Ecoflow Glacier Review: A Portable Refrigerator for Wherever You Go Leave a comment

After I first noticed the Ecoflow Glacier, introduced at last year’s CES, I instantly thought, Nobody wants this. Effectively, not nobody. I want it. However I dwell full-time in an RV. I’m an outlier. Hardly anybody wants a transportable, battery-powered cooler. Not lengthy after that, I used to be on the seashore in Florida once I noticed two college-aged males struggling over the sand dunes with an enormous ice maker, semi-portable fridge, and gas-powered generator. I’m unsuitable! Individuals do want the Ecoflow Glacier. It’s not simply me. The Ecoflow Glacier would have eliminated all of the humor from the scene, nevertheless it doubtless would have made this group’s spring break a bit simpler.

With an impressively massive storage space, a built-in ice maker, a good set of wheels, and an optionally available battery, the Ecoflow Glacier is every little thing it’s essential maintain your meals and drinks cool on a sizzling day on the seashore, or a weekend within the woods. It most likely received’t roll over dunes all that effectively, nevertheless it’s not too arduous to hold.

Ice Chest

EcoFlow targets the Glacier at full-time RVers, van lifers, and boat homeowners, however in the event you’ve bought the house and cash, it’s an ideal substitute for an ice chest regardless of the place you reside. It’s an ideal choice for weekend journeys in the event you decide up the battery (bought individually), which is able to let you be off the grid for as much as 40 hours (much less when ambient temps are greater). Throw in 200 watts of photo voltaic panels and also you’ll be capable of have refrigeration practically indefinitely as long as the solar is shining.

Sadly, out of the field, the Ecoflow Glacier can’t cost off photo voltaic, nor do you get the battery. It’s nonetheless a wonderful fridge, and the worth is aggressive at $1,000. That will get you the unit itself, 12-V and 120-V chargers, a basket, and a divider. The divider permits you to break up the primary compartment into fridge and freezer sections. What’s good is that while you’re not utilizing it, the divider tucks neatly up into the lid, out of the way in which.

Every part in regards to the Glacier is extremely effectively designed. The seals are tight, nevertheless it’s simple to open. It’s gentle sufficient that I can carry it round simply with the included handles (it’s 51 kilos when empty). When you load it up with meals it will get tougher, however two folks can handle it.

The management panel is easy to make use of; I by no means needed to learn the handbook. Talking of, you don’t get a handbook, which is disappointing in a product geared toward folks going off-grid. You possibly can obtain the handbook from Ecoflow, however I’d have most popular paper.

The Glacier has a 38-liter capability. For reference, that’s about 60 12-ounce cans. You need to use it as both a fridge or freezer, setting the temp to anyplace between 50 to 32 levels Fahrenheit (10 to 0 levels Celsius) for the fridge mode, and 32 to –13 levels Fahrenheit (0 to 25 levels Celsius) for the freezer mode. When you use the divider you find yourself with one part that’s 23 liters and one which’s 15. You possibly can then set the temperature independently, with both aspect as a freezer. The Glacier detects when the divider is in place, and robotically gives two temp settings on the display, which is fairly slick.

There’s one catch to the divider. The left aspect will be as a lot as 77 levels Fahrenheit greater than the best, however the best aspect can solely be 59 levels Fahrenheit greater than the left. This barely unusual limitation most likely received’t come up for most individuals because it’s arduous to provide you with a state of affairs the place you’d need that massive of a temperature distinction.

Temperature, together with every little thing else in regards to the Glacier, will be managed both by the app by way of Bluetooth or you may add the unit to your Wi-Fi community. When you don’t wish to use the app, you may at all times use the settings panel on the Glacier. There are good massive plus and minus buttons that make it simple to manage every little thing on the unit. The app is superb although and makes a pleasant choice in the event you’re planning to place the Glacier in a drawer in a van or RV.

The constraints are that the Glacier can’t run immediately off photo voltaic panels with out the battery. You’re not powering the Glacier, you’re charging the batteries. Equally, you may’t make ice off the 12-V energy provide. You want the battery (or to be plugged into the wall). For these causes, I extremely counsel you purchase the battery, which additionally offers you a bidirectional 100-watt USB-C PD port so you may cost devices whereas additionally powering the fridge (powering each off photo voltaic in case you have the panels).

Six Months of Testing

I examined the Ecoflow Glacier for greater than six months and located it delivers on all of Ecoflow’s claims. It cools the quickest of any transportable fridge I’ve ever tried, shockingly effectively, and it held its inside temperature after every little thing summer season threw at it.

For some context, I dwell full-time on 12-V refrigeration powered by photo voltaic panels. I’ve a Vitrifrigo refrigerator (which I don’t suggest) and an Engle freezer (which I really like, though it might be quieter). For many of final summer season, I swapped out the Engle with the Ecoflow Glacier. Ecoflow charges the Glacier able to 40 hours off the 298-watthour battery. That is underneath utterly superb circumstances with nothing within the fridge. In my real-world testing with ambient temperatures starting from 75 to 85 levels Fahrenheit, the Glacier’s battery held up for practically 24 hours, which is spectacular.