My wife and I were talking about getting one of these before our road trip to MN at the end of August, and it looks like there are tons available. Anyone have a good experience with a certain brand? We're not looking to break the bank either, just want a good sized cooler that can be plugged in to the power outlet in the cargo area to keep things cold. Thanks in advance!
One thing to keep in mind is the coolers are not refridgerators. Yes, the will keep food cool but not cold. The rule of thumb is they can keep stuff about 30° cooler than the ambient air temp. I have heard the Coleman coolers work pretty well and are about $100.
I know a few people that have an ARB refidgerator. Those are awesome but they are north of $700. I'd love one to keep in my Jeep but I cannot justify $700 for one.
Hell, you could probably pick up a decent chest cooler that would work. My dad has an ancient steel-sided Coleman cooler from the late '60s that works better than any plastic cooler I have ever seen.
I picked up a Mr Heater Basecamp refrigerator used, from Amazon, a couple of months ago for $350. We use it for camping and travel. It will run for several days on a deep cycle battery.
Amazon doesn't have any used a the moment and new they are pricy. You might try http://www.truckfridge.com/ or Ebay.
I'm fixing to add a solar panel to the truck, to extend my park time to weeks, rather than days.
The Westfalia guys swear by Truckfridge. Check thesamba.com and you'll probably find a discount code.
Or just get a good insulated cooler and chuck it in the back. My good one will keep ice for three days.
Yeah, I'm looking for something cheaper than any of those. I was thinking in the $150 or less range? Honestly, I'll probably just stick with my basic insulated cooler unless I find a killer deal or there's a bargain one that's actually good. Didn't know if something like this was good or a waste of money.
Thanks guys!
The biggest problem with the thermoelectric coolers is they draw a bunch of amps. Like 8-10 range and will suck a battery dry in a hurry. For the money you are looking to spend, stick with a good cooler and ice.
You might also hit up Craigslist. Occasionally a ARB or Domestic will turn up for cheap.
also if you use a block of ice, it will last much longer than cubes of ice.
ARB, Engel, Waeco, Norcold, etc make 12v compressor run fridge/freezers that will cool in any weather. the thermoelectric ones will cool, but only x degrees below ambient. usually 30 or 40 degrees below at most. so if you aren't in an already air conditioned space, you won't get cool enough to keep food.
compactappliance.com runs some good sales now and then on their 43qt, i've gone through two "scratch and dent" that were actually poor refurbs. they refunded the full cost both times after the fridges quit working. the second one worked great until it sprung a refrigerant leak 3 days in, but for those three days it was exactly what I wanted. we ended up getting a YETI cooler through a wholesale deal and use that instead for camping/road trips.
In the un-powered realm, I've heard multiple accounts of Yeti coolers keeping ice for seven days.
I have an Engel/ARB, and love it. My grandfather passed it down to me, and it's spent thousands of miles riding in the back of my Trooper. Yes, it's expensive–but after using it for a few years I can say it's worth every penny. It's also bulletproof–mine sits outside, climbs over rocks, and is generally abused more than any fridge should be.
I put a trolling motor plug socket in the rear cargo area of the Trooper like this:
to plug the fridge into. It locks, keeping the fridge plug from shaking out. It also is much sturdier than a normal power outlet, so I can run a 1000 watt inverter off of it, too.
Brett_Murphy wrote: In the un-powered realm, I've heard multiple accounts of Yeti coolers keeping ice for seven days.
I have a Tundra 65, after one of my last camping trips I just took the food out of it on sunday when i got home and left the cooler and what ice was left in it in the garage until the following saturday when i went to dump it out. it still had ice in the water. if you follow the guidlines for getting the most life out of your ice, (pre-chill food in the fridge, freeze food for later in the trip; pre-ice the cooler a day or two before; open the cooler as little as possible and don't leave it open - my wife has a hard time with this) it will go 10-12 days on a load of ice no problem.
I just ordered a Truckfridge 65 for the Westfalia. Anyone want to buy a 12v/120v/propane Dometic? 
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The company I work for sells a plug-in fridge/freezer (12V, 24V, 110V, 220V) that will keep food at temps down to zero, but your $150 price range puts you squarely in the used cooler territory.
Haha. Didn't even notice the date. I'm such a sucker!
In reply to octavious :
That looks to be identical to my Base Camp that I posted at the beginning of this thread. Probably out of the same Chinese factory.
I did finally have a problem with mine, the thermocouple failed. Lucky for me when they build the fridge, they install two of them. Swapping a couple of wires put it back in service.
Other than that one issue, I've been very happy with mine so far. It's coming up on 5 years old and has spent a good bit of time beating around in the back of a truck or my XJ. When it's not on the road it gets used as a wine chiller.
Since we've revived this - the Truckfridge I ordered has been awesome. It'll make ice and the draw is low enough that I can easily run it off solar. It's a proper refrigerator with a compressor and built into the cabinets in the Westfalia, so not really an alternative to an insulated chest that you can chuck in the back of a pickup.
The old Dometic unit was reasonably efficient on propane but was really only a cooler and it would pull enough amps on 12v to actually overheat a golf cart solenoid. I can see something like that being useful to help keep an insulated cooler cold longer, but I wouldn't rely on it to keep things actually cold in the summer.
I can vouch for the Truck Fridge. If you're near, I think Kentucky, you can save the $100.00 shipping and pick it up. A cheaper alternative would be a 110v dorm fridge with a dedicated inverter just big enough to run it.
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