Here Is What THEY Say About It

Keep your foods and drinks chilled or frozen while traveling with the EdgeStar 43 Quart 12V DC Portable Fridge/Freezer (FP430). For ultimate portability, the EdgeStar 43 quart portable compact refrigerator freezer runs off standard household voltage, or easily connects to the cigarette lighter outlet in your car. This portable refrigerator freezer features a full range digital thermostat that is adjustable from -8 to 50 degrees F and will hold a stable temperature under most conditions. The FP430 may be powered via AC (0.75A) or DC (5.4A @ 12V DC / 2.7A @ 24 DC) power and comes with cables for both applications. This portable refrigerator freezer is great for boaters, campers, hunters, medical transportation/storage, recreational vehicles, cabins and all your outdoor applications.

• Full Range Thermostat
• Fast Freeze Button
• Both AC and DC Cables Included
• Insulated Metal Walls
• Compressor Based Cooling Method Freezes Fast
• External Dimensions: 20 13/16" H x 24 11/16" W x 17 11/16" D

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Here Is What WE Say About It

When I graduated from rock crawling day trips to overland exploration I realized that the small portable cooler I used for day trips needed to be retired.

With most of my overland adventures lasting up to a week my instinct as a Jeeper was to find something suitable at the best price. That philosophy lead me to a 60 quart brand name 7 day cooler. “Keeps Ice for 7 Days” it said on the label. Wow, that could hold a bag or two of ice and all my cold stuff for a week. A bargain at $50! Or not.

I suffered with that cooler for nearly a year. Might keep ice for 3 days leaving you a few cubs in a sea of icy water that leaks into “sealed” plastic bags and sloshes around on back roads. There needed to be a better solution. I’ve tried those thermo-electric coolers but in the heat of summer, you might as well put your food in a cooler without ice. So followed some advice and got a 60 quart “famous” name refrig/freezer retailing for $1400. Not in the budget of most Jeepers. It was heavy and as big as my cooler and I realized that although it was a GREAT unit it took up up ¼ of the space in my off-road trailer and would be way too big to put in the back of my TJ with my gear so in the trailer it stayed.

But not all of us have or need an off-road trailer. My latest project “The Ultimate Overland ZJ” was built with the desire to leave the trailer at home. Being to be able to load the Grand Cherokee with all the equipment and gear for a one week trip was job one. Besides I still needed something that I could fit in my TJ with the rest of my gear too.

I needed a smaller fridge, something around 40 quart but I didn’t want to spend a small fortune. A fellow Jeeper told me to check out the EdgeStar FP430. It was the size I was looking for, the specs more than met my needs and it was on sale for around $400 with free shipping (I was told that sales around major holidays find the best prices and free shipping)! A price that can fit everyone’s budget after all, just one brand name off road tire for any one of my Jeeps costs nearly $300.

A few clicks of the mouse on the Compact Appliance website and my new fridge was on the way. Since TX is only two states away from AZ a two day journey by truck found my new fridge in the driveway and ready for me to see if the $400 bargain was up to the challenge of overland travel.

Before I put it in the back of my Jeep I needed to test it at my house. I felt the best test to begin with was to see how fast it would cool down. Filling it with frozen food from my freezer and pushing the button for “fast freeze” seemed to be a fitting inaugural. Twenty minutes later I looked at the control panel and it said the temp was -6 degrees. Upon opening the lid frosty air came forth and it was good. I know it can get cold and keep frozen things frozen and am pretty confident that I can make ice on the trail too if need be.

The next test was to put the EdgeStar in a Jeep to see if it can run all night and not kill the battery. I did this in both a Grand Cherokee and TJ Wrangler. The Grand Cherokee had a one year old standard battery in it, the Wrangler a one year old Yellow Top. On day one the fridge was plugged into the TJ with two bags of ice and the temp set to 30 degrees at 3pm. At 8am the next morning the TJ started up no problem. The temperature was maintained in the fridge and the ice was still ice. The same was tried with the Grand Cherokee over the next 24 hours with the same results. So with a fully charged battery the EdgeStar kept a temperature of 30 degrees for 17 hours without leaving me “stranded”. As a second test, the same was done over a 24 hour period with the same results. With these simple tests done, I have peace of mind knowing that the fridge sitting all night at a campsite would not leave me with a dead battery. It should be noted here that I was told that the EdgeStar had a built in battery drain prevention device. Good to know. Still I will be installing a dual battery system on both vehicles in the future.

The next test is how it holds up to the pounding and vibrations of off-road travel. A trip on the 140 mile Devil’s Highway would be good baptism under fire so to speak. Washboard roads, deep sand, rocks, moon dust and everything in between make for a bone jarring ride at speed. With five members of Jeep Expeditions, I took off in the ZJ to do a one day trip on the DH to map out historic sites, other POIs and mark mileage waypoints for a future public service project. Having to traverse the DW in one day meant faster than average speeds a good test for the Edgestar. It held up just fine and continues to work like a fine time piece just like its more expensive rivals.

The EdgeStar FP430 is that it is superior to any cooler or thermoelectric cooler. Quality of construction is apparent, it cools down to under freezing in a short time and in my initial “unscientific” tests, will not drain a good battery if left plugged in overnight. It is small enough to fit in the back of a Grand Cherokee, a TJ Wrangler (with the back seat removed or folded) or any other Jeep and big enough to cool or freeze all of the perishable food needed for a week on the trail. As a plus, you can make your own ice overnight for the next day. The friendly people at Compact Appliance also told me that they now have a protective insulated cover for the FP430 making it more efficient.

Now with over a year of use and a 30 day, 10 thousand mile trip to the north of Alaska and back, the FP430 works as good as the day it was new. If you have a need for a quality, affordable 12v refrigerator/freezer, the EdgeStar FP430 will not disappoint you. At nearly half the price of some of its competition, it’s gear that you don’t need to do without anymore. Check out the EdgeStar FP430, its larger 63 quart cousin, and other great products from Compact Appliance.

http://www.compactappliance.com/FP430-Compact-EdgeStar-Portable-Refrigerator-Freezer/FP430.html

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