A Long Term Review of the ARB Elements Fridge

June 1, 2020 Take The Truck

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If you’re looking for an incredibly rugged, efficient, and weatherproof 12v portable fridge freezer for camping or overlanding, we can say with confidence that the ARB Elements Fridge is the one for you.

We know this, because for the last 4 years we’ve used the ARB Elements Fridge on our overland travels throughout the U.S. - travels that have tested this particular ARB Fridge in a wide variety of extreme climates, temperatures, and off-road conditions. To be completely frank, we’ve not been easy on it, and some might say we’ve been borderline abusive. But it just keeps on going!

While we love the ARB Elements Fridge and it has a TON going for it, it also has a few caveats and we’ll discuss those as well.

Before we get into all of that, let’s first go over some of the basic (and not-so-basic) features of the ARB Elements Fridge.

*Though this post contains affiliate links (see our full disclosure), we’d like to point out that we are in no way sponsored by ARB, and we spent our very own hard-earned money to purchase the ARB Elements Fridge for our overland and camping adventures.

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ARB Elements Fridge Basic Features

Power Consumption

The ARB Elements Fridge uses an average of 0.89 ah/hr at 12 V DC.

What this means is that - when running off a vehicle’s 12 volt outlet or dual-battery setup, or your solar generator’s 12 volt DC output - in a 24hr period, you can expect the fridge to use about 21.36 amp-hours (or 256.32 watt-hours) of power per day depending on the ambient temperature outside.

This amount of power consumption is on par with other camping fridge manufacturer’s more efficient models, as well as other offerings by ARB.

This has allowed us to easily power the fridge off our Overland Battery Setup or a Solar Generator indefinitely - as long as we run the truck regularly to recharge our battery or have adequate solar power to keep up!

It’s worth noting that the ARB Elements Fridge also operates equally well on shore-power (standard household 110v AC).

Materials

Two words: Stainless Steel! One of the biggest draws of the ARB Elements Fridge is the rugged stainless steel exterior. It just makes it feel more durable than other plastic 12v portable camping fridge/freezers, and the polycarbonate corner and edge protectors help keep it looking sharp.

3-Phase Battery Protection

This is a standard feature on all of ARB’s fridge/freezers, including the ARB Elements Fridge. 3-phase battery protection is an important feature, especially when operating the fridge on your vehicle’s 12v power.

It enables you to pre-set a shut-off voltage (at one of 3 voltage levels) to prevent the fridge from depleting your vehicle’s starting battery - a.k.a. leaving you stranded with a dead battery. It will also provide a real-time readout of the voltage the fridge is receiving so you can monitor the battery’s voltage state.

Dimensions

Exterior Dimensions: 17.1” Height x 19.3” Width x 32.3” Length

Interior Dimensions: Shelf 5.7” H x 14.0” W x 6.1” L + Main 13.1” H x 14.0” W x 18.8” L

Cooling Range

The cooling range is 0-50 °F. This means the ARB Elements Fridge can be set to operate as a fridge, or set low enough that the whole thing becomes a freezer.

Weight

At 70lbs, weight is one slight downside to the ARB Elements Fridge’s stainless steel construction - it’s a full 16lbs heavier than ARB’s 63QT Classic II model.

ARB Elements Fridge Special Features

It’s Weatherproof!

Unlike other 12v portable fridge models out there, the ARB Elements Fridge was designed for prolonged exposure to the elements (hence the name).

This is by far our favorite feature of the ARB Elements Fridge because it enables you to have the option of storing or mounting the fridge on the exterior of your vehicle when camping or traveling. Or you can simply leave it in the open bed of a truck, making it a terrific overlanding fridge option.

Being weatherproof also has the added benefit of simplifying the cleaning process. Whenever you’re done with a trip or if something spills inside and makes a mess, you can simply pull the built-in drain plug in the bottom of the ARB Elements Fridge and spray it off with a hose!

Electronic & Manual Locking Lid

The ARB Elements Fridge includes both a programmable electronic lock, as well as a padlockable lid. While this may sound like overkill, it’s an incredibly valuable feature, especially if you decide to mount the fridge on the exterior of your vehicle or want to leave it at camp while you go for a hike.

The digital lock uses a keypad combination to prevent unwanted camp-bandits (or ravenous teenagers) from pilfering your food supply, while the padlock allows you to secure the fridge to something stationary to deter theft of the refrigerator itself.

