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Does anyone have any experience with the Companion range of camper fridge/freezers? BCF have a 55 litre fridge/freezer selling for abour two thirds of the Engel/Waeco brands. Is the Companion cheap and nasty and a "you get what you pay for?" They look good from the outside.
Thanks
Jimbo
Jimbo that would be the 2 way type? they pull a lot of power, great on 240v but the power drain is massive on 12v relative to the ones with a compressor motor...here in lies the catch.
cheers fnq
Thanks FNQ.
Yep it can be powered by 12, 24 or 240 volts and draws a claimed 2 to 4 amps, depending on external temp etc. Am told if I turn it off at night and on again in the morning it will average about 1 amp. Will only be used for land camping and will be run off a second battery.
However, I still cannot understand the huge price differences. Are we simply paying more for the Waeco/Engel brand names? Is Companion underwriting losses so they can establish a presence in the camping fridge market? Have Companion camping fridges been on the market for long as I cannot find much reference to them?
Cheers
Jimbo
I took a look at these on the weekend. They look to me to be a compressor fridge. The reason they are cheaper is that they use a cheap chinese version of the danfoss compressor. I doubt you would ever have any problems with them, no more than the danfoss anyway. Given the fact that you are buying them from a large company i doubt warantee replacement would be a problem either. If you take a look at ebay you will find them there too. Primus do a similar version in a stainless steel (or stainless looking) case.
Also worth noting that the danfoss comes with a 5 year warentee.
Well there you go! I didn't know they had Chinese knockoffs of the compressor fridges on the market so sorry I am no help, well worth investigating but!, if the warranty is good and they prove reliable and get popular they will make formidable competition for the big brands.
cheers fnq
I'm interested in these as well. I believe Companion has a good name and long reputation.
Cheers
Dave
They sound good . Just check cooling range. Full refrigeration/freezer or just to 25 degrees below ambient. Latter is not as good on really hot days. Bill
gday jimbo,Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo00
i think you are right with your first quote...you do get what you pay for. although there are some people out there that have been lucky enough to get hold of a cheap 'no name brand' and it goes on forevor. but for me, i bought a 'downunder' camping fridge. 70 liter. it came with a 5 year warranty, and only $900 brand new. well what a nightmare that thing was. for a start the 'do it yourself' wiring was too small, so i had to spend money on thicker wiring as they say that the conventional cigerette ligher wiring will not do. the other thing was that the external inverter was as noisy as anything. it was the only thing you could hear at night laying in the tent. and the motor as well was bloody noisy. that thing went back down to brissy at least 3 times, and coming back the same condition saying that they fixed it. anyway, 5 years on now, and the warranty has run out, and so has our patience.
so have just bought a waeco 60 liter. quite as a mouse, no external inverter, and solid as. on its maiden trip we treated it rough to see what it could do. no probs. ended up hooking up a battery with aligator clips next to the fridge so your not going in and out of the car all the time. just set it up outside the tent, and left it. after 2 days, the battery indicator was only just reaching the clear level, and not quite in the red. so for me, i think paying the extra bucks is peace of mind.
John
I know this post is old but just looked at BCF and they are the 60lton special for $700. Case an insulation looks awesome on them and free travel bag. Did anyone buy one years ago and how did it go. It stated in the brochure that power wise is slightly higher than the engel 40lt at .92 amp as opposed to .87 for the engel.