Dometic CFX Series
With another overlanding, boating, camping, and fishing season upon us, I was itching for some new gear when I came across that Dometic’s new (2015) line of portable fridge/freezers. I’ve had a couple in the past, which after starting with high hopes failed miserably. Never one to give up, and as none of the past models were Dometic, I ordered one.
The CFX series comes in a variety of sizes from 28 to 100 litres. I choose the CFX35W. The reasons for choosing the second smallest size were - I need it to fit in my Jeep JKU - along with a lot of other gear; I intend to pull it from the Jeep and into the boat – which has even less room; it’s relatively lightweight at 17.7kg (39lb), the 35 litre size will hold enough fresh food for one or two people for a week, and it doesn’t draw a lot of power to do it.
The construction is rugged. Each corner has a reinforced cap, the handles are spring loaded to retract out of harms way (and detachable if you need the space), and the lid is strong enough for a 73 kg editor to stand on. The interior light is handy, as is the USB port if you’re running an older rig.
The temperature can be adjusted from +10°C to -22°C, and without food inside it went from +22°C to +3°C in just 14 minutes. It’s also very quiet. While cooling you can hear an audible hum, which the manual says is 42 dB(A). I wanted to test this, but the ambient noise level in my house is 47 dB(A).
There are a number of features that drew me to this series, aside from build quality, reputation and the ability to not only cool, but also freeze food. The first is the battery save mode. These units can be plugged into 120V AC but more importantly will also run on 12V or 24V DC by plugging into a cigarette lighter socket – not much of a feature you say. What is innovative is the adjustable shut down when it recognizes that your car battery is low. The cooler will never drain your battery so you can’t start your engine. And the cooler is Wi-Fi enabled, so you can control it via a mobile app (providing you and the cooler are within range of each other).
No more leaky bags of ice. The Dometic CFX is a great addition to our day-trip or weeklong adventures. If you play outside a lot, it’s a worthwhile investment.
MSRP - CFX 35: $681 USD www.dometic.com