Infinite Adjustable Strut

This unique feature allows you to prop the lid up at any angle between 0 and 90°, and keep it there while you’re grabbing whatever you need. This really comes in handy while cooking at camp, because it enables one-handed use of the ARB Elements Fridge.

How We’ve Used and Tested the ARB Elements Fridge

After considering several options, we selected the ARB Elements Fridge for our truck camping and overland travel build primarily because we came up with a solution to mount this weatherproof ARB fridge on the exterior of our vehicle so we could maximize the interior space of our truck camping setup.

Since purchasing the ARB Elements Fridge we’ve traveled over 20,000 miles with the fridge exposed to everything mother nature can throw at it - the red desert dust and searing summer heat of Moab, Utah, the snow, sleet, and freezing high-altitude temperatures of Telluride, Colorado, the thrashing of countless off-road trails, and even complete submersion during water crossings (though we feel like this should come with a “don’t try this at home” disclaimer).

Throughout all of this abuse, the ARB Elements Fridge has never once missed a beat! And it continues to keep our food and beverages cold to this day.

Update 2020: We got our Go Fast Camper installed on the truck! This extra sleeping area allowed us to modify our full width sleeping platform and we now travel with the fridge inside.

Update 2023: We’ve now logged over 100,000 miles of travel on and off road with the ARB Elements Fridge in the back of our truck, and it’s STILL going strong!

Operating the ARB Elements Fridge

Now that you’re familiar with all of the features, we’ll demonstrate how they work in the video below:

ARB Elements Fridge Capacity and storage

The 63 quart capacity of the ARB Elements Fridge should be plenty big enough for the average family.

The below photos show the refrigerated food we recently packed for a long camping weekend, and how it all fit into the fridge.

This example shows the food for a family of three for 2 breakfasts, 3 lunches, 2 dinners, plus snacks. Because it wasn’t necessary for this short trip, we weren’t packing small - bread products, fruit, full size condiment bottles, etc were all packed in the fridge.

And there was still room to spare!

When traveling, we use travel size condiments and don’t keep unnecessary things refrigerated. Packing mindfully in this way, we fill the fridge about every 5 days - and that’s eating refrigerated foods for most meals. As we get better at depending on fewer refrigerated foods this will stretch even further.

So depending on how many shelf stable meals and drinks you’re accustomed to having on hand while camping, you may be able to go for even longer stretches between grocery runs.

PRO TIP: Don’t turn the fridge on too far in advance of loading it up. If you do, the fridge is just cooling empty space, which causes the compressor to run an excessive amount of time and can cause the compressor to overheat.

ARB Elements Fridge Caveats & Weaknesses

Though we absolutely love the ARB Elements Fridge, it is not without its shortcomings. Even though none of its weaknesses were particularly off-putting, they’re worth pointing out.

Non-Removable Lid

The ARB Elements Fridge has a permanently attached lid, unlike other ARB fridge/freezers that offer a removable lid. This feature would be handy if you have the fridge mounted inside a vehicle with lower ceiling clearances, because it allows you to slide the lid completely off to easily access your food and drinks.

Single-zone cooling

ARB does not offer a dual-zone version of the Elements Fridge. The interior can only be set to one temperature (either fridge or freezer), unlike a dual-zone fridge - like the 73QT Zero* - that has two separate “zones” which can be set independently to different temperatures.

Remote monitoring requires additional purchase

Most of ARBs newer models have built-in remote monitoring, but the ARB Elements Fridge requires the purchase of their wireless remote fridge monitor* to utilize this feature with their ARB Fridge Connect App (available for iPhone and Android). Remote monitoring is handy for an overlanding travel setup (especially when the ARB fridge was mounted on the exterior of the vehicle), but for traditional camping it’s more of a nicety than a need.

Cost

The ARB Elements Fridge is not the most budget-friendly 12v portable fridge/freezer option on the market (though it’s certainly not the most expensive either). For us this type of purchase fell under the “buy once, cry once” or “you get what you pay for” category. And considering how rugged and durable it’s proven to be we feel it was well worth the investment.

Overall, the ARB Elements Fridge excels in every way we expected, and we feel confident that if you’re looking for the most rugged, durable, and dependable 12v portable camping fridge on the market - this is the one.