Benny posted on March 15, 2010 10:51
So it's been a year now since I purchased this fridge and I figured I'd post up a reveiw of it. I'll start from day one
The fridge was ordered from www.compactappliance.com with free shipping. The price seems to be very fluid on these fridges and had gone down to 389.00 at one time. The fridge came quickly from the factory very well packed. You'll want to save the boxes because if you have to ship the fridge back under warranty, Edgestar wants it in the original box.
The fridge is very stout, It weighs around 40 pounds empty. It is all metal construction with the only plastic being the handles.
It comes with 2 removable plastic coated wire baskets that remove easy. My only compaint here is that the bottom of the baskets are uneven making it very difficult to put bottles staning up on. This is only really a problem when you're running low on supplies. I usually just leave the bottles in the 6 pak container. There is enough room in the fridge to stand 2 liter bottles up. While I haven't tried it yet, they claim you can hold 60 cans of soda in the fridge.
The controls on the fridge could not be any easier to use. Push and hold the set button till the display flashes, Adjust the temp to the desired setting and thats it. It cools very quickly and it went from room temp down to 35 in about 20 minutes. It also has a "flash freeze" function that when pressed it will drop the temp to 8 degrees. It has a memory in it so when you unplug it to move the fridge it will still be at the setting when you plug it back in. The fridge runs very quiet although I do have to say that in the year that I've had it, it has gotten slightly louder that when it was new.
Anyway after a year of ownership the fridge is still working as expected. I use it as a garage beer fridge, it is plugged into 110 and has been plugged in for about 10 months straight. It really saved us when the power went out for 3 days this winter as I plugged it into a 12 power pack and it kept our food frozen for that time. The longest I've left the fridge on the vehicle's battery is 3 days without starting it. The fridge will shut itself off when voltage drops below 10 or 11 volts. I was able to start the truck with no problem and the fridge turned itself back on and started cooling again.
Pros:
- Well built, very sturdy
- Cools quickly and hold temp. very well
- Runs quietly
- Works as expected
- Drain plug in the floor
- Good price form a company with excellent costomer service.
Cons:
- Zero aftermarket
- No tie down points
- 12 volt power cord is too short and the plug is fragile.
- Plastic handle are barely adequate. You can see them bending when carrying the empty fridge.
The only problem I've had with this fridge is the 12 volt power cord. The plug end that goes into the fridge is pretty fragile. I was able to trail fix it and make it home to fix permanatly. The other end is also wierd. it is a regular 12V ciggarette plug but has a removable red cap that comes off way to easy. I did manage to lose the cap and while it still worked it made the plug move around in the socket easy and it would loose the connection. Edgestar replaced the cord no questions asked though.
I did make a set of brackets to use as tie downs. I just used some metal I had laying around and they work fine. However if i do it again I'd use a little thicker metal as the one I have will bend slightly if the tie down points are out away from the fridge.
My wife complained when I originally bough the fridge. She said "you spent 400 bucks on a cooler?" But after a year and numerous camping trips she has come to enjoy having fresh food and no soggy mess to clean up after an outing. Plus it keeps all my beer out of the house fridge...
If anybody is on the fence about getting a 12volt fridge freezer, this is a great option. It is a cheaper altrenative to all the name brand fridges out there at about half the cost. www.sierraexpeditons.com has started selling these fridges under a different brand name. Also here is a great thread on Expedition Portal that has some great reveiws of this fridge. www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php
Update 2-6-12. The fridge has stopped working. It does not cool anymore. Set the thermostat at 50 and it will still run and run. I have contacted several service place and have hit a dead end. I guess now we are in the market for a new fridge before campong season.