Which is the best car fridge / freezer for quick cool downs ?

[campertrailertent.com]

Hi All,

Oddly enough while I own just about every camping gadget known to man, I don't have a 12v fridge/freezer (well I bumbled around with some cheap thermo electric coolers, but they have all turned out to be junk).

In order to get the expensive purchase passed my misses I have told her that it will be good to keep in the wagon when she goes shopping (especially for her fav ice-cream which is a good 45 min drive from where we live).

My question is - I am sure some brands (or models) of 12v fridge/freezer cool down faster than others ...  Since I intend to use my new gadget to be basically turned on as I'm putting frozen stuff in it, I want something that can get down to temp pretty fast.

I have googled around, but this doesn't seem to be a very popular spec to list.

Can anyone give me any free advice ?

[Lloyd65]

ENGEL.  Best to turn on night before camping

[campertrailertent.com]

ENGEL.  Best to turn on night before camping

hmmm ... thanks for the comment, but I don't think that's going to suit me "just fire up the fridge in the car the day before we go to the shops luv" 

[komaterpillar]

gday mate

i've got a primus dual zone 65 litre fridge freezer like this http://www.primusaustralia.com.au/index.php?p=line&sid=1341895712 wich i paid $1090 for brand new and although i can't comment on other brands i can vouch for this one. i've had it for about 8 months now with no dramas. one cool feature it has is you can choose to only run one side/compartment, because they are totally independent.

when i first bought it i took it out of the box in the carpark and plugged it in. the display told me inside temp was 28 degrees in both compartments. iset both sides to -18, in the 40 minute drive home it pulled the right compartment down to -13 and the left down to  -9 wich i was impressed with to say the least. although i have nothing to compare with.
when we go away i normally run the right compartment as a freezer at -12 and the left compartment as a fridge at +4. on our last trip i put 3 kilo's of rump steak and 2 kilos of snags, all unfrozen straight from the butcher, in the right compartment and running off the aux battery in the ute it froze everything solid overnight down to -14.

needless to say i'm happy with my purchase 

[barnray]

The Only way you are going to get a cold fridge instantly is to use an Esky and add Ice on the day. No fridge will cool that quickly. Barnray

[komaterpillar]

The Only way you are going to get a cold fridge instantly is to use an Esky and add Ice on the day. No fridge will cool that quickly. Barnray

the OP said its a 45 minute drive to the shops from his house, my fridge gets well below 0 in 45 minutes

[ewwreckers]

the OP said its a 45 minute drive to the shops from his house, my fridge gets well below 0 in 45 minutes

Yep we 're 30 minutes from town and drive into town chills our Techni ice fridge down enough to bring ice cream home   other thing we do is we have a spare set of keys that will unlock doors, turn accessories on, but not start the car so we leave them in the ignition with fridge plugged in and use the proper keys to lock the car up. We use that way when doing our big shop at a town 2 hours away. Joys of bush living you learn to adapt lol

[JBird]

Hi there,

I have a Waeco CF-25VERA that fits wedged in the back of my extra-cab Ranger between the back of the cab and the two front seats (see pic below). Click on the link above to read more and see if this is for you; not cheap, but a true 12/24v compressor fridge/freezer that runs from -18°C up to 10°C and best of all has a quick-chill function that does indeed work.



Hope this helps,
Jason

[wholehog]

I have 2 fridges,a 60 litre ARB and a Bushman that is switched off, and lives in the back of my Hilux.
Both chill reasonably quick ,however,i have noticed more so with the bushman that if i pull up at the bottlo and turn it on,run inside grab a few coldies and pop em in the fridge,in the 10 or 15 minutes it takes me to get home the fridge will be down to minus 1 or so
I guess what im saying is ,empty,they will take a while to chill,but once something cold is placed inside it reaches its set point quicker

[Fathom]

I have a Waeco CFX dual zone 65lt and an easy cool 80lt fridge freezer and a dometic 55lt 3 way...

The Waeco and the Easy Cool will cool pretty quick.. Within half an hour.. The 3 way even on 12/240 volt will take a lot longer..

I have driven to the local shop (5 min away) turned the fridge on before I left... Chucked a couple of ice creams in the freezer side, a cold chook and a can of coke...(nutritious lunch) in the fridge, driven to Bribie beach, (about 45 min by the time I get up the beach) and all seems to survive ok when I get them out.

[kiwi_camper]

Hi there

We have the Evakool 85 ltr fridge/freezer for food items when camping and the Waeco CDF35 for keeping drinks cold (although we have the versatility of using one as a fridge and the other as a freezer). I find the Waeco gets very cold, very fast when you put cold items in there to start with. We transport the Evakool in the boot of the car (until we get a fridge slide fitted in the CT) and the Waeco in the backseat between the two kids- fits along the seat well and means we can have cold food and drinks while traveling.