ARB or Engel Fridge?

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

Actually I think you may find ARB don't make fridges at all.

I was at an ARB information night last week and they said they make their own fridges, they also mentioned they have 3 full time deign engineers working on nothing but their fridges.

Cheers Andrew

[Bigben Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bigben]

Engel OR ARB, what a question.
Seriously, a very personal question, the Engel diehards will always say Engel
Newby ARB users follow ARB, Maybe (definetly) it's just if your fridge has never let you down that's the one for you.
I'm an Engel person with friends for 30 years, would not buy anything else (except for "Chescold Gas" for prolonged Island camping - no cars or engines)
Not to say that ARB haven't just started a great rivalry with Engel for years to come.
By the replies..........don't think you can really go wrong with either.

Just my Call

Ben

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

ARB 47lt for me, though would have also been happy with an Engel.

Hasn't been mentioned much by anyone else, but the weight (loaded up) was a factor for me as I don't have mine permanently in the car and I'm normally lifting it in and out.

[Snowy FNQ Member Find all posts View Profile Close Snowy FNQ]

ARB fridges were made by Dometic who make Waeco, don't think it would have changed, below is an extract from some ARB propaganda located at:

http://www.arb.com.au/media/newslett...r_Summer09.pdf


Taking all these points into consideration, the
fridge needed to be as reliable as or more reliable
than the current ARB range. To ensure this, a
reputable manufacturer needed to be sourced
– one that could provide the required levels of
cooling performance and build quality, as well as
being able to work to ARB’s designs. ARB selected
Dometic, a subsidiary of Electrolux, one of the
world’s largest manufacturers of air conditioners,
white goods and portable fridges with state of the
art manufacturing facilities around the world.

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

ARB use to rebadge Engel fridges before they made their own.

Not sure what point I'm making - just sayin'.

[Snowy FNQ Member Find all posts View Profile Close Snowy FNQ]

ARB use to rebadge Engel fridges before they made their own.

Not sure what point I'm making - just sayin'.

Yes, I believe that's true, no experience with them myself.

But at present I would not really say that ARB make there own fridges, more that Dometic make them for ARB exclusively you might say.

They (ARB) probably had a fair amount of design input no doubt.

Would not mind owning an ARB fridge, my Waeco's gone for nearly 10 years faultlessly now, have an Autofridge in the camper it's great.

Cheers

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

Love all i the input guys, cheers..

Went and looked over an ARB in the flesh today and the wife likes it more then the Engel, so its the ARB.. (better be reliable)

To the guys that have one (forgot to look at it in the store), what type of 12v power plug does it come with? A cigarette style plug or their own Merit style plug (smaller)?

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

Hey just to put my 2 bob in. I have 2, 40L Engels at home and one 60L ARB fridge in my work car and I am actually quite impressed with the ARB. I have found that if you switch off the fridge over night it appears to have more insulation to maintain the temperature longer than the Engels. I just find that the Engels cool down quicker. If I needed to buy another fridge (not sure why?) I might now be swayed to go with a ARB over the Engels.

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

After all the searching around I've done I'm leaning towards Evakool.

I had a look at a Primus today at Annaconda. It was on special and significantly cheaper than the Waeco's they stock, but they seem to get mixed reviews.

[nearlyboughtamitsu Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close nearlyboughtamitsu]

Hi Mate,

My 23 year old engel is still going strong, had it serviced a couple of years ago and they just checked connections and bench tested it, was all up to spec so did nothing else. I'm very happy with that!! ( I am the secondowner and inherited it from my F.I.L)

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

ARB make their own fridges.
Do yourself a favour, and buy the ARB fridge.
Why, because it's the best.
The Roo.

Please explain..?

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

so its the ARB.. (better be reliable)

They appear to be Darren, no problems so far. They take all your details so if you loose your invoice all should be good. I forget the warranty length though.

To the guys that have one (forgot to look at it in the store), what type of 12v power plug does it come with? A cigarette style plug or their own Merit style plug (smaller)?

Cigarette style plug so it can go into your back cargo area 12v plug (if you have one...i.e grande models...need to upgrade your wiring though..6mm?). Also comes with 240 volt mains plug so you can (take it out/leave it in) and plug it into powered sites!

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

I bought one of the first weaco 40 ltr fridge freezer that came on the market over 10 years ago. Its still going strong.

If I was to buy another one or a replacement one I would look at the ARB.

We did a comparison of a couple of a couple of similar vintage 40 ltr fridges, Engel vs Waeco and put 3 dozen eq warm stubbies in them, the Waeco or more importantly the danfoss pumps cool things down quicker than what the swing motor in the Engel did.
The Engel was only drawing 2.5 A, the Waeco closer to 4 A.
Over the course of a day or two when not given a lot of work, they seem to use the AH ( put in a warm stubbie as you take out a cold one), but the danfoss unit can put out more cooling units (for want of a better term) and cool down or freeze things faster.



But like anything

[ARB 4X4 Accessories Corporate Member Find all posts View Profile Close ARB 4X4 Accessories]

Cigarette style plug so it can go into your back cargo area 12v plug (if you have one...i.e grande models...need to upgrade your wiring though..6mm?). Also comes with 240 volt mains plug so you can (take it out/leave it in) and plug it into powered sites!

The cigarette plug can also be converted to a Merit plug by removing the red tip.

Cheers, Sam.

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

bit off topic but anyone come up with a solution to lock their ARB fridge?

I've been leaving mine a lot of places recently and while I know the fridge won't go walking I wonder about the contents...

Thinking of just screwing or riveting some lockable latches into it?