We considered many different dual-zone portable refrigerator/freezers. We could have gotten any one we wanted. For us, it finally boiled down to weight and value.
As people relatively new to the camping/overlanding world, we were unsure what to seek or expect from “an electric cooler.” After reading some kind of mixed reviews about the APL35 ultralight, we just couldn’t escape the weight savings compared to others. Plus, the ICECO was also very affordable.
We couldn’t wait to try it out once it arrived. We are thrilled! The freezer/fridge comes to temperature quickly enough, and seems to maintain its internal coolness pretty well, even while using it under summer’s latest Heat Dome, where outside temperatures soared to the low 100s in our desert landscape.
The only weirdness (I guess I’d call it) is the internal temperature seems to “shift” slightly when on the move. Variations are three to four degrees, depending on what compartment quadrant items reside in and the temperature shifts aren’t predictable. It seems to rely on the motion, vector and momentum. Nevertheless, we set the fridge at 36 degrees and the freezer at 0 and we never saw foods go above 40 or below 33 in the fridge compartment, and we never noticed any signs of melt or modification for items in the freezer. So we’re not worried about the weirdness.
It’s a handsome item that doesn’t seem particularly robust, but we’re going to use it until it dies, which hopefully won’t be for many years. It doesn’t gobble the precious watts from our moderate-capacity power station, either, so we don’t have dead-battery anxiety that might have come from some of the other contenders on our original consideration list.
We are glad me made the decision we did to go with the ICECO APL35 ultralight!