When shopping around for the best way to keep your beers cold, and your food from spoiling in the back for your car there are many different factors to consider, and whilst a massive 80L fridge freezer unit is the dream, sometimes something like this is a bit over the top!

We have the top 5 key factors in deciding which fridge or icebox suits your needs the best, so read on and find out which setup suits you!

Budget

This is one of the biggest limiting factors between the many different models on offer and is mostly but not limited to your budget. Even though the Adventure Kings Fridge range is priced somewhere around 50% of most other 12v fridges on the market, many campers don’t have a budget that will stretch the whole way! There are a handful of alternatives on offer including the Adventure Kings Icebox range, which when packed properly can keep ice frozen for up to and sometimes longer than a week.

The fridge range starts with the Adventure Kings 60L Fridge Freezer which can be had for under $600 and will run indefinitely as long as you have a 12v battery connection, you can keep things chilled to a crazy -18°C. Whilst the icebox range starts with the trusty Adventure Kings 40L Icebox at under $150 you can see the massive cost advantage, but when you factor in the price of an ice bag at servos across the country reaching nearly $5 and time period you will be using your icebox, as well as the usable space taken up by the ice, a fridge may just be the solution for you.

Length of stay

Where you are staying, and the style of campsite setup you have will determine how easily you can break camp to restock on ice. With a reliable 12v solar charging system and a dual battery setup you can keep a fridge running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 52 weeks a year with no definitive time that you need to move along. When using an icebox, availability of ice is something that you will have to consider.

12v Setup

On a hot day, just like the warnings about leaving pets and children in your car, a 12v fridge can become labored, this means that the total power draw from a 12v fridge can become higher than expected when the compressor kicks in and tries to draw the temperature down. This additional power draw can easily drain a vehicles 12v battery in just a few hours. To combat this a solid dual battery system like the CTEK D250SA + Smartpass120 coupled with a reliable deep cycle AGM battery.

With an extra 12v battery dedicated to running your 12v accessories you shouldn’t ever have to worry about running your starter battery flat and potentially causing permanent damage. Coupled with a solar battery charger, there is no limit to how long you can stay at a location without buying ice, or breaking camp!

Remoteness

When you are camped a long way from civilization, a trip to go and get ice for your Icebox, costs more than the price of a bag of ice. The cost of fuel and the time spent away from camp will add up and could potentially waste a good period of time taken away from relaxing.

Most of us in the 4WD Supacentre team, run 12v fridges for this reason, however some don’t camp often enough or venture far enough away from civilization to require the additional benefits afforded by a 12v dual battery setup and a 12v fridge!

Volume

In our opinion bigger is better, you can never have enough cans on the chill. And for some people even the massive Adventure Kings 80L Fridge/Freezer can hold a massive 111 cans. That is enough for a whole team of people on a week away but will mean you always have a cold one on hand, and food for everyone.

With efficiency the less airspace inside an icebox or fridge, the easier it is to keep cold, so sometimes a more modest icebox will suit your needs, particularly on shorter trips away with less people.

The final decision is as always with you to make but the overwhelming value for money is hard to deny when comparing with other makes and models available on the market. With industry leading internal components and built to take a beating, its not too late to get your hands on an Adventure Kings Fridge Freezer or Adventure Kings Icebox to keep your food and drinks cold when you are away from home!