Yeah; the review is disingenuous, at best. I love the quote about money is no object if it justifies the cost--basically the review concludes that expensive stuff is good (IOW you get what you pay for) -- yeah well duh if I had the money I'd actually buy that fridge that's even better than the $1500 Nat. Luna -- you know, that one that costs about $5294???...I mean, why didn't they review that one???
Frankly I was expecting a lot more. And too bad they were reviewing a "$650" (whatever!) Whynter and not my $350 Edgestar, which probably would've won the "best value" prize. Seriously, I think the average price people have paid for their Edgestars here on Expiditionportal is probably around $425. Consider, they list the Engel as $805 and the ARB at $855...and I'm pretty sure they can't ever be found for $575 or $625, respectively.
Some other crazy stuff from the review...they claim their Whynter had a Danfoss BD35F compressor; while most likely it's a chinese knock-off that uses twice the amperage for the same compressor RPM like in my Edgestar (if not, I'm VERY curious if all Whynter's have the Danfoss, or just the one they reviewed (which would be very odd)). Hence the higher power consumption is most likely not just due to inadequate insulation but also reflects the less efficient (and less expensive) compressor.
Oh, and check out this dandy quote about the Whynter's battery protection: "No voltage cutout is built in, though the manual states that the fridge will switch off at 10.4VDC." Frankly, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Shutting off at 10.4V IS a voltage cutout, as far as I can tell. My Edgestar perfectly protects the battery by shutting of the fridge when battery voltage is too low (10.4V); and then restarting it when battery shows >11.5V. If their fridge didn't function properly with this feature, they should have said so; as it stands their statement quoted is extremely ambiguous and confusing.
And lastly, they list the refrigerant for all fridges tested as R-136A....should be R-134A. Not a big deal, but exhibits lack of attention to detail and does not instill confidence.
Overally, a bit of a letdown. But, then again, comparing this review to my personal experience...maybe the Whynters and Edgestars really AREN'T identical fridges; in which case, I look forward to the next fridge review that includes the Edgestar.
This is an old quote but I was just making my way through this thread. I haven't read the review but if the cutout is really 10.4V I'd concur with them that there really isn't battery protection. The fridge cutting out when your battery is DEAD isn't what I'd call protection... A user adjustable in the 11.5-12V range would be the best for real protection so there is still some juice left in there.
I get the feeling reading this thread too many folks don't under stand battery life cycles based on draw down, voltage drop in undersized lines, etc. Battery life cycles are on a curve, the farther down you draw a battery the less times you can do it before it dies (in the case of a starting battery this can be as little as 20 times!), deep cycles are better suited for it but you'll get much more life out of them if only drawing down to 50% (30% is still way better that totally discharging if you don't want to carry the extra capacity your uses might require). The voltage drop part has been mentioned already but people still keep reporting "issues with the fridge" when they are just plugging the thing into a vehicle accessory jack meant to power cell phone charges and such. You need to properly wire for a larger amp draw, as mentioned, before starting to point fingers at whatever manufacturer's fridge you select.
