DAMINK

For a camper i am building and i have a family of 6 so i need something a little bigger. We camp a lot and wifey insists on a fridge freezer setup.
I am making one that will be slightly submerged into the chassis to fit it. So going big also suits replacing later one.

Have the Dometic/Waeco 95L dual zone and have been very happy with it so far (only two years). Did have a warranty issue on the first unit. They drop shipped a second unit to me no questions asked and I returned the first in the same box. No added charge and arriving two days before a major trip was very appreciated. They didnt have to do that, but they did. Also, did a spot buy with a coupon for 20% off so the price was easily bearable. A touch higher on power, but I have 300 solar and dual batteries for the camper trailer and rover, so never been an issue.

Originally Posted by Shoogs

National Luna for me, 20+ years and still rolling around the back of a Defender, all over Africa and Oz...

If I were traveling like that and could spare the added money, even though I love my waeco/dometic I would have gone for the National Luna. They are just too rich for my blood.