Convince me I need a fridge!

[jk6661]

I've been debating the high-end cooler vs. fridge thing forever, and although I would like a fridge for the wow factor, I'm leaning toward a cooler for my specific use case. I camp with my family mostly in wooded prepared sites in the East for 4-5 days at at time. Sometimes we camp away from prepared sites in a national forest, but even then we're not far from civilization (and ice). We typically set up a basecamp and go on daily excursions that involve no more than about 1-2 hours of driving per day.

In this situation, (1) solar won't work well in the woods to charge a deep-cycle battery, and (2) we don't drive enough to charge the battery that way. That means to use a fridge, I would need a large enough battery to power it for 4-5 days without recharging. So, we're talking at least $600 for the fridge, plus about $250 for a 125ah battery (which might run the fridge for 4-5 days), plus a charger, etc. On the other hand, a $350 cooler will keep food at safe temperatures for 4-5 days using 20-degree freezer packs, which eliminate the "food swimming in water" problem that everyone hates. And if needed, we can always run to a convenience store for ice toward the end of the trip.

All you fridge fans, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to convince me I need one.

 

[DaveInDenver]

The fridge is the one purchase I have zero regret or doubt about. Hand's down the best thing I've ever done to my truck or for camping in general. I don't see the point of spending that much on a super cooler for something you still need to deal with ice. You deal with it a little less but it's still something you always have to watch.

I got along for several years with just a good battery and starting the truck every couple of days. I now have dual batteries and all of that, but I wouldn't call it absolutely critical. This is especially true if you're not far from conveniences where you could get a jump start if you do make a mistake.

I'll make one argument, though, financial in nature. Let's just say you do spend the money for a fridge, dedicated battery and maybe a small solar panel. Then you're done forever. Just load it and go. With a cooler you always are buying ice, thinking about ice, worrying about it. A battery might last a few years, how many bags of ice will you go through in that time? I'm willing to bet if you use the cooler/fridge enough that those $5 and $10 purchases would add up to about the same.

Another thing, I leave my fridge running at home all the time with beer and water in it. When we're packing for something we put stuff in for a week as we shop and prep it. When we leave, put it in the truck and done. When we get home it can stay in the truck overnight and can get unloaded at our convenience later, too.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I wouldn't try to talk you in or out of anything - if you think a Yeti-style cooler fits your needs then I'd say run that. Maybe even figure a way to use some dry ice to extend the cooling.
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I will point out that making a "run for ice" consumes time, money and fuel. Having to make a 20+ mile round trip or detour and expend a couple of hours because the ice supply is dwindling (been there, done that) is what convinced me to get a fridge, but of course, my needs are not the same as yours.
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Interestingly, a couple that my wife and I know have an old vintage trailer with an ice box. Back in 2014 we met them as they were coming back from a month-long cross-country trip from California to New York and back (we met them in Wyoming.) The first thing they asked me was how much I paid for my fridge ($500.) I expected them to say "damn! That's expensive!" but instead what they said was "well, that's less than what we paid for ice on this trip so far!"

 

[Martinjmpr]

I'd also add that it's not like the whole cooler-vs-fridge debate is some kind of irrevocable decision and you are committed to one or the other. You may get the high-end cooler now and then later decide to go with a fridge. Or you may not.
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I have to say I've been looking at some of the high end coolers myself. For one thing, my wife tends to stuff the fridge full even for short trips so it's nice to have a cooler for the "overflow" (some might complain about not having enough space for a cooler AND a fridge but since I started driving the Suburban, the phrase "we don't have room for that" has officially been scrubbed from my vocabulary. :sombrero: )
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I still don't think I could bring myself to throw down $350 for a Yeti but maybe one of the lower priced Yeti clones could be in our future (right now we have an Igloo that does "overflow" duties." )

 

[jk6661]

I got along for several years with just a good battery and starting the truck every couple of days. I now have dual batteries and all of that, but I wouldn't call it absolutely critical.

I've been told that a typical vehicle battery will only run a fridge for several hours before you risk not being able to start the vehicle. That just doesn't work if you're doing a basecamp-style trip for 4-5 days in the woods, where solar is next to useless. Am I missing something?

 

[K2ZJ]

I've been told that a typical vehicle battery will only run a fridge for several hours before you risk not being able to start the vehicle. That just doesn't work if you're doing a basecamp-style trip for 4-5 days in the woods, where solar is next to useless. Am I missing something?

You were told wrong. There many threads on here talking about how long people have gone without starting their vehicle and running the fridge. The other possibility is that person was talking about a thermoelectric cooler and not a true fridge.

I like this thread.

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/115380-how-did-we-ever-live-without-our-12-volt-freezer

EDIT: I was just in Moab and left my empty fridge on in my Jeep after our trail run until the morning and the Jeep fired up with no noticeable difference.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I've been told that a typical vehicle battery will only run a fridge for several hours before you risk not being able to start the vehicle. That just doesn't work if you're doing a basecamp-style trip for 4-5 days in the woods, where solar is next to useless. Am I missing something?

