Dometic’s CFX2-powered cooler fashions have considerably decrease costs than their CFX3 counterparts. Our check pattern is the 45L dimension, with an MSRP of $800. The CFX3 of the identical capability sells for $950. Dometic electrical coolers nonetheless price a major chunk of change. However ditching ice has many benefits that broaden because the time you keep on the market grows longer.
Dometic launched the CFX2 through the summer time, which is brutally harsh in my house state of Texas. So, testing circumstances had been harsh from the start. It lived in my campervan and accompanied me on many outings to check biking and climbing gear. It additionally served responsibility for a handful of biking and climbing occasion journeys and every week on the seashore and swimming holes of the Lone Star State.
The Dometic CFX2 electrical cooler was the only real fridge within the van. It was powered on for nearly all the three-month testing interval.
In brief: The Dometic CFX2 45 powered cooler delivers the reliable refrigeration that the CFX3 collection supplied for years, however at a decrease price. Its ruggedness, cooling energy, and calmness are all on par with these of its costlier sibling. A contact of shade provides a little bit of enjoyable to the in any other case drab CFX3, too. For lengthy highway journeys, van lifers, or common outside fans who journey with meals or drinks, this powered cooler is a dependable device to maintain issues cool.
Dependable and constant temperature regulation in demanding circumstances
Sturdy building
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity and app
Prices greater than discount manufacturers
No wheels and prolonged deal with
Seiji Ishii
Predominant Specs and Options
The CFX2 45 appeared perfect for 2 individuals tenting for 2 nights. Though the van has large home batteries, the unit might simply as simply be powered by a transportable energy provide, like Dometic’s personal PLB40. Dometic presents the CFX2 in 28L, 37L, and 57L sizes.
The CFX3 45 powered cooler can maintain as much as 60 cans of your favourite beverage in its single compartment. It additionally has a smaller, greater “crisper” space. The polypropylene physique has bolstered corners and stout foldable ABS handles on every finish. The latched lid can open from both of the quick sides. An LED mild inside illuminates the inside when the lid is open.
The only-zone inside of the Dometic CFX2 has a detachable basket and an higher “crisper” space; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
Dometic claims a temperature vary of -7 to 68 levels Fahrenheit.
A intently becoming wire basket eases loading, unloading, and cleansing of the principle compartment. A drain port ensures the camper can drain moisture when needed.
The LED management panel show relays the set temperature and precise temperature, in addition to different pertinent stats. The panel additionally has a USB cost port. Dometic’s app can join by way of Bluetooth to the CFX2 45 to watch and management the cooler.
Stout ABS handles made hoisting the CFX2 45 comfy and supplied good anchoring factors; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
The cooler can run off 12/24V DC or 100-240V AC, and Dometic provides each cords. A 3-stage battery safety system retains the cooler from draining the home or automotive battery.
Lastly, for the primary time, Dometic presents a shade that breaks away from the model’s understated grey and black colours. The CFX2 line launched in Ocean Blue. I used to be a bit shocked after I opened the field.
The Dometic CFX2 45 within the Texas Summer time Warmth
The Dometic CFX2 served responsibility within the writer’s Vandoit camper van all through the brutal Texas summer time; (photograph/Seiji Ishii)
I contemplate the oppressively humid and hot-as-the-sun months of July and August in Central Texas as the final word proving floor for any tenting gear that cools something. The Dometic CFX2 45 was on responsibility by the whole thing of these months.
Begin Me Up
The management panel shows all of the pertinent data and has a USB charging port; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
When the humidity is above 80% and the temperatures are 100+ levels, any cooling system I’ve used exhibits stress. The van’s air conditioner struggles whereas driving to keep up a cushty temperature. I’ve had some coolers fail in these circumstances.
Though the a number of CFX3 coolers I’ve run within the van and different vehicles handed with flying colours, I used to be cautious at first with the CFX2 45 because of the lower cost tag. One thing needed to give, I figured.
