Traveling in a smaller RV or being in a smaller college dorm often means having a small fridge without the benefit of separate freezer compartment. There are times when having additional refrigerator freezer space would come in handy. In this review of EdgeStar Mini Fridge, we’ll look at an option to do so without having to upsize the fridge.
If you want to dive deeper, read this full EdgeStar freezer review.
The smaller freezer compartment can be an issue especially on longer trips or for small rooms. That’s why I began to look into purchasing a secondary AC powered mini fridge that I could travel with. I settle in the EdgeStar 1.1 CU FT dual-function refrigerator freezer. Let’s take a look at the features and benefits that drew me to this EdgeStar freezer and continue to impress me.
Why should I buy EdgeStar 1.1 CU FT Convertible Mini Fridge?
Firstly, it really provides flexibility based on current needs. It can be a refrigerator or freezer. Note that this is not a fridge with a small freezer compartment. It’s rather a convertible fridge with freezer that allows me to determine how to use based on current needs.
It can be switched to either refrigerator or freezer. It’s really nice. Additionally, when used as a fridge, it allows me to remove the freezer compartment from the Dometic fridge. Actually, it allows you to utilize all of it for just refrigerated Goods.
Secondly, is that cools down really quickly when set up. This has been a big plus when setting it up in camp sites in freezer mode. It can maintain Sub-Zero temperatures will talk about that in a moment.
This is great. Especially for items like bringing ice cream along which is pretty much impossible to before this. Next, the EdgeStar convertible fridge has a lock to keep stuff secure. This is beneficial since I keep the mini fridge either under my Paki visor or in my outdoor screen room.
It’s got a nice load profile that fits under the tan of cover of my Toyota Tundra. So, it allows me to take the unit on trips in the winter. And also, it allows for fewer trips to the grocery store and actually allows me to buy larger quantities of Frozen Goods as I have a dedicated freezer outside now.
The EdgeStar 1.1 CU FT Convertible mini fridge can store items that will not necessarily fit in the Dometic freezer like pizzas. It also allows me to buy items that need colder temperatures than the medic freezer can provide again ice cream is an example.
The EdgeStar Mini Fridge Reliability test
It’s really proven to be a reliable unit over the long haul. My particular unit has been out multiple thousand-mile trips several times since I’ve owned it.
So, let’s look at some testing I’ve recently done.
You know, I ran a few tests to allow you to get an idea of the chilling capability of the edgestar dual-function refrigerator freezer unit to monomyth temperatures. I used a wireless digital freezer thermometer to take accurate measures.
Test 1:
So, number one: from room temperature to 40 degrees, which is the FDA recommended temperature for fridge. Here’s what happened. I began at room temperature or the ambient temperature outside. The freezer unit was at 64 degrees. It took 15 minutes once plugged in and turned to Max to reach 40 degrees
Next, I let it continue to go down to zero degrees which is the FDA recommended temperature for a freezer. Again, it started at 64 degrees and it took 40 minutes to read zero degrees.
Finally. We let it go on continuing down to get colder from room temperature to the coldest temperature that we could get and it began. Again at 64 degrees and it reaches minus 24 degrees. That’s right, and it took 90 minutes to get there but it did get down to 24 degrees.
Test 2:
Okay now opposite of this what if you’re leaving a campsite right and you want to keep things cold, you have to unplug the freezer and travel with a little bit.
So we also tested it this way where we started out with it fully cold on an 80 degree day in my garage where we left it and basically we left it running and we turn the handle off when it was minus 24 at 3:30 in the afternoon and half an hour later is down to minus 6, another half hour went by at 4:30. The temperature was 12 degrees half hour went by again at 5 p.m. The temperature is 24 degrees. After another half hour, it became 32 and finally a little after six o’clock, it was 41 degrees.
Result of the Reliability Test
So, stop for a second. Let’s think about this. It took two and a half hours for this thing to warm up for minus 24 to 40 degrees. So that’s a long time if you’re traveling with this for frozen food to stay pretty good for a significant amount of time while you’re traveling. So just remember that this has been really good to travel with. We actually traveled from Orlando last winter to Flagler Beach, which is about an hour and a half. And didn’t have any issues at all with the frozen food staying locked in the EdgeStar mini fridge during the trip.
Considering all the data of the test, we can proudly say, this EdgeStar mini fridge is reliable.
Final Recommendation
From a recommendation perspective. I really highly recommend this EdgeStar mini fridge. In fact, this is one of the few best mini fridges I’m fond of. I’ll be honest with you that if it ended up breaking, I would really want to replace it quickly.
I’ve gotten used to having it and it’s really nice to have especially for things like ice cream and we like eating ice cream if you’ve traveled at all with the medic. You know, it’s pretty tough to keep ice cream cold in the Dometic freezer. So, this really helps.
In fact, just a quick story. If you get this down to minus 24 degrees and put ice cream in there. You’re going to need to take the ice cream out and free thought before you can even scoop it out. It’s that hard.
Buy the EdgeStar 1.1 CU FT Convertible Refrigerator/Freezer right now and it will never let you down.