ARB FRIDGE FREEZER REVIEW

[mrchips]

I have to report on the use of my ARB Fridge over the last 1.5 years.
After using a cooler for a long time, I am glad I shelled out the money for the fridge it has been better than I thought. It has been a joy not to deal with melting ice, soggy food and all the other hassles associated with a cooler and ice.
I camp at least once a month with my Jeep Club, my fridge gets strapped down in the back and endures rocks, bumpy roads, dust and extreme changes in temperature, and has not skipped beat. It has worked flawlessly.
On return from a trip to Death Valley over Thanksgiving i accidently broke the latch, that secures the lid, so I called ARB and wanted to buy a new replacement latch, and to my surprise they will send me one for free.
To me this shows a company that stands behind there products, and I believe that they make an awesome product.
If you are on the fence about buying a fridge, you will not be sorry.

 

[Karma]

HI All,
I have to agree with mrchips. I have had my ARB Fridge Freezer for about 5 years. Mine is the old style. I have the Thermal blanket wrapper for it. It is a bit of a challenge to fit it into a '89 YJ Jeep Wrangler along with all of my other camping gear. To help solve this problem I removed the passenger front seat and mounted the ARB in its place. Of course, this is a great spot because it is so handy while on the road. I mounted my Panasonic Toughbook navigation computer on the top panel of the Fridge which is a good place.

I have nothing but good things to say about this unit. It's quiet. It will keep frozen food frozen. It uses very little battery power. Keeping it battery powered overnight in a campground is no problem. However, if I'm in a camp that has hookups I will power it off AC just to be safe. And, most important, it has been totally reliable.

All in all, when I bought the ARB I was not really sure it would be a good investment. After all, they are a little expensive. Now, five years later, I would not be without it. A great piece of kit.

Sparky

 

[1911]

It is a bit of a challenge to fit it into a '89 YJ Jeep Wrangler along with all of my other camping gear. To help solve this problem I removed the passenger front seat and mounted the ARB in its place. Of course, this is a great spot because it is so handy while on the road.

I have the same problem with space in my trucks and have considered doing exactly the same thing in my FJ40, so I'm glad to hear that it works well for you. I bought the new-style 37 QT fridge to save a little space but it is still pretty big (has the same footprint as the larger one, just not as tall). In my other truck (an FJC) I plan to remove one of the split rear seats and mounting it there.

Only had my ARB fridge for a year, but love it so far.

 

[ssssnake529]

I like mine too. It took me a while to figure out the right temperature to set it to, as the internal temp gauge is wildly optimistic (reads about 10 degrees lower than actual temperature.) Also, I've noticed that the temperature of the food inside varies a lot based on how the fridge is packed and where the food is located.

Initially, I had quite a lot of experiences with food getting too cold or too warm. Now, I've pretty much figured out that for my fridge, I need to keep it set at 26 degrees to keep everything chilly, and stuff on the very bottom might freeze. With this in mind, I set the temp level at 26 and pack it carefully based on how cold I want the food to get. If I don't want anything to freeze, I put a couple of empty plastic food boxes on the bottom, and this seems to do the trick.

Is it perfect? No. Would other brands work better? Maybe. (I've never used them.) However, for the price, I'm pretty satisfied with the performance.

 

[Binder Lou]

I bought my ARB MT-35 six years ago and have never regretted it. When not riding in the back of our Scout it does garage duty keeping the beer cold. After six years of 24/7 the cooling system recently lost its charge of 134A. I called Engel Service and they did not try to sell me a new one, they did not ask me to ship my unit to them, instead they offered to ship me a new cooling unit and manual and I can swap the parts out myself. Perfect.......

 

[Romer]

I had the ngle 42qt and then bought the ARB 50qt. I like the ARB a lot better. I like the way it opens and the top doesnt come off all the time. I like the way you can set the temp and monitor it, rather than guessing on how far you turn the dial. I like the way the storage compartments are setup so there can be 3 areas. The engel unit is a great Fridge, I just like the ARB better. The engle is in my camper