Has anyone used a dobinson fridge freezer?
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I'm about to buy a fridge/freezer and am between arb and dobinsons fridge.
- Thread starter elidub66
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Not sure about the Dobinsons but the ARB is popular around my area due to its ability to freeze during the hottest parts of the year. Houston, Texas.
Member I
love my Engel, but if I couldn't have my Engel my next choice would be the Ironman Ice Cube fridg\freez. They have German made compressors, pull pretty close to the same amps as a Engel
Traveler III
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I have a dobinsons lift and awning on 80 series which are both great quality. This says nothing about their fridge but as a company they seem to make/sell quality items. I do have an arb 50l fridge and love it. Even in the summer in Texas I have to be careful not to freeze our food and drinks. The arb also has a few extra goodies you can buy like the remote monitor deal, the cover...and well i guess thats it.
Member III
So far my ARB 64 quart has served me well for two years. My friends Engle has been serving his needs for over five years. There are a few good brands out there. Let us know what you end up with.
Off-Road Ranger I
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We have a 63qt ARB, it works great, however on longer trips it would be nice to have a dual zone with both a fridge and freezer compartment.
I was shopping fridges the past month or so and looked into the ARB and Dobinson as well. My top contenders were SnoMaster, ARB, and Dometic/Waeco which I wound up buying a 75qt dual zone Dometic for a good bit less than any of the comparable dual zones in similar sizes. Anxious to get it in and fab up my custom fridge slide now! Good luck and keep us updated with what you decide!
https://www.my12voltstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CFX75DZW
https://www.my12voltstore.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=CFX75DZW
Off-Road Ranger I
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I have a home built fridge slide. Two 36inch locking drawer slides, the top tray secured to the bottom with a piano hinge. It tilts when pulled out to allow full access to the inside. Works very well, lots of trails 15 or 20 thousand miles all together.
Contributor III
I have an ARB 50 in the trailer, it’s been solid for years and their customer service is top notch... I called with an issue that turned out to be the cord and they replaced the entire fridge. But I am probably going with a National Luna next for packaging reasons and an indel B 19 in the truck (I have special space requirements in a d90)... funny thing I also scored a 25l medical transport fridge at a local habitat for humanity store for $100... works great but a bit of a power hog. So I sold it on for what I paid.
Off-Road Ranger I
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I have the larger ARB 63qt, love it. They do take up some room, but the last trip I took was nearly 30 days an it worked great. My fridge sits on top of a set of decked drawers, so the tilting fridge slide is a must--short wife.
Off-Road Ranger I
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I have a small Engel which is our dedicated freezer. If I were going to get a large fridge/freeze for the trailer to replace the Yeti I'd go with an ARB for three reasons,,, #1 and most important, very low amp draw, #2 reputation, and #3 which most all reputable manufactures have these days, customer service. Here is our little Engle, 5 years old and used all the time.. So in retrospect an ARB for reason #1 A National Luna would be very high on the cool factor, but that's a lot of gas money more than an ARB.. 
Just wanted to update since my last post, got the Dometic cfx-75 dual zone in and built/installed my slide. Super impressed with the features and overall quality of the fridge so far!
Wireless smart phone app to control each compartment, 3 different levels of energy consumption to save your battery when it gets too low, reversible door hinges, interior lights. Good stuff!
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Wireless smart phone app to control each compartment, 3 different levels of energy consumption to save your battery when it gets too low, reversible door hinges, interior lights. Good stuff!
Sent from my SM-G955U using OB Talk mobile app
Influencer II
Which bobinsons awning are you using. I recently bought a dobinsons awning from amazon and seems to be good over all but I do notice some weak points. How has it held up for you?
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Member I
My 2nd Engel fridg\freez came in last week. This one is the MR40 Eclipse regularly $846.99 I got it on sale $637.49 w\free shipping.
Member I
I started out with Engel MT 27 22qt fridg\freez. Used it for a few years & love it, still do. We wanted a larger fridg & had great service from our 22qt fridg. We decided & originally wanted the Engel MT 45 43qt but we knew that wouldn't be on sale until fall of this year. When the 40 qt MR40 Engel came up on sale I couldn't resist the price. My 12v. fridg\freez's are in my overland trailer were battery monitoring isn't a issue. The only thing I want is reliability & keeping things cool under travel & camping conditions. My solar system to my overland trailer provides more than enough power for either one of my Engel's or both. My reason behind owning a Engel is nearly 50 years of manufacturing portable fridg\freez's for adventure traveler. I do like the low power consumption of a Engel, another is how I have each of them set up to fit me & the wife, but the most important issue is...reliability.
Off-Road Ranger I
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I have had an ARB 63qt for some time now. it works great. we just got back from the Trans American Trail using the fridge everyday. On a long trip I do wish I had a freezer and a fridge combo. Meat and a few other things would keep better when we are in such remote areas. We would find ourselves cooking more than we could eat at once just to extend food storage. I will check to see if ARB makes a combo unit.
Joe
Nomad Overlanding
Joe
Nomad Overlanding
Engel is what we chose. I have heard that ARB was having a lot of compressor issues as well as customer service was in the crapper lately. Engel is still one of the only ones who actually makes their fridges. And the swing motor/compressor has the lowest amp draw in the industry.
Influencer II
Engel's cost more than most depending on the model. But we considered it to be worth the extra $.
We purchased directly from Engels web site and got free shipping. All the others including ARB advertise a cheaper price but then add in 95.00+ for shipping. Engel is definitely not the least expensive but is probably the most proven brand out there. IMHO anyway.
We just ordered ours a few days ago. Will post picks when it's installed in the bed of my 2500
Our purchase....https://www.engelcoolers.com/platinum-mt45f-u1.html
We purchased directly from Engels web site and got free shipping. All the others including ARB advertise a cheaper price but then add in 95.00+ for shipping. Engel is definitely not the least expensive but is probably the most proven brand out there. IMHO anyway.
We just ordered ours a few days ago. Will post picks when it's installed in the bed of my 2500
Our purchase....https://www.engelcoolers.com/platinum-mt45f-u1.html
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