Ive had so much information and advice from various forums, including this one, I thought Id offer my opinion on Waeco fridges as an experienced user having owned a CF-50 for around 4 years in case its of use to the people like myself how browse the
forum looking for opinions ......
Here are the good things Ive found :
The CF50 was excellent value for money comparing ONLY the capacity (50L) and price versus the equivalent Engel at the time.
The interior light and reversible lid are good design features.
The fridge will cool or genuinely freeze stuff solid.
It has endured a desert trip, use in a 4wd when off road and use on a boat.
Its purely subjective, but I run a 40L Engle upright and the 50L Waeco side by side on my boat. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Waeco is running far far less than the Engel, so much so that if I run just the Engel it will run for around 2 days. The Waeco will run for a minimum of 3, and usually 4 off the same fully charged batteries. As I say, totally subjective opinion, and results will depend upon what's in the fridge, its temperature setting, ambient temperature and so on. However its a 100% consistent observation (ie the Engel never ever cycles less than or even the same as the Waeco). But when you can hear both fridges duty cycling on and off overnight while trying to sleep you soon realise one is running far more efficiently.
Here are the bad things Ive found :
There was (and may still be, but you'd hope not) a design fault where the thermistor falls off the interior casing causing the contents to be frozen regardless of the setting.
Mine was fixed under warranty, but at expense getting it to and from the service agent.
The low voltage cutout is a good theoretical idea. However, should your wiring or connectors be anything less than perfect (bad/loose connection etc) the fridge will cut out with no audiable alarm and with plenty of power left in the battery. You may say,
well make sure your connections and wiring are all good, but sadly Waeco's own power connector on the base of the fridge becomes faulty over time and causes the above problem. The result is warm fridge contents and a battery with plenty of jiuce in it. Now mines out of warranty Ive bypassed it completely. I should point out that this will only become a problem if you're running you batteries fairly low, for me typically after being static for 2 days or more. But my experience is I would have been better off without the low voltage cutout for the trouble its caused me.
The lids did (and may still, but you'd hope not) warp causing a bad seal, and the interior light not to go out, vastly increasing your battery drain and warming the contents to boot. These are $100 new, although catch it within warrenty and you'll be fine.
Mine was actually out of warranty and Waeco still replaced it. Makes you wonder if they should perhaps have had a recall. I certainly think so.
The temperature control buttons are digital, and some people (like myself) find the setting you'd really like is somewhere between two of the settings. But its a minor point.
The temperature control buttons have no lockout or cover. So if, like me, you keep it on the back
seat and small children or rummaging adults share your car, sooner or later your beer will be a lot colder than you bargained for ! Again a minor point.
I still believe the fridge to be a good buy when considering value for money. But you do have to consider that you get what you pay for.
I hope this is of help to at one person trying to decide what to buy ! .....