ARB or Engel Fridge?

[Darran K Member Find all posts View Profile Close Darran K]

Looking at buying a 40 litre fridge soon and was wondering what people thought of both of these fridges. Good/ bad.. Would you buy the other brand after buying brand X . Would you buy the same again.. Been looking at the Engle, but i like the newer style of the ARB.. The Engle is hard to go past its reliability tho.

Thanks.

[Trevc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Trevc]

Hi Mate

I've got no experience with Engel.
I do have a 47L ARB and would buy it again. Have used it for about 3 years with mainly 2-3 day trips and has been faultless.

I recently bought an Evakool 70L (Yellow One) - ugly as hell but a great fridge and would also buy this again. Way cheaper than the others.

Trev

[bertram35 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bertram35]

Hi Darran,
I've also got no experience with Engel - but do have an 80L ARB which has done a lot of work uncluding 6 months non stop running as we toured Aust.
It didn't miss a beat - we used it as fridge rather than freezer - set it to -3deg and worked brilliantly the whole trip. It would have bounced around a fair bit too as it was in rear of camper trailer and we did a lot of heavily corrugated roads etc
So impressed I'm looking to buy another, smaller, ARB as a freezer.
Rgds
ML

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Yep ARB 47 liter here as well, very happy with it. Engels have a good reputation forged over many years but when I was looking for a fridge my research showed they lacked features. In particular the set and forget thermostat like the ARB has. The drain in the bottom of the ARB is brilliant as well.

Most of the name brands are probably all good fridges, just compare the features and the backup should something go wrong a long way from home.

Cheers Andrew

[Gramps Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gramps]

I have had a 40L Engel for 6 years and it hasn't missed a beat. It's been used as both a fridge and a freezer on separate occasions and performed beautifully. In all the years I've only had to change the battery once for the temperature display.

[REV Find all posts View Profile Close REV]

The Engel would be No. 1 for reliability, no doubt about it. Mine has run 24/7 since Jul 2011, as per Engel's recommendations. It has not missed a beat.
If Engel did not exist, then I would buy an ARB, but,,,,,,,,,they do, so I don't have an ARB.


Cheers
REV

[Est_1982 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Est_1982]

My parents have an Engel and have used it consistently for the past 32 years without missing a beat. I can't go past this when I look to buy a car fridge.

[Smithy - 120 D4D Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smithy - 120 D4D]

ARB for me also (47lt), with nothing to compare it to. The fridge is only 12 months old, so can't comment on life as yet. The reason we went with the ARB was the design features that the others haven't taken into account yet. As AJ120 said, the drain hole, but also the recessed handles, the reverseable internal basket, allowing different internal lay-out configurations, the ease of controlling the thermostat, etc.

[derek11 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close derek11]

We have the 47 ARB set as the fridge and a 40 Engel set as freezer, both are top units.
My old man has a engel that is from the mid 70s and its still going, it looks rough and knocked around but still keeps the beer cold and the fish frozen, that's good reliability.

Cheers Derek

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

#2 son just bought a 60L ARB fridge to put in the back of the Rodeo. Cost $1340 with bag and tie downs. No long term testing but it is a bit noisier than my NL Weekender (not an issue in the back of a ute) but pulls down to temperature quite rapidly and seems to be on a par for electron consumption. Seems a good unit. Certainly quite light to move around and the ability to remove the lid is handy under the canopy. We went with the ARB for price and also because I know a bloke who has one in the back of a ute that cops a flogging on the tracks and the fridge has had no issues at all being bounced around. And of course Craig and Robert gave the ARB fridge a big thumbs up!

[Palmer Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Palmer]

Use a 40L Engel and it has served us well, especially when we did our recent 3 week trip to do the Simpson, but I am looking to get another and will most likely go with a 60L ARB as I like some of their features more. In the size range you are looking at (Engel 40L vs ARB 47L) you would be surprised how handy the ARB's extra 7L would be. The reason we are looking at a 60L is we found the Engel's 40L was just not big enough for our food and esential refreshments.

[cardinal28 Member Find all posts View Profile Close cardinal28]

Have had our 40l Engel for about 15 years and it get used quite a bit. Touch wood it has never missed a beat. Cant comment on the ARB, but going by the comments on here, they also appear to be a good unit. Just go with what suits your needs and what deal you can get. I would say you cant go wrong with either unit.

Graeme K

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

47L ARB here. Ability to clean and drain the fridge compartment were the main reasons I went for this over the Engel. I have seen people pull their hair out trying to clean behind the fridge panel inside the Engel after a messy spill. Non-issue in the ARB. Other than that, I don't think there's a lot between them.

[stevep84 Find all posts View Profile Close stevep84]

I have a 47L ARB. I'm on my 2nd one. The enitial ones had an intergral thermostat the couldn't be changed. The whole fridge was replaced under warranty. The fridges were redesigned so that individual components could be changed should they break.
Back to the question. Love my ARB fridge and woulf happily buy another should the need arise.

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

Another 47L ARB. Fantastic features as explained and the lid comes off ..but not easily for the tracks. The hinge is on some kind of pointed steel bullet so the top can be removed. I carry mine on a lifestyle rack so I need to get the top off to get a decent look inside/grab things or when it goes on the second row fridge mount!. On the cargo deck..not so much of a big worry. I bought it for this feature alone..not had any experience with the other brand..I'm sure it's OK tho..like everything in life...sum up what features would serve you best then go from there..?!