My experience with my old truck was using an Optima 34/78 (stock size, I think about 50 A-hr) I could go about 2 days of normal use with my Engel MT45 before I would get seriously concerned. It came down to starting the truck about every other day. I'd try not to let it just idle but all it took was maybe 30 minutes or an hour of driving to return most of the energy. Now with the dual batteries, both are Odyssey PC1400 rated for 65 A-hr, the fridge battery will last about 3 days but I'm not relying on it to start the truck so I'm less worried if it draws deeper than I normally like.

 

[IdaSHO]

Once you have a fridge, you will wonder how you survived without one.

Coupled with the proper amount of solar and battery, the system is self sustaining.

Never buy ice again....

 

[Chunkylover76]

We have a Yeti cooler and a ARB 50qt fridge that gets used 365 days a year. The fridge is full of drinks in the house when not being used in a vehicle and the Yeti has become a very expensive stand for it.

We have had no problem keeping a Sam's Club $95 100ah group 31 charged with a few hours of driving a day and the fridge set below freezing all week. The Yeti will still have ice after three days but the temp inside the fridge is starting to creep up into the danger zone for food and everything is thawed so i don't trust it.

Another plus side to the fridge is no wasted space. The more you fit in the fridge the more efficient it becomes. If you want to keep ice in the cooler all week you are going to have the fill the cooler with so much ice you have no room for food left.

 

[The Artisan]

I plan to have a small fridge and a cooler filled with ice, I have batteries and a 2k genset to recharge.

We will most likely do RV parks and not so much off grid camping. If I am off grid and get into a situation of my fridge not working then I do have a small ice maker as well. When the ice melts I can just remake new ice with my genset for the cooler.
Kevin

 

[Martinjmpr]

I've been told that a typical vehicle battery will only run a fridge for several hours before you risk not being able to start the vehicle. That just doesn't work if you're doing a basecamp-style trip for 4-5 days in the woods, where solar is next to useless. Am I missing something?

Not true at all. Been running a fridge for 4 years now and the only time I ever get concerned about running the battery down is if we are parked at a site for more than 2 full days without starting the truck. Keeping the fridge running overnight (10+ hours running on battery power alone) has NEVER been an issue for us.

 

[jk6661]

Not true at all. Been running a fridge for 4 years now and the only time I ever get concerned about running the battery down is if we are parked at a site for more than 2 full days without starting the truck. Keeping the fridge running overnight (10+ hours running on battery power alone) has NEVER been an issue for us.

How much do you drive during a typical day? I can see that a fridge makes complete sense if you're driving 3-4 hours a day, but that's not my situation. 1-2 hours max for me, and usually closer to 1, which means 22-23 hours a day on battery power. And again, no solar.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

I've been debating the high-end cooler vs. fridge thing forever, and although I would like a fridge for the wow factor, I'm leaning toward a cooler for my specific use case. I camp with my family mostly in wooded prepared sites in the East for 4-5 days at at time. Sometimes we camp away from prepared sites in a national forest, but even then we're not far from civilization (and ice). We typically set up a basecamp and go on daily excursions that involve no more than about 1-2 hours of driving per day.

In this situation, (1) solar won't work well in the woods to charge a deep-cycle battery, and (2) we don't drive enough to charge the battery that way. That means to use a fridge, I would need a large enough battery to power it for 4-5 days without recharging. So, we're talking at least $600 for the fridge, plus about $250 for a 125ah battery (which might run the fridge for 4-5 days), plus a charger, etc. On the other hand, a $350 cooler will keep food at safe temperatures for 4-5 days using 20-degree freezer packs, which eliminate the "food swimming in water" problem that everyone hates. And if needed, we can always run to a convenience store for ice toward the end of the trip.

All you fridge fans, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to convince me I need one.

How often do you go camping? If its a once or twice a year stick with the ice chest. If its all the time get the fridge. I don't camp enough to justify it, especially the few times I do its nowhere near a vehicle. For me the ice chest make more sense. I have a 85 quart Esky made by coleman and a 35 quart kysek on the way. I'll probably never get a fridge.

 

[Utah KJ]

I have an ARB fridge in my Grand Cherokee daily driver. I drive 30 mins to work, one way. In the FL sun, the fridge is at 56 deg by noon on medium batt setting. If I go to low setting, my battery will be dead. Same deal in my 4Runner. Back in UT, it lasted longer, but I also drove further to work.
I've been avoiding the dual battery option.

FL pretty much sucks too... just wanted to add that as a possibility.

 

[fjmario]

I tried to convince myself to spend $400+ on a fridge, and the money for a bigger battery $150-200 but I realized I didnt truly NEED it. Just like everything else I've wanted to buy, I ask do I WANT or NEED this? haha

I'm always on the go, never staying at one site for more than a day and that means at some point I need to re-fuel every couple days. By the time I hit 300 miles with a full tank, its around the same time I need to get more ice. Plus, I like to take the cooler out of my rig and set it on a table where Im cooking... cant take the fridge out.

Either way, you cant go wrong.... I just bought the Ozark 52qt molded cooler from Walmart for $159 and do not regret it at all. Maybe some day when I truly start to deck out my FJ ill get a fridge. For now, Im ok with the cooler.