Engel 40 litre vs 57 litre combo

Jen,

I did a review on the Engel 75 litre Combo fridge having had it for nearly 2 years now and having previousely run both an Engel 40 and Waeco 50 on my longer trips. They are a good, solid reliable unit that works well as a either a fridge or freezer/fridge combo. Just remember that they utilise a "spill-over" effect and fan to push cold air from the first (freezer) compartment into the 2nd fridge compartment so don't jam a lot of food stuffs in front of the vents.

Engel Combo review



Cheers Mick

Novelty ? No, fairly large footprint however , another consideration is amount of usage you will get out of the unit , with most of your trips 3-5 nights a 40 lt set as a freezer for the kids icecreams and to refreeze ice [ in bottles ] for use in the evercool you already own may be an alternative.

Hi Jen
I have had the 57L Combi Box for about 10 years now and love it. It is permanently in the back of my Cruiser and is turned on most weekends with a few drinks for us and our 2 kids - I set it on about 1.5 on the dial which gives 2 or 3 degrees in the freezer section. On longer trips it is great to have the meat or pre-prepared meals in the freezer, and then transfer them to the fridge to slowly thaw out. Most of our holidays revolve around fishing or diving, so as food is taken out of the freezer it is replaced with fish.
The only problem I have had was the fan between the freezer and fridge stopped working a couple of years ago. Engel replace the whole divider section if this happens, so I got on Google and found a fan on the internet (wasnt very expensive, but I cant remember how much - about $20??).
It annoys me that Engel dont make a specific bag for the Combi - it is the same bag as the 60L, which doesnt have the digital temp readout. This means you cant read the temp readout without pulling the bag up a bit...
The extra capacity is great for travelling with kids...
Drew

We prefer 2 fridges in preference to one big one because:
#1 if either fridge were to fail, we have a backup
#2 We use both as fridges but the meat/milk fridge runs at 2 degrees while the drinks/fresh veg fridge runs at 7-8 degrees and uses less power.
#3 we have the space for 2
#4 As supplies run down we only run one fridge.
#5 We don't have a need for a freezer although either fridge could be used as a freezer.

G'day Jen,
I've a family of 4 children and we decided in the move from icebox (esky) to fridges to buy a smaller one (Evakool 47L) and keep an Ice box.
We bought ihe Evakool as we liked the ice box we already had, Evakool Australian made, Fridge/freezer combo or just fridge, can be used as a seat etc.
Other reason to buy a smaller one (in your case 40L rather than 57L) you can lift it easier, and it is far more useful when you are not camping for putting the groceries in the car, day trips, picnics etc.
That being said we had it for a while then bought a second one, so now when camping run two 47L Evakools, one for food in the camper, one for drinks and snacks when doing day trips in the car.
My tip, buy the smaller one, then when you're flush with cash again, buy another one!
Cheers
Corrugate

Jen,

spent 16 months on our round Oz trip 2 adults and a 5yr old. We had the 57L combo in the cruiser and a 60L fridge in the camper. We cryovac'd meat enough for 3 sometimes 4 weeks in the freezer , it's all in the packing! and the fridge section held the precious beer reserves. Our 60L was more than enough for all our refridgeration needs. This allowed us to go remote for weeks at a time. Both fridges never missed a beat!

Evan