Engel/Waeco or Trailblaza???

[balzackracing]

Got a very long trip to the NT coming up at which I will be on a remote property hunting and fishing for nearly 2 months and I need to buy a new fridge. I have been mainly looking at the Trailblaza 70ltr and the Engel 75ltr Combie Fridge/freezer but am open to other brands as well. What are everyones experiences?? These are the pro's and con's I have noted my self so far are -

Trailblaza Pros
Solid
Australian Made
Easliy Repaired
Trailblaza Cons
Bulky / Takes up more room

Engel Pros
Comes with alot or extras as standard
Well known with a long history
EngelCons
Made in Japan

Web site listed price's are -

Trailblaza - $1551
+ $165 for Checker Plate Exterior
+ $77 for Flush Mounted Dial Thermometer
+ $66 for Flush Mounted Voltmeter
+ $198 for 240 Volt AC Power Pack
+ $220 for Electronic Thermostat
Total - $2277

Engel - $1949
+ $195 for fridge bag
Digtal Thermometer - Standard
240 Volt AC Power Pack - Standard
Electronic Thermostat - Standard
Total - $2144

Obviously I plan on keeping this fridge for a very longtime, saying that the less I spend the better (thats what the missis reckons anyway).

[DIRTY ROCK STAR]

do you really need a digital thermometer? especially at those prices!!!

and whats the RRP of an equivelant waeco?
i have a waeco and its sweet but ive never gone to the tropics?

[GRIMACE]

get the engel... as you said the cheaper the better.

and its got five extra litres for more beer

[sloshy]

Engel simple

[trains]

I rekon the trailblazer as per your question.
However I would also suggest you look at the evakool range as well.

sort of between trailblazer and the 2 others.

T

[balzackracing]

do you really need a digital thermometer? especially at those prices!!!

and whats the RRP of an equivelant waeco?
i have a waeco and its sweet but ive never gone to the tropics?

I havn't priced the Waeco yet!, It would be good to know what the temp is inside the fridge so if some thing happens I can be onto it before I loose a shit load of food.

[balzackracing]

I rekon the trailblazer as per your question.
However I would also suggest you look at the evakool range as well.

sort of between trailblazer and the 2 others.

T

Are they fiberglass???

[Tailspin]

What about the Explorer?

[Skegbudley]

Check out the Evakool range of fridge / freezers.
You have 2 choices with them between the original fiberglass models and the hard plastic ones.
Ive got the 60l fiberglass fridge / freezer and can't fault it. The Evakool ice boxes are known to have the best insulation out of anything on the market. By adding a f/f unit powered by a Danfross compressor they have made one hell of a portable f/f.
Have you ever noticed how many people with Engel & Waeco fridges have cooler bags on them. Its not because they look good with them. Its because the insulation in them is crap. Stick a block of ice in a Evakool, Waeco & Engel that is turned off. Temps in the high 30's. The Evakool will still have ice in it after 2 weeks. The Engel & Waeco won't have ice after a few days. (even with the cooler bag)
As for the over priced temperature gauge that was quoted. Get a 2-zone one for $35. It has a digital display on the transmitter that mounts to the fridge & a remote display with time, outside temp & fridge temp. Works from over 100m away from fridge.

[joeblow]

http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-freezer-fridges/

[GUpatrol02]

i have a trailblaser and cant fault it, also with the digital thermometer you dont need to get the other flush mounted thermometer.

[ajsr]

http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-freezer-fridges/

who makes the ARB fridges ???

[balzackracing]

i have a trailblaser and cant fault it, also with the digital thermometer you dont need to get the other flush mounted thermometer.

So the Electronic Thermostat is also a digital thermometer???

[balzackracing]

http://www.arb.com.au/products/arb-freezer-fridges/

who makes the ARB fridges ???

Looks abit like the waeco's.

[balzackracing]

Check out the Evakool range of fridge / freezers.
You have 2 choices with them between the original fiberglass models and the hard plastic ones.
Ive got the 60l fiberglass fridge / freezer and can't fault it. The Evakool ice boxes are known to have the best insulation out of anything on the market. By adding a f/f unit powered by a Danfross compressor they have made one hell of a portable f/f.
Have you ever noticed how many people with Engel & Waeco fridges have cooler bags on them. Its not because they look good with them. Its because the insulation in them is crap. Stick a block of ice in a Evakool, Waeco & Engel that is turned off. Temps in the high 30's. The Evakool will still have ice in it after 2 weeks. The Engel & Waeco won't have ice after a few days. (even with the cooler bag)
As for the over priced temperature gauge that was quoted. Get a 2-zone one for $35. It has a digital display on the transmitter that mounts to the fridge & a remote display with time, outside temp & fridge temp. Works from over 100m away from fridge.

Cool I will check them out. the Electronic thermostat is not just a thermometer, it controls the temperature in the fridge.

[simkell]

without a doubt trailblazer if you have the cash. after using them for 8 years in tanks in some of the hottest climates in the world, abused by everyone, dropped, kicked, stacked on etc, i have seen very few break down. they may be bulky but they are very robust.

