12v Fridges

[S13tsilvia]

Hi Everyone,

Whats everyones thoughts on 12v fridges in the USA? down here in Aus nearly every 4wder or camper has a 12v fridge in their car between 40-60ltrs is the standard size.

Watching youtube it appears you all like to favour huge ice boxes and i can relate to that for packing out elk etc but for general camping duties or going away and not having to replenish ice and having constantly cold beer etc they are pretty hard to beat and not very expensive in the long run either.

Using the right battery you can go anywhere upto 3-5 days without need to charge the batteries up, if you have a solar panel you are pretty much set.

Popular brands in Aus are Waeco, Engel, Bushman and evakool.

I just recently did a review on my fridge which i have had for quite a few years now, check it out if you are interested.

 

[riley]

Interesting idea. Im from Midwest, I have seen two options . Nice coolers with ice or a small 120v chest freezer In the bed of the pickup and a generator to run it.. maybe just because we arnt ever to far from new ice or more gas.

 

[MThuntr]

I'm told that everything needs to be cold before you start. Is this true?

Caveat I have not watched video yet.

 

[SFC B]

I follow the 4wd 24/7 channel quite a bit and love Aussie off road adventures and the kick butt vehicles and set ups they use. I have to say that if I were doing a lot of camping or overlanding I would definitely get a 12v set up with solar. The main reason I don't is up front cost. With a good sized unit here going for around $1000 US that is a BIG negative. Even if you get a large, roto molded, high quality cooler with space to make up for the ice you are still looking at about 1/3 of the cost. Add a couple of things to that with hunting....1) most of our big game hunting takes place in the cooler months of the year so what ice we have and use last very well in good coolers and 2) A lot of folks (myself included) use milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottle frozen in a deep freeze as an ice source so there is zero cost, just keep a few frozen at any one time. I am getting ready to head to WY this weekend and have about 9 bottles currently frozen and ready to go. I will be gone for +- 10 days and I don't anticipate any of them being fully thawed.

 

[Summitthunting]

“having constantly cold beer“

Your logic is flawless. Fewer milk jugs = more beer.

 

[S13tsilvia]

I'm told that everything needs to be cold before you start. Is this true?

Caveat I have not watched video yet.

to bring it down to beer temps if the fridge is empty takes about 20mins. if its full of food then will take longer but i just hit the turbo mode

 

[S13tsilvia]

I follow the 4wd 24/7 channel quite a bit and love Aussie off road adventures and the kick butt vehicles and set ups they use. I have to say that if I were doing a lot of camping or overlanding I would definitely get a 12v set up with solar. The main reason I don't is up front cost. With a good sized unit here going for around $1000 US that is a BIG negative. Even if you get a large, roto molded, high quality cooler with space to make up for the ice you are still looking at about 1/3 of the cost. Add a couple of things to that with hunting....1) most of our big game hunting takes place in the cooler months of the year so what ice we have and use last very well in good coolers and 2) A lot of folks (myself included) use milk jugs or 2 liter soda bottle frozen in a deep freeze as an ice source so there is zero cost, just keep a few frozen at any one time. I am getting ready to head to WY this weekend and have about 9 bottles currently frozen and ready to go. I will be gone for +- 10 days and I don't anticipate any of them being fully thawed.

wow, you could buy an engel over here one of their plastic models for around 600 aussie, which is like 400 USD and shipping $100 and your way in front!!

 

[S13tsilvia]

Your logic is flawless. Fewer milk jugs = more beer.

beer is critical!