12v fridge: Engel, ARB, or National Luna US Support

[Jeff Graham]

Engel, ARB, National Luna, all seem to have a following in the Overland community. These are all great brands. For those of us in North America, which of these provide the best support? Do we have any horror stories to share? Have I left any good brands off my list?

 

[shoredreamer]

No personal experience but have heard ARB has top notch customer service in the US. On a few occasions people had problems with their fridge and ARB replaced the whole fridge! ARB USA is based near Seattle. Not sure if Engel or National Luna have US offices.

 

[Jeff Graham]

No personal experience but have heard ARB has top notch customer service in the US. On a few occasions people had problems with their fridge and ARB replaced the whole fridge! ARB USA is based near Seattle. Not sure if Engel or National Luna have US offices.

Thats good information. I have used lots of ARB/OME products in the past. I have heard good stuff about the fridge, but have more experience with National Luna (outside the US).

 

[SAC-CA-Runner]

I really like my Indel B and lots of guys run them. Haven't had any issues with mine but I don't run it 100% of the time. Only when I'm on trips.

 

[Teague]

No experience with the customer service yet, but Engel in the US is run out of Florida.

 

[000]

No experience with the customer service yet, but Engel in the US is run out of Florida.

No experience with those brands, but my edgestar 43qt has performed perfectly for the last year or so. Goes down to -8, automatic low voltage shutoff, and half the price. They usually go for about $500, I got lucky and scored mine on openbox.com with a small dent for $250 with free shipping. With some persuasion I was able to squeeze it into a slider from dometic I got on amazon for $200. Hard to beat $450 for a fridge on a slider. There are probably more efficient fridges for $1000 or more

, but mine runs off the deep cycle for 2-3 days depending on the temperature which is as long as I usually stay in one campsite at anyway. With the money I saved I plan on trying a flexopower solar system that should run it for as long as I want in any weather. I've found that if I plug it into the house 110v the night before a trip loaded and ready to go the battery lasts significantly longer and eliminates having to pack food in the morning.


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[Jeff Graham]

No experience with those brands, but my edgestar 43qt has performed perfectly for the last year or so. Goes down to -8, automatic low voltage shutoff, and half the price. They usually go for about $500, I got lucky and scored mine on openbox.com with a small dent for $250 with free shipping. With some persuasion I was able to squeeze it into a slider from dometic I got on amazon for $200. Hard to beat $450 for a fridge on a slider. There are probably more efficient fridges for $1000 or more

, but mine runs off the deep cycle for 2-3 days depending on the temperature which is as long as I usually stay in one campsite at anyway. With the money I saved I plan on trying a flexopower solar system that should run it for as long as I want in any weather. I've found that if I plug it into the house 110v the night before a trip loaded and ready to go the battery lasts significantly longer and eliminates having to pack food in the morning.


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Wow, what a buy. You got a great deal on that setup.

I have duel batteries on my Jeep, so this should cover me for a couple days. If I'm camping longer than that, I have been looking at the Goal Zero products. I'm leaning towards a Yeti 400 Lithium and two Nomad 100 panels. If my math is accurate, this should take care of most of my power needs, if I'm in base camp for several days. I like to set up my kitchen as far away from sleeping area as is reasonable. Just as a predator avoidance strategy. With a stand alone power system, i can set up anywhere I can get sun exposure. We will see how this works out in the real world. In all my travels so far, I used all my backpacking gear. We used the vehicle for transport (mule for food and water), but set up camp just like we hiked in , with no thrills or luxuries.

 

[Red Beard]

My personal preference would be either Engel, Eedgstar or Whynter. ARB fridges are great but they price themselves out of better than half of the market. I much prefer having a metal construction fridge over a plast one any way. I have used all of the ones I have listed above and they have been great. Had a Whynter mounted in the center of the driver cab in a 200ton crane that I used operate never gave any issues. Some of our other cranes has Engel and Edgestar fridges in them and there was no complaints on them either.

 

[Barbara Wada]

We like our ARB, and the customer support is good.

 

[Mike W]

My personal preference would be either Engel, Eedgstar or Whynter. ARB fridges are great but they price themselves out of better than half of the market. I much prefer having a metal construction fridge over a plast one any way. I have used all of the ones I have listed above and they have been great. Had a Whynter mounted in the center of the driver cab in a 200ton crane that I used operate never gave any issues. Some of our other cranes has Engel and Edgestar fridges in them and there was no complaints on them either.

I just picked up an ARB 50qt (47l) for ~$760 which I thought was pretty good. ARB offered a free ~$100+ transit bag this month also, so i have that coming to me.

Don't let the plastic bother you, get a transit bag and then it looks great. I like the plastic because it saves on weight. The inside cabinet is metal anyway.

The decision for me was pretty easy, as I want the controls on the end/front and I prefer the lid on the ARB. A side opening lid, or one that isn't easy to pop off, doesn't work for me. I also like that its not finicky latches, multiple latches or something like that. It is easy for my kids to get into and one handed.