[balzackracing]

without a doubt trailblazer if you have the cash. after using them for 8 years in tanks in some of the hottest climates in the world, abused by everyone, dropped, kicked, stacked on etc, i have seen very few break down. they may be bulky but they are very robust.

Sweet, if the boys from Armored can't break em then they must be tuff!!

[GUpatrol02]

yeah mate digital thermostat is also a digital thermometer

[r0ck_m0nkey]

Cool I will check them out. the Electronic thermostat is not just a thermometer, it controls the temperature in the fridge.

With an Evakool, you're not going to get an Electronic Thermostat and digital controls. It's just got a knob which you turn with settings 1-10.

In saying that, i have an Evakool RF47 and am more then happy with it. Took a little playing around with, but with a digital thermometer have it all figured out temp wise.

I also found the divider to work a little to well, so i just made a small spacer to raise the divider up a little so that the fridge and freezer temperaturs are closer together. This lets me run the thing on a lower setting enough to keep the freezer side frozen and the fridge side closer to zero degrees.

[def90]

the trailblazer with its far thicker insulation would probably use less power, etc in the environment you will be in, but thus they are bulky! and they tend to be deep storage - meaning you have to 'dig' to get to something on the bottom, as opposed to the engels wider shallower layout.

but on your pricing with the engel, have you looked at the engeland site? $1800 would pull u up (even with transit bag) then i normally take a print out of this and go to a local BCF, anaconda, etc and get them to price match or beat it!!!

for the $477 price difference (if i wasn't using it everyday for years) i'd opt for the engel

[rockcrawler31]

The Evakool will still have ice in it after 2 weeks. The Engel & Waeco won't have ice after a few days. (even with the cooler bag).

I support the Evakool fridges/eskies too, but the two weeks thing is a bit of an exaggeration.

[Skegbudley]

The Evakool will still have ice in it after 2 weeks. The Engel & Waeco won't have ice after a few days. (even with the cooler bag).

I support the Evakool fridges/eskies too, but the two weeks thing is a bit of an exaggeration.

Done the 2 week trip thing and still had ice.
The Evakool guys used to do it as a demo at the Ekka display. The ice lasted for the whole show. Everything has to start off cold. If you try to cool down everything with the ice it will melt from that until everything cools down.

[k3lst]

Check out the Evakool range of fridge / freezers.
You have 2 choices with them between the original fiberglass models and the hard plastic ones.
Ive got the 60l fiberglass fridge / freezer and can't fault it. The Evakool ice boxes are known to have the best insulation out of anything on the market. By adding a f/f unit powered by a Danfross compressor they have made one hell of a portable f/f.
Have you ever noticed how many people with Engel & Waeco fridges have cooler bags on them. Its not because they look good with them. Its because the insulation in them is crap. Stick a block of ice in a Evakool, Waeco & Engel that is turned off. Temps in the high 30's. The Evakool will still have ice in it after 2 weeks. The Engel & Waeco won't have ice after a few days. (even with the cooler bag)
As for the over priced temperature gauge that was quoted. Get a 2-zone one for $35. It has a digital display on the transmitter that mounts to the fridge & a remote display with time, outside temp & fridge temp. Works from over 100m away from fridge.

IMO Id rate trailblazer frige/freezers over any of above because...

-They have 75mm insulation
-All Trailblazers are manufactured from 2mm thick marine grade aluminium, inside and outside.
-If you need it, you can pay a little extra for a compact model.

but, theyre expensive.
http://www.solazone.com.au/fridges.htm

k3lst

[lump_a_charcoal]

Autofridge - expensive but awesome.

[create]

I have a evakool FM70-FF and its been brilliant! I got it for $977 delivered to my door. The performance is excellent. It doesnt use much power and cools down very fast. The plastic doesnt show up any marks also. I'm sure on a trailblazer its going to look very second hand quickly.

[zagan]

I have a Engel MF45-SII works great doesn't seem to chew up much power even on 240v, but I would suggest to get a travel bag for the engel.

As once your getting into -0 temps it'll run more often, which could chew up more power than expected but if your moving around a bit it might not matter so much.

Having the switching power can be handy as once your at home you could hook it up to 240v power rather than always running off 12v, they also run pretty quiet as well,s o you could charge up the 4wd batteries without the fridge running off them while doing it.

The engels have a metal case, 40mm of foam but I think the 75ltr engels have more than that maybe 50-60mm of foam.

I would say before you buy try to work out what the avg temps will be for the area your going then try to match up a fridge for what you needing.

[Jeeps]

If you can afford it and can fit it in then go for trailblazer. They come standard in 75mm but you can order 125mm if you are keen. Chequer plate or brushed or platinum aluminium plus they have cool green ones they supply for the army:

[simkell]

If you can afford it and can fit it in then go for trailblazer. They come standard in 75mm but you can order 125mm if you are keen. Chequer plate or brushed or platinum aluminium plus they have cool green ones they supply for the army:

green are you sure all the 300 plus we have are blue.

[balzackracing]

[quote="
I would say before you buy try to work out what the avg temps will be for the area your going then try to match up a fridge for what you needing.[/quote]
Average Temp range for Peppimenarti NT, is 35-39 deg.

[balzackracing]

Any one have prices for the evakool's???