Looking over this new Bilt-Tuff 12V Refrigerator, it’s obvious that it’s very well built and commands an instant nod of approval (We nodded our heads to a YES). A more detailed inspection reveals high quality components and attention to detail in the manufacturing process. It looks cool and rugged. It oozes quality and something you know will last in the outback. You might already know in less than 10 seconds that you want it, but for those who may not know what you’re looking at, you may pause and ponder the purchase. This was written for those of you who need further information on why, “you just gotta have it.”
Unless you just won the lottery, we’re all mindful of our precious dollars. If you have a family, bills, mortgage etc. you know that you must stretch that “buck”. Naturally, we all make comparisons and we evaluate the value of our purchases against other options. Why pony up big bucks for a heavy duty 12V Refrigerator when something else might do the job for cheaper? But then again, you should know all the facts and realize that nothing is more true than the following statement, “you get what you pay for.”
By analogy, you could probably build a particleboard shed for cheap, but I’m sure you’d regret it in just a short time. After all, it was cheap, not strong. Soon you notice that those screws just don’t seem to hold; hinges start to sag and you start to see some decomposing sections of wood. If that shed lasted a season out in the elements, I’d be surprised. It won’t be long before it looks terrible and you tear it down and throw it in the trash, along with those hard-earned dollars invested in the project.
Similarly, you’ve likely had coolers before that met the same fate as that particleboard shed. You’ve likely had hinge failures and plastic parts that last only a few miles down a rough road. Not wanting to invest in another plastic cooler, you buy those replacement hinges and latch parts online at a grossly overpriced mark-up. Now you’re tasked with trying to strengthen those stripped out screw holes. Yikes. What a pain. You realizing that you’re fixing a bad design and think, “there’s got to be a better cooler out there.”
Enter the Yeti and other tough coolers coming to market. Lots of advertisement and hype about “holding ice for days” and how strong it is. Recent memories of that cheap plastic, but not so inexpensive cooler come to mind. Whoa, is a decent “tough” cooler really worth that much?
After all, it’s just a cooler. There is no earth-shattering technology going into these expensive coolers; it’s just more (read thicker) insulation built into very strong walls. These coolers do what they were designed to do, just at a very expensive price tag. The “punch line” for these coolers is: “ya gotta have ice” in the first place; That ice is heavy, takes up a lot of space, melts, and potentially water-soaks everything in contact with it.
It’s probably starting to make sense now. It’s just not that much more to have a DC Powered Portable 12V Refrigerator around. Low voltage fridges have been around for a long time, but efficiency is a whole new ballgame
We’ll get into all the “dirty” details in our next article. So stayed tuned for Part 2!!!