Pretty much any fridge is going to be fantastic though. I look forward to using ours on some long trips.

 

[Red Beard]

I just picked up an ARB 50qt (47l) for ~$760 which I thought was pretty good. ARB offered a free ~$100+ transit bag this month also, so i have that coming to me.

Don't let the plastic bother you, get a transit bag and then it looks great. I like the plastic because it saves on weight. The inside cabinet is metal anyway.

The decision for me was pretty easy, as I want the controls on the end/front and I prefer the lid on the ARB. A side opening lid, or one that isn't easy to pop off, doesn't work for me. I also like that its not finicky latches, multiple latches or something like that. It is easy for my kids to get into and one handed.

Pretty much any fridge is going to be fantastic though. I look forward to using ours on some long trips.

Not the plastic that scares me off... the fact that I can get an 85qt Whynter for basically half the price of the ARB is what scares me off.
Twice the fridge for around half the price. I'm good with that.

 

[Mike W]

Not the plastic that scares me off... the fact that I can get an 85qt Whynter for basically half the price of the ARB is what scares me off.
Twice the fridge for around half the price. I'm good with that.

Ya, if you have the room for that, sounds like a good deal. Where would you put it? I love the look of the huge ARB fridge also, you can fit a dozen eggs in it width wise. I hope I won't need more than the 50qt, because that is all the space I can allocate to it.

 

[W4P]

Question? Looking at whynter info on Amazon I didn't see mention of high efficiency compressor like arb others mention a lot? Is the savings up front trade off for more amps from battery??

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[Eric Haltom]

So, I don't have a refrigerator but may get one soon. But I was thinking of getting a SnoMaster. I hear good things there.

 

[Red Beard]

Ya, if you have the room for that, sounds like a good deal. Where would you put it? I love the look of the huge ARB fridge also, you can fit a dozen eggs in it width wise. I hope I won't need more than the 50qt, because that is all the space I can allocate to it.

My rig is a 4 door truck with a full length bed rack and roof rack. I personally have plenty of real estate to play with. Nice to be able to surf fish and start them freezing right after you gut them.

Whynter offers several sizes other than the 85qt.

https://www.whynter.com/product-category/outdoor-living/portable-fridges-freezers/

Question? Looking at whynter info on Amazon I didn't see mention of high efficiency compressor like arb others mention a lot? Is the savings up front trade off for more amps from battery??

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http://www.whynter.com/wp-content/uploads/FM-85G-Comsumption-Chart-1.pdf

 

[CDN Offroader]

Question? Looking at whynter info on Amazon I didn't see mention of high efficiency compressor like arb others mention a lot? Is the savings up front trade off for more amps from battery??

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FWIW, I have the 65qt with insulated jacket. I can run it for ~3 days in the summer before the battery(yellow top) starts to lug while starting. I've had it for 5 years with minimal complaint. The only thing I don't like is the side handles can pop out if you carry it around a lot with stuff in it. If you are planning on bolting it into your rig, then it is less of an issue.

 

[Rubiconcruiser]

Engel, ARB, National Luna, all seem to have a following in the Overland community. These are all great brands. For those of us in North America, which of these provide the best support? Do we have any horror stories to share? Have I left any good brands off my list?

On the topic of repairs, for these fridge freeze units, other than warranty work obviously the distributor wills supply leads but for those of you who don't know a good RV maintenance shop can usually get you help on repairs or diagnosis. There are several in SoCal I can recommend for quick fast and relatively inexpensive repairs, Engle is based in Jupiter Florida they are also very helpful


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[cruiseroutfit]

Fwiw Engel has a US location in FL and National Luna is distributed out of SLC, both are fantastic brands with exemplary customer service to go along with ARB's fantastic rep.

 

[dziner]

I'd add SnoMaster to the list. I bought a SnoMaster TR42 in Flagstaff, Arizona at Overland Expo. When I finally got around to running power to the bed of my truck and had the fridge plugged in 24/7, I was running into some issue with it not keeping to the temperature I had set. I tent to post a lot to Instagram of my setups and tag people. In this case, I tagged SnoMaster who saw I was having issues. Within 30 minutes my phone rang, a number from Texas. It was the guy who sold me the fridge. He walked me through changing the voltage shutoff and all was fixed. That was awesome service when I wasn't even actively looking for it.

 

[Chris]

I'd add SnoMaster to the list. I bought a SnoMaster TR42 in Flagstaff, Arizona at Overland Expo. When I finally got around to running power to the bed of my truck and had the fridge plugged in 24/7, I was running into some issue with it not keeping to the temperature I had set. I tent to post a lot to Instagram of my setups and tag people. In this case, I tagged SnoMaster who saw I was having issues. Within 30 minutes my phone rang, a number from Texas. It was the guy who sold me the fridge. He walked me through changing the voltage shutoff and all was fixed. That was awesome service when I wasn't even actively looking for it.

How cool is that experience to let you know you got the right deal.