ARB Classic Series II 60L Portable Fridge Freezer
Verified9 reviews
Best after sales service – I have owned my 47lt fridge for over ten years and I also bought my son one around the same time unfortunately over the years they both had an electrical problem and well out of warranty and they fixed it no charge and have not had a problem since . I know any product can have a failure but for them to fix under warranty was excellent. Where… Read more · 1
before the ARB fridges I had a waceo which failed I think it was about 4 times 1st time repaired under warranty within warranty period same thing happened again out of warranty which was obviously a problem they didn’t want to know you so never buy a waceo. But ARB after sales service is outstanding.
Great fridge/freezer – I’ve had my ARB car fridge(Engel compressor) for the best part of 20 years, used on a regular basis(camping), no issues( I own the 48L too). I set mine up with solar, that feeds into a marine deep cycle battery, at nite it runs off the battery. Grog and food stay nice n cold. Both fridges came with insulated bags. It handles the hottest temp down… Read more · 1
to the coldest. Can’t fault my 2 fridges at all. Very happy with purchases. 48L-$1499 78L-$1999 Bought August 2003
Lacks sufficient thermal Insulation – I’ve had this fridge for around 4 yrs, no issues with reliability, it’s something I use nearly every week, all week when working away from home. The BIG failure is, it doesn’t retain it’s cold. As soon as it’s turned off, temp rises. It has no thermal retention at all. I’d be surprised if there was any insulation within the casing at all. I… Read more
generally have to place frozen ice brick in it to help it cope during hot weather. Previous EvaKool was great at holding the temperature.
Arb 78 l fridge – Had fridge for 2.5 years Very little use Temperature control broke .Freezer only function stuck at minus 10 Arb had to replace circuits Not reliable product Whish I bought an Engel Show details
Keep well away – Was perfect for the first couple of years then it just started to fall apart. It’s been back for repairs 3 times and has now failed for a fourth time. Compressor blew 1st time Thermostat blew 2nd Computer fried 3rd Not even going to bother finding out what’s wrong with it this time. Spend that tiny bit extra and buy Engel and have Japanese… Read more
technology rather than a Chinese ARB
The locking handle is also cheap and break easy, the fridge doesn’t like when you have things in bags and the temp plays up. Keep well clear
Solid fridge, BUT – Have been running the series 2 classic fridge for over 2 years now. Only ever run my batteries flat once (the solar on the car doesn't work when parked in the shed), other than that it's run flawlessly as a fridge set at 0⁰C and a freezer at -12⁰C. Having Having bluetooth module and phone app are a godsend as I can remotely monitor the fridge and… Read more
adjust settings (sometimes without getting out of bed) as well as change the battery protection level and monitor the battery voltage. Only questionable thing is the accuracy of the voltage monitor as when running it pulls down close to 1v less than my gauge on the supply which can sometimes cause it to trip out if I have the battery protection setting high.
The drain bung in the bottom makes it a dream to clean too.
My only real gripe with the product is that I should have spent the extra and bought the elements fridge instead with a gas strut to hold the lid up as being a long lid makes it difficult to open fully which makes loading and unloading a pain. I usually jam a pool noodle or something soft under the lid to prop it open.
Edit: so after 18 months of owning the fridge is started running longer and developed a hefty vintage drop between its source and the motherboard the app runs through. Contacted ARB and they ordered and fitted a new board under warranty without hesitation. We'll see how it goes now but I definitely can't say a bad word for their after sales support so far.
Good fridge freezer – I have the 60l series 2 it works great, has plenty of space and draws little power when using it on 12v the battery saver function is also very handy. Show details
Unreliable, expensive, and more importantly poor after sales support when warranty issue presented itself – I want to support an Aussie product but my ARB fridge has been useless from day one. Would have intermittent issues running on 12v. (Just what you want with a fridge full of food) After several visits back to the store, UV 4x4 (ARB reps) swore that the problem was on my end, voltage drop in my supply. (No it wasn’t but, I’m an auto electrician… Read more
what would I know)
So at my expense I further upgraded my car wiring, replaced my start battery, replaced my dual battery system and 2nd battery. ~$1200 later and still an issue (fault light would flash and flash and stop cooling). Eventually plugged it over to 240v still faulting (ah -ha!) but only occasionally...
Armed with video footage, Took it to UV 4x4 for official warranty checks. They plugged it in, ran it empty for a few days couldn’t find anything wrong with it. (I showed them videos of it faulting on 12v and then subsequently faulting on 240v - including supply voltage under load of both) this should have been enough to initiate a component change out after I had explained how intermittent and frustrating it was - otherwise why would I waste so much time lying about this problem?).
This went on and on for a while, it spoiled my food... and trip several times (More $ and frustration) but then would get it home and it ran without fault for days.... So, the years passed. I couldn’t ever trust it. I ended up very rarely using it.
Recently and FINALLY, (but now well out of warranty) it failed completely and wouldn’t run on either 240v or 12v. The day I had been waiting for... a hard fail!!
UV 4x4 suggested I replace the power input circuit board as it had burnt resistor/diode on it. Replaced however still no go, another $75 later.
Recently went back to UV 4x4 and expressed that this was always a problem when the fridge was in warranty and now I’m out of warrenty... and the guy agreed I was unlucky, was then told that some serial numbers could be changed so they could chase warranty from ARB on the main compressor control board worth $500. He agreed that even though I was well out of warranty it was an intermittent fault from day one that had finally presented as a hard failure. “I’ll look after you”.
Catch is, the whole dodgy serial number swap didn’t happen. I had to pay cash for it first and promised by the big man there that he would chase it up with ARB. Did that ever happen. No.
I paid >$500 cash for this new control board and it’s run well ever since. It’s run the way it should have from day zero. The fridge now owes me >3000 dollars.
As for the build quality, most of it is ok. It’s quite inefficient, water can leak into the LED display, the compressor condenser fins are small and could be 100% more efficient if the fins were less then 4mm apart.
The power input circuit board has ZERO protection from the elements - mine presents as new condition, and it’s never been used anywhere other then the back of a wagon twice a year and otherwise sat in the laundry. Point being it would be useless for the back of a Ute and not worth $~1250 new....
Overall disgusting experience from reliability to dodgy dealings at UV 4x4. Backs up other stories I have heard about larger component installs on people’s car.
I wouldn’t trust them as far as I can throw them. They lied to my face and took my money. They are willing to lie to ARB and swap serial numbers.
If they or ARB backed their products they would have called me back - as my original intermittent fault fell within warranty but they could never find it - and I spent a fortune fixing a problem that didn’t exist as it always resided in the fridge being faulty from day one.
Take your business elsewhere For both ARB and UV 4x4. If they would like me to add a happy resolution to this review - feel free to call me as you promised.
As reps, I’m sure ARB would be interested in your intentions on changing serial numbers to claim warranties on problems you should have found when the problem was presented within warranty periods.
All in all. Terrible experience. From the product to the after sales support.
Excellent Fridge Freezer – I have owned my ARB Portable Fridge Freezer for around 8 years now. It has never missed a beat. The covers are pretty lousy and fall off easily but the fridge itself runs quiet and seals well. I have had it in extremely hot temperatures on extended camping trips without issue. EDIT: Now ten years on and its still going strong. Found an aftermarket cover on ebay the seems to work better. The Fridge is a rock solid product. Show details
ProductReview.com.au has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence our content moderation policies in any way, though ProductReview.com.au may earn commissions for products/services purchased via affiliate links.