With any powered cooler I’m testing, I monitor how lengthy it takes to achieve the set temperature when beginning on the ambient temperature. The primary time I loaded the Dometic CFX2 45 was midmorning in June, and it was already within the 80s. Mix that with the radiant warmth that constructed up contained in the closed van, and cooling off rapidly is an enormous ask for any electrical cooler.
However the CFX2 45 fired up and, with a full load of groceries, reached the 39-degree set temperature inside 20 minutes. That’s on par with the CFX3 55IM, and to my ear, it wasn’t any louder. Your mileage could differ, as this all relies on how a lot lifeless air area is left within the cooler and the temperature of the meals, amongst different issues.
The principle level was that there was no distinction in cool-down time between the extra reasonably priced CFX2 and the “premium” CFX3.
At Camp
The outside nook reinforcements gave the Dometic CFX2 a rugged really feel and look; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
The Dometic CFX2 45 accompanied my household and/or crew on a number of summer time journeys. Essentially the most demanding was a visit to the Texas Coast in July. The air was constantly thick with humidity, and there was no chance of dodging the solar by searching for shade.
I left all of the van doorways open all day, so the inside temperature of the van was within the excessive 90s more often than not. And at night time, it didn’t get a lot beneath 80.
Surprisingly, the compressor wasn’t working on a regular basis, which spoke extremely of the CFX2’s insulation and sealing. I monitored the interior temperature continuously at first, fearing that the powered cooler wouldn’t be capable to sustain.
It was nicely inside its working capacities throughout the journey. I by no means noticed the temperature waver, and nearly each time I appeared, it was a strong 39 levels.
And even when my daughter didn’t push the lid down laborious sufficient to click on and seal fully, the Dometic CFX2 nonetheless didn’t enable the temperature to rise.
Throughout nearly any utilization interval, there have been unavoidable hours after I needed to lock up the van and let it sit in direct daylight. The van is a tall Ford Transit, and its large entrance windshield turns it right into a greenhouse.
It’s throughout these intervals, even with a rooftop fan circulating air, that the interior temperature of the van rapidly goes method over 100 levels. That’s when lesser coolers fail to keep up the right temperature. This has by no means occurred with a Dometic CFX3 55IM or 75, and it by no means occurred with the CFX2 45.
The lid may be hinged on both aspect to greatest match the position of the CFX2; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
Once I took it to the seashore, fantastic sand blew into the van, or my daughter, canine, or I tracked it in. It inundated the van and the CFX45. By the tip of the primary day, there wasn’t a crevice or opening on the cooler’s exterior that wasn’t fully coated. However none of it breached into the inside.
The cooler’s sealing was actually efficient. I used my onboard air compressor to blow the sand out earlier than leaving the seashore, and all was fantastic.
I might assume the outside of the CFX2 is extra immune to affect than the CFX3 due to the bolstered corners. Both method, the CFX2 resisted impacts for all the time it lived within the van. I ran into it with bicycles, paddles, and different outside gear and handled it with my normal tough dealing with. It visibly appeared the identical on the finish of the summer time because the day I unboxed it, save for some handprints, mud, and dust.
And that is only a private observe. My daughter and I appreciated that Dometic broke away from its normal bland shade schemes. After so a few years of grey and black, we had been each followers of Ocean Blue.
Closing Ideas on the Dometic CFX2
Dometic presents the CFX 2 in 28L, 37L, 45L, and 57L sizes; (photograph/Drew Martin for Dometic)
After years of being spoiled by nothing however optimistic experiences with the higher-tier CFX3, I used to be a bit cautious of the Dometic CFX2 45. I used to be particularly so through the demanding circumstances of a Texas summer time. Nevertheless, the CFX2 supplied equally spectacular efficiency at a decrease price.
I can’t consider any purpose to pay extra for the CFX3. The Dometic CFX2 is such a strong worth proposition in relation to the CFX3, and Dometic should agree. Though the CFX3 continues to be listed on the model’s web site, it will likely be phased out and changed by a brand new “luxury” line of powered coolers dubbed the CFX5.
Till I evaluate the CFX5 (one is on the best way), I’ll withhold judgment on whether or not the improve from CFX2 to CFX5 is price it. However, I firmly consider that the Dometic CFX2 line will please most.
