4wd Action Mega Portable Fridge/Freezer Review

There is a huge debate on what the best portable fridge/freezer is to fit into Expedition vehicles.

With so many choices and the amount of money being spent, much research is usually done before picking something out.

I personally am very happy with my combination of my old Engel 29lt Fridge with a TwoZone compartment on top (with a few custom modifications).

Custom Engel 29lt Fridge with 21lt TwoZone Compartment

4WD Action Magazine did a huge review of the main portable Fridge/Freezer Manufacturers in Australia and is the most comprehensive review I’ve seen.

The fridges tested were:

Engel Portable Fridge-Freezer and TwoZone Compartment Review

Engel is a legendary name in 4wd Expedition circles.  They have been producing portable fridge freezers now for over 40 years and their reliability is second to none.  There are stories floating around of them being on the back of utes in the outback for years and even though the external cases have been damaged through weather and abuse they work perfectly inside.

I picked up an old Engel MRFT-530 portable fridge/freezer for a bargain second hand.  It’s capacity is 29 litres and it runs on both 12 volt and 240 volt. This model has been around for almost 30 years now and the particular one I got had a few battle scars from signs of a lot of use but was still running strongly.  I tested it and it got down to -18 degrees Celsius on the maximum setting – this was good enough for me!

Original old Engel MRFT-530

I decided to strip the case back and respray it. I spent some time sanding it back with wet/dry sandpaper and gave it a good wipe down with oil/gum remover to make sure I had the best surface to work with before spraying.

Coleman 533 Sportster II Dual Fuel Camping Stove

Being a keen cook both at home and camping, it has always bothered me that I haven’t been able to find a good portable cooking solution. I tried gas but soon got tired of lugging around gas bottles and refilling them. I also tried the cheap butane stoves which were handy, and cheap but didn’t burn very hot. Neither gas or butane was satisfactory in my opinion.

Well I bit the bullet today and finally went out and got myself a dual fuel camping stove. I ended up going for the Coleman 553 Sportster II Dual Fuel model. It’s a single burner that runs on unleaded petrol or shellite/coleman fuel.

I followed the basic instructions outlined on the burner itself, filled it up, went through the steps to light it and it was up and running in no time. I found it to be incredibly hot and it boiled my billy in just over 3 minutes – something gas or butane has never been able to do.