As part of our trip north to the Cape we dicided to do some product testing, we approached:
Waeco
Engel &
National Luna

to provide us with one of their combination fridge/freezer units to take with us and compare. Firstly thanks to both National Luna and Engel for agreeing to this simple but effective testing / comparison, unfortunately, Waeco did not respond to our request at all so sorry to say we were unable to include them.

This report will not be full of technical information just what we discovered during the trip and how well the units performed. We do not currently sell either of these units so we have no alliance with either company, this will just be our views on how well the fridges went during the trip.

The first unit is the National Luna 74lt double door Fridge/Freezer.

All info and suppliers information is available from the National Luna website www.dolium.com.au

The unit was delivered and immediately unpacked checked and turned on after reading the simple instructions. In the box was also a female plug with terminals ready for installation in the vehicle, although this was not required its nice to know you do not have to go buy one to use the fridge. the unit started cooling noticeably very quickly, we did cheat and had all food for the freezer pre frozen in the home freezer, but in the baskets that came with the fridge, this makes it easier to pack.

With it all packed and the temps set, yes twin compartment therefore two separate controls, very very handy, we were off. First couple of days the only time we opened the fridge was get drinks out so the unit just sat in the back of the truck and was extremely quiet. when getting stuff from the back of the truck it was very easy to see what the fridge/freezer was doing, nice big digital gauges.

During driving times the unit was connected to the vehicles main battery which was an Optima Blue Top 55amph deep cycle / starting battery. The first couple of nights we turned the freezer up from -18 to -12 deg and the fridge running at +2 deg as it remained connected to this battery. We did however leave it set to -18 deg & +2 for a night which resulted in not having enough charge left to turn the truck over in the morning (diesel patrol), this was done on purpose to see how it would go. After testing this, the unit was attached at night to a 130amph deep cycle battery which never lost charge (dual battery system).

During our crossing of Nolan's Brook we were unfortunate enough to get caught on the exit which resulted in water getting into the vehicle, not sure on how much got into the rear but the fridge did get wet, and after a few tense hours (overnight) of waiting for everything to dry out including the fridge we were very pleased to see it kick into full operation as though nothing had happened, everything was still cold and or frozen after being off overnight.

Overall the National Luna unit was great, the only thing I did not like was the 12v lead is hard wired to the unit and gets in the way when getting the unit in and out of the truck. I believe it has been done this way to reduce the possibility of voltage drop over connections, although if I owned one I would look at a modification. The only other thing was the lack of protective cover as we found condensation on the lid at times and felt the unit was possibly loosing valuable cold, so having a cover may have helped.

With dual controls, easy to read displays, lights in top of both lids (nice if they were LED's) and very fast cooling this is a great unit, some would say expensive at $2,990rrp, but compared with others on the market and the quality of the build I would pay, lets face it you get what you pay for.

:Options Available:

Lets now take a look at the ENGEL COMBI FRIDGE/FREEZER:

Robbie was responsible for the Engel and has provided this report:

I recently took part in a trip to the tip of Australia with the guys from Extreme Limits Offroad. We left Brisbane on the 1st of August and returned about the 22nd of August. They asked me to carry an Engel fridge in my car and at the end of the trip submit a report on its performance.

I received the fridge 3 days before we left for the Cape, and connected it to 240 volt power, turn it to freeze, placed all my meat, bacon and chicken in the fridge to be frozen. I noticed that the fridge temperature display did not work so I don’t know how cold it would get. The fridge also made a bit of noise, assumed that it would take a while to freeze, then settled down. A day before we left, we packed the fridge side of the unit with cold meat, milk, butter, fruit and vegetables. On the day we left, the fridge was placed in the back of my Grand Vitara, plugged into the lighter socket and we left for the Cape. As I did not have a dual battery system, we decided that while the car was running the fridge would be left on, if we did not have a powered camp site at night, then the fridge would be turned off so that my car battery would not go flat.

We travelled by sealed roads to Cairns, and then crossed the Daintree River by ferry, drove over the Bloomfield Track into Cooktown. From Cooktown we travelled along the Battle Camp Road into old Laura town. From Old Laura town we travelled on the Peninsular Development Road passing through Musgrave Station, Coen, and Archer River Roadhouse arriving in the town of Weipa. From Weipa we went to Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, before travelling along the Old Telegraph track to the Jardine River. From the Jardine River we then proceeded to Seisia at the tip of Australia. Most of these roads were unsealed, some had creek crossings, and were very bumpy, but with the fridge being tied down in the car it did not move at all.

The fridge did it's job very well, keeping everything cold and frozen. The only annoying thing about the fridge was the chain on the left hand side of the unit keeping rattling and banging against the side of the fridge. To fix this problem we put an old towel over the fridge between the chain and the side, problem solved. I think that the fridge should also have an insulated cover to protect it from been scratched.

Overall the fridge performed well, was great for getting cans of drink cold, and froze water quickly keeping all food cold and frozen. As for the temperature of the fridge I cannot comment as the gauge did not work, but we managed to test it at one stage, and the freezer was at minus 16 degrees.

I was impressed with its performance, showing that if you don’t have a dual battery system you can still carry a fridge in your vehicle and would recommend the product to other people to consider for your next 4wd drive adventure, at $1899.00rrp I think it is good value.

All the technical details and suppliers can be obtained from the Engel website www.engelaustralia.com.au.

Final Notes:

Obvious differences we noted between the two units are:

• Overall size, they are the same externally until you put the handles onto the Engel, this adds about 3-4inch overall
• Engel only has a display and control for freezer temp, guess if the freezer is cold so must the fridge be cold
• 3 x Stainless steel baskets in the National Luna
• No cords hanging off the Engel
• Engel has a single lid with a plastic cover on top of the freezer section

Robbie + 2 decided they preferred the Engel, myself + 2 prefer the National Luna and 2 have voted for their un-official Waeco

If you would like more info on how these fridges faired during the trip, just drop us a line at sales@extremelimitsoffroad.com.au and we will assist you. If you are seeking more technical info or suppliers / dealers check the National Luna and Engel sites using the links provided above.

To read more about the trip and see some pic's follow this link - Trip Report and Pictures
To see some videos of the trip follow this link - Trip Video's