This is crazy, why am I always on the oppiste side of the spectrum with everybody....Screw that over price refridge, jeez save hundereds of dollars and go to a truckstop and buy a refridge....$200.00 will buy you the top of the line and size....They also have replacement parts for the long term commitment....Who are you gonna trust for dependability, a over the road trucker on a  limeted budget, or a salesman who does not, has not, and probably will not ever eat out of his ARB refridge for an extendended amount of time......With ARB you are paying so much more for a damn name, to what...keep you food cool on a camping trip, well truckers are always on that camping trip, and you wont find ARB in there rigs.....

Steve

Got a link Steven?  Tell us more about what type of refridgeration unit the truck fridges use, how they do on steep angles, bouncing down a trail, and overall power consumption.  Are they proven offroad wordwide like the Engel/ARB (I know... the new ARB is not an Engel)?

What salesman are you talking about?  Brent/Scott at Columbia Rovers are hardly *salesman*.  They are our friends, fellow offroaders, and are offering us a steep discount on the new ARB fridge just for signing up on the website.  Similarly, everyone I've ever met at ARB is passionate about offroading and offroading tech.  Seth, who is responsible for ARBs North American Sales now, and Chris who was in charge in the past are both significantly more accomplished offroaders and fabricators than 99% of the people on NW Overland Society.

 Pictures from NWOS trips below:  Seth, Brent, and Scott (changing my tire).  Scott was voted by NWOS members as "Member of the Year" in 2007.

Chris demonstrating how to winch a truck backwards, using a winch mounted on the front during a driver training class in 2007.

Steve,

Yes the prices are insane when compared to cooler or even full size household fridges. And yes I'm biased -- I have a Norcold 60L and a ARB 45L both bought used in the sub $400 range.

But there is a reason why they are so expensive and why people are willing to pay the premium. Check RV/marine stores/sites/forums and you will find mostly two brands: Norcold and Dometic (Norcold portables are another branding variation of the Engel/ARB lines). These are almost always compressor based true fridge/freezers and are very electrically efficient. They use an expensive "swing motor", have thermostats and variable temp control, often incorporate intelligent circuitry for battery monitoring with low voltage cutouts etc. These can run for days off a primary battery and still leave you enough starting power.

I'd guess that  what you are thinking of in the $200 range are most likely electrically-inefficient 12V  "coolers". They cannot actually get to freezing temps due to the technology. These jobbies use a thermocouple (or Peltier) device-based cooler. They will only cool to a certain temp. below ambient (and conversely above ambient as a food warmer when polarity is reversed), run pretty much constantly and drain your battery within 24 hours. Or at least the Igloo "fridge" I bought did. These are fine in a semi that runs constantly for long periods of time and has a big 12V reserve.

I would argue to go with an ARB/Engel/Norcold fridge/freezer or stick with ice and cooler and leave the 12V coolers alone.

A decade or so ago I bought one of those peltier based coolers thinking it would save food in our fridge if we ever lost power by using a deep cycle batt, that sucker drained the battery so fast and never got that cool that I just put it in storage and haven't drug it out since. Went back to using ice/dry ice whenever I needed to keep stuff cool.

*edit - I think it's great we're being offered such a deal on them but the expense & size are a drawback for me at this time.  I could definitely see this mounted in one of those little combat trailers some of you pull around. 

I didn't consider a fridge as necessary until I started planning for a 10 day trip in the hot sun without any stops back in civilization for ice. Sure, I could have eaten canned/dehydrated backpacking food for the latter 7 days but fresh milk, eggs, produce, meats, and cheeses are better.

The fridge cost less than either of my bumpers, winch, and many other components that will be gone as soon as I sell the truck. Given the known reliability of the fridge, I expect to have it in whatever truck I own for decades.  The amortized cost is therefore quite low when compared to most of the other mods I've done to my truck.

Hmmm funny, when was the last time you needed to keep a piece of meat frozen for 10 days, a beer or anything cold for 10 days.....When was the last time you were ever away from any sort of civility for 10 days.....5 days......Yes there are some that go to Everast, to the moon for that matter, that the top of the line, most expensive things are need to stay alive....Is this you, ask that question. Are you going into the Amazon,  the Artic circle, Afganistan for any length of time and need a cooler to get you though....99% will have to answer no....who is to go on a 2 week trip where you will never see another, much less some sort of store in their travels.....

The argument is viable, only if the situation calls for it....This is my point.

Why spend all that money for something that I agree will work wonders, but your travels are maybe a weekend, or a week with in reach of a store if needed....

Its just how you look at it....Do you really need an over price RR to get into the woods and enjoy...The same goes for a cooler, do you really need an $800.00 ARB cooler to keep a couple cokes cool for a couple days....

Just me...Not stepping on toes but possibly opening minds and saving money in these tough times....

Steve

I think you're getting it.  We have found that we are those people.    We like to bring civility with us.  Rather, I like having it around; I can't speak for anyone else directly.  If I wanted nature "unplugged" as it were, I would still be backpacking.  I love backpacking.  I just love this type of travel more.  I don't think that just because I'm on the trail I ought to eat Hamburger Helper.  I have much love for the simple hotdog cooked over the fire but I really like the challenge of making something delicious in the middle of nowhere.

As for the RR (which I assume to be Range Rover) you clearly haven't shopped around.  I've ridden bicycles more expensive than what a decent stock Rangie goes for.  Anyhow, either you get it or you don't.  You don't *need* 99% of the stuff we get.  But as you said the goal is to "get into the woods and enjoy" and part of that enjoyment for most of us is the gadgetry. 

Anyhow, not having your food swimming in a pool of their own juices at the bottom of an ice chest is reason enough for most people.

Andy

Well it is plain and simple.....a $40.00 cup is the same as a tin can I find abandoned on the side of the road, they both hold liquid, and will quench my thirst at a cool river....I have found we are different people of the same skin, is it right, wrong, no...it is indifferent. I guess I ride different than some and it is not bad, or good...just different.....we share a common goal of exploring, searching a place we have not been before, or re-exploring for what we missed the first time around....The difference is what we take on this journy, will it matter the out come like Lewis and Clark....probably not.....It is the comfort of the travel now, thats the question we have at hand....lets agree to disagree, I doubt life depends on the choice of what keeps our food cool...none of us are on our way to the moon, everestt or any other far off place alien to life as we know it....I dont know how ice came into this mix, I was never talking about an ice chest, so I was mistaken at that level of a sunday BBQ.

I will never point at yout ARB fridge and say things like "what a waste of money", that was not my point, but at the same time I dont understand the need for such a device....not for what we do....

Any way my opinion is mine, yours is yours, in the end thats all there is

Steve...

PS wow this has gotten way out of proportion...I feel there are more underlieing things here, the problem being me....It has been a long winter, and time that we met face to face.....To be truethfull I for one am worried at this point... 

Ok thats it... Time for the gloves to hit the ground, lets go, me against the lot of you ...cmon ya chickens....ROFL....ahhh Just kidding...Funny how grown men can take a silly subject like this and get into a heated arguement....Its good at one point that we all have hard fast beliefs, will to argue or validate our own personal position. At the same time I give Kudos to each of you in this debate for not getting personal, I love a good debate, rules intact, and let the ideas fly with out personal attack, I bow to each contender...Well done...

I do so look forward to fireside chats...So many points to debate, keep on your toes Ivey league, the riff raff has infiltrated and can stand toe to toe in any heated debate...English rules do apply...and spelling does not count....(not my strong point)

Looking forward to meeting you all....

Steve

PS Craig, explain the motivation of cutting this off into its own discussion, just dose not make sense other than stirring the pot.....