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Is change betrayal or progress?
Over the last 40 years of going bush and 4WDing I have worked my way through my fair share of accessories and gadgets, One of the few things that remained constant was my trusty 45L Engel fridge.
I decided I wanted a dual zone fridge freezer, not just for the convenience of been able to have a freezer, but also to keep the contents a bit better organised - so I can get to the beer quicker :). Naturally I checked out the Engel range to see what was available, but all they had was the combi units which aren't really a true dual zone and I had heard about issues with freezer burn in the fridge compartment.
Now changing allegiance to a brand like Engel after 40 years is a big call, and probably as controversial as brands of tyres. So I asked a few good mates whose opinion you can rely on, and they all pointed me in the same direction, SnoMaster. The first time I came across the SnoMaster fridge freezers was a few years back in Africa where they were developed. Then when we were up in the NT filming the Darwin Unplugged movie one of the lads had a SnoMaster 85L Expedition Series Dual Zone which never seemed to run out of cold beer!
After doing my research I realised that the technology in fridges have moved on a fair bit, and the team at SnoMaster seem to have nailed the mix of old school toughness, practicality and simplicity with the latest in fridge freezer design and technology. What's more the compressor even has a 7 year warranty.
Not to be fooled by the marketing blurb, I got hold of one of the SnoMaster mid range dual zone fridges, the 56L Classic Series and put it through its paces. First up was some straight bench testing which was impressive - from an ambient temperature the unit pulled the freezer to minus 16 and the fridge side to 4 degrees in under 30 minutes. Once running and full of 'food' the energy efficiency was excellent when compared to my Engel. Then I stuck it in the back of Milo 2 and headed off bush on some pretty nasty corrugated roads for a couple of thousand Ks and the fridge never missed a beat, In fact even when my tough as nails Top End Campgear kitchen looked like it had had enough of the ride, the Snomaster just kept on going.
Anyway, don't just take my word for it, you can check them out for yourself at roothy.com.au, plus I have even chucked in some Rothy bonus in the form of my cookbooks to give you some ideas on what to put in it!