OK so I've done a bunch of reading on these. It seems to me that the arb unit is 2-300 more. Curious if anyone has feedback regarding the different brands? I'm also curious how everyone mounts/uses them in their rigs?
Here's my thoughts on the Edgestar...
To me it seems what's hit-or-miss on them is the plastic hardware (handles & hinges), and the DC cord supplied with it (maybe even a few more misses than hits with those items). However the actual fridge unit itself seems to be quite solid. Replacement items (metal ones, mind you) can be had cheap at any hardware or home improvement store, and the 12V cord issue isn't exactly hard to deal with if you know how to solder. For someone who doesn't mind a little tinkering, the Edgestar is an unbeatable value. Tests I've done on my own unit under controlled conditions have shown it's power efficiency is pretty much parallel with even the best of them (despite what some glitzy magazine article that's apparently out there seems to claim).
If you dig around enough, you may infact be able to uncover a few reports here & there of Edgestar unit failure (controller and/or compressor), however I've also seen the same with ARB and some of the others too. If there's any difference in customer service between Edgestar and say, ARB, I wouldn't know as I've never had to deal with CS, mine has always worked no problem (and none of my friend's 3 units have had any issues either, outside of the little items I mentioned above). I
have seen where Edgestar has sent people a whole new fridge and didn't even request old one back (and in two cases the person ended up being able to fix the old one themselves, leaving them with two working units)... Seems their CS can't be too all that bad.
OTOH, I
did have to deal with ARB once on a broken locker maybe 10 years ago which did not lead to satisfaction, however I can't say if that is still indicative of their CS today or not.
Anyway, that's just been my experiences and what I've seen. YMMV.
There's a few good long threads here just on the Edgstar if you search back a ways.