If you are in the market for a small fridge suitable for use in a car, the general principles are the same whether you are using car fridge freezer combo or stationary unit at home. However, there are a few special considerations that can make or break a product meant for portable use. I have received a couple emails asking my opinion about the best products, and I honestly don’t have an answer for that since there are so many entries in the market. Instead, I thought it would be more useful to give you a short list of features that you can print off and take to the store to aid your in your decision:
Power
Out of all the possible features in a portable fridge, power is the most important one. At home, you can rely on a simple outlet to keep a refrigeration unit powered and cooling. A road-trip is a completely different situation, though. Everything is going to need to be powered by DC power at 12 Volts. Therefore, any electronic equipment will need to either take that power source natively or have the correct adapter. Therefore, make sure that you choose something that is specifically geared toward car use and 12V DC power from a cigarette lighter jack.
On a related note, you’ll want to think about the potential uses of the cooler outside of the car. Are you going camping in a remote location that isn’t likely to have any power? I talk about that issue a lot on this site in relation to water purification equipment as well as powering a solar fountain, so this may sound familiar if you’ve read any of the other posts. Always think about where you are going to use the product. If you’d like to be able to remove the car fridge and use it as a stationary unit at a camp ground, for instance, make sure that you have both:
- Access to AC power or a fully charged backup power generator , AND
- The proper DC to AC adaptor for the fridge
This means that you’ll need to find a product that is built with this kind of flexibility in mind, perhaps even including a power adaptor in the box. A 12 volt car fridge is almost always the way to go.
Waeco shows off their battery powered fridge:
Organization and Efficient Use of Space
There’s not much point in having a fancy mini fridge with you if it doesn’t accommodate all the food that you need to bring. Carefully consider whether you will get more benefit from a unit that has lots of intricately unfolding shelves, or whether a simpler box design is more your speed. Both of these designs are useful depending on the unique needs of the user. For instance, if you are bringing lots of condiments and other related food items that require refrigeration, then you should focus on car fridges with shelves that can keep all that stuff organized. This design also works well when you have fragile items like hamburger buns or eggs that you need to keep isolated from heavy items like jars or bottles. On the other hand, if you are using the fridge solely for cooling beverages, the box design is going to be far superior since you can just stack the cans and bottles on top of one another.
Portability
Portability is one of those things that we take for granted so much that we actually forget about them to our detriment. Of course, it stands to reason that a portable car fridge needs to have handles, otherwise it can’t rightly be described as “portable.” However, I want you stretch your thinking beyond just the basics.
For instance, special considerations like wheels that lock in place and retractable handles are always nice, especially in the situation I mentioned above where you’re actually removing the unit and using it at a static location for a certain period of time. If you are going to be on rough terrain, do your back a favor and find something that can easily be picked up and carried by one or two people rather than dragged. If you’ve ever been in a hurry at an airport and you’ve been dragging a wheeled piece of luggage behind you, you know the sort of frustration I’m getting at. Once the cooler flips on its side for the third time as you drag it over a rocky surface, you will appreciate the beautiful simplicity of carrying something! Therefore, make sure that unit has solid handles on at least two sides so multiple can help carry it.
Conclusion
Some other random features that you might want to keep in mind:
- overall build quality
- heat retention due to the color of the unit itself (almost never an issue unless the cooling function is really weak)
- noise level from the refrigeration unit
- brand trust (Waeco car fridges seemed to perform best in reviews in terms of the price to features ratio)
- favorable warranty terms that allow for repair or replacement under reasonable circumstances
- positive customer reviews on trusted sites like Amazon.com
I could go on and on, but hopefully by reading that list your mind will be jogged, coming up with all sorts of considerations that match your specific needs. While it is nearly guaranteed that you’ll never find a unit that “perfectly” matches up with your priorities, at least you will be armed with a list that can aid in the process of elimination. Also, don’t forget to factor in your budget! I’ve been guilty many times of getting a little too excited about a product that will solve some problem for me, only to realize to late that I went a little bit overboard on my spending. If you’re only going on a small 1 or 2 day camping trip once a year, you probably won’t need to spend loads of money on the latest and greatest gadget. Just as long as you buy something that’s safe and reliable, you should be fine. On the other hand, hardcore campers would do well to spend a bit more on something that will last a long time.
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