ARB fridge vs Dometic

Plumber1

Plumber1

Tito's, Tacos and Trails
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San Ramon, CA
Looking at the possibility of buying one of these for my Birthday present 🥳. I have a few questions for anyone using one, My regular coolers work fine for up to 3 days but after that not so much.

  1. How do you like it ?
  2. What size for the back of a TJ
  3. Does it ever drain down you battery
  4. Do you have the dual zone w/ a freezer
 
got an ARB 50 with a slide, sets along the passenger rear fender. you could use a 70 qt, but it would have to set side to side. It will drain your battery if not careful.it has a shut off if the battery gets to low...if I'm out for a few days, I have a 75AH extra battery and a solar panel to keep it up. love it....ice cream on the trail...
 
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Dometic 40 here

1. Love it
2. I have an LJ
3. No
4. No, it would be nice but mine can freeze since it goes well below freezing. I pull partial frozen water bottles out on the trail in Moab.

I bought mine from Dometic for their Memorial Day sale, 20% off w/free shipping
 
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Plumber1 said:
Looking at the possibility of buying one of these for my Birthday present 🥳. I have a few questions for anyone using one, My regular coolers work fine for up to 3 days but after that not so much.

  1. How do you like it ?
  2. What size for the back of a TJ
  3. Does it ever drain down you battery
  4. Do you have the dual zone w/ a freezer
Click to expand...
I have a Dometic and a Norcold.

The Dometic is a dual zone with a freezer. You can control it from your phone via BT. It is very nice. We don’t always like having the freezer side, but we do when we want ice. We are thinking about getting a stand alone ice maker for our camping trips so we can use the freezer side as a refrigerator. Then again, if we’re gone for a week camping, it’s nice to freeze some food for later in the trip. Your call on that. It has never drained the GMC Yukon battery, but the car did warn us one time that the battery was low. Temps stay pretty consistent, just a couple degrees above where it is set as people open and close.

The Norcold is refrigerator only. It has not drained down the RV battery (but it’s usually plugged in so this is a moot reference point). It is also nice.
 
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I've been eyeing options for a while and decided that the freezer doesn't really matter to me. I'd rather have the added fresh food space, especially since anything in the freezer either adds resources to cook, uses a lot of space (ice), or I can find good substitutes for (such as ice cream with something fun like smores).

Granted, I haven't taken one out yet on a trip - I am still deciding what to get after I get another season under my belt with camping with my kids.
 
Ken Perkins said:
got an ARB 50 with a slide, sets along the passenger rear fender. you could use a 70 qt, but it would have to set side to side. It will drain your battery if not careful.it has a shut off if the battery gets to low...if I'm out for a few days, I have a 75AH extra battery and a solar panel to keep it up. love it....ice cream on the trail...nice!
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
rasband said:
I've been eyeing options for a while and decided that the freezer doesn't really matter to me. I'd rather have the added fresh food space, especially since anything in the freezer either adds resources to cook, uses a lot of space (ice), or I can find good substitutes for (such as ice cream with something fun like smores).

Granted, I haven't taken one out yet on a trip - I am still deciding what to get after I get another season under my belt with camping with my kids.
Click to expand...
Yea I not thinking I will use the freezer side a lot but for the cost difference why not just incase things change
 
Plumber1 said:
Yea I not thinking I will use the freezer side a lot but for the cost difference why not just incase things change
Click to expand...
You can always use the freezer side as a fridge, BUT you may not like the divider? IDK. You’ll live either way.

FWIW, I sold my giant YETI and I would never ever go back to an ice cooler. But, I have seven members in my family, so I carry BIG coolers
 
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Plumber1 said:
Yea I not thinking I will use the freezer side a lot but for the cost difference why not just incase things change
Click to expand...
If you have the space it’d be nice. The one I have goes to -8 Fahrenheit. It’s a freezer/fridge. Are both sides of the split models the same way?
 
Apparition said:
If you have the space it’d be nice. The one I have goes to -8 Fahrenheit. It’s a freezer/fridge. Are both sides of the split models the same way?
Click to expand...
On my Dometic I believe it’s the left compartment that has the freezer option. It’s also the smaller of the two compartments because of the motor on the lower left side. It gets to temp pretty quick, which is nice
 
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I’ve always wanted one for trips with the kids but I’ve got this thing and it keep ICE for a week, hard to justify the uplift from $65 to 500+

1B779D39-143A-4D09-93C9-0627126A8C2A.jpeg
 
rasband said:
Not digging through water near freezing temperatures would be a plus, not to mention all the times the water gets into packaging...
Click to expand...
I second the water getting into packaging. Nobody likes a sandwich made with cheese or turkey that have been in water. I’m not too fond of sticking my hand in near freezing water to get something either. In the end I’ll be saving money by ditching the ice or dry ice or combo attempts.
 
Plumber1 said:
Why are wanting to get rid of it ?
Click to expand...
Honestly don’t use it, Came with a van I no longer have and I don’t really have much a lot of Use for it it won’t fit in my jeep and it’s not practical in my truck
 

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