In this in-depth review of the Ecoflow Glacier fridge, we’ll cover this innovative setup’s top features for overland adventures, real-world usage and testing results, as well as some unexpected findings during long-term use. The 40-quart dual-zone portable Glacier fridge offers numerous upgrades over traditional options and aims to fill the needs of 4×4 overlanders. We’ll dig into unique specs like the removable dual-zone divider, built-in battery and fast charging, vacuum insulated walls, and of course the popular built-in ice maker feature. Through extensive testing we also evaluate the Glacier’s cooling performance, temperature uniformity, and energy efficiency compared to a top competitor. Read on for full details and insights from real world experience to see if the Ecoflow Glacier is the perfect fridge for your next off-grid trip.
Dual Zone Temperature Control
One of the standout features of the Ecoflow Glacier is its true dual zone design with separate temperature control for each compartment. Unlike some other portable fridges that have a “dairy compartment” which isn’t independently controlled, the Glacier has two completely isolated zones.
Each zone has its own evaporator and temperature settings, allowing you to precisely control the environment. For example, you could set the smaller top zone to a warmer temperature for items like eggs, while the larger bottom zone stays ice-cold for meat and other perishables. The ability to customize temperatures is perfect for long trips where you’re storing a variety food items.
The dual zone divider is also completely removable, transforming the Glacier from a 40 quart dual zone to a 40 quart single zone fridge. This flexibility ensures you can get the most out of the available space whether you need two zones or just one. Overall the true dual zone design adds a lot of functionality.
Removable Dual Zone Divider for Versatility
One of the best features of the Glacier is its removable dual zone divider. This allows you to convert the fridge from a true dual zone with independent temperature controls into a single zone fridge when needed.
The divider slides out easily to switch between the two modes. When removed, the fridge automatically operates as a single zone. This versatility is really useful for different trips and changing needs.
Other dual zone portable fridges require you to store the divider separately when not in use. It’s easy to misplace and you’re left with a hassle. The Glacier cleverly stores the divider right in the underside of the lid. It’s out of the way but always handy when you need it.
Storing the divider in the lid has an added benefit – it provides extra insulation. With the divider in place, the lid has a complete seal when closed. This helps maintain consistent temperatures and improve energy efficiency.
The ability to effortlessly convert from dual zone to single zone gives the Glacier an advantage over other portable fridges. It really adds flexibility for different items and temperatures. You can customize the setup based on each trip’s needs.
Lid Opening Orientation Makes Access Easier
I really like how the Glacier’s lid opens lengthwise instead of the more common orientation where the lid flips up. Opening lengthwise means the fridge lid only needs to clear about 9 inches when opened fully. This makes it much easier to mount the fridge and access items inside when you have shelving or gear stored above the fridge.
With the vertical flip up lids, you need a lot more clearance overhead when the lid is fully open. This can make it hard to mount the fridge in some spots where you have limited overhead space. The lengthwise opening lid on the Glacier solves this problem nicely.
Accessing the fridge through rear doors while on the road or at camp is also easier without having to maneuver around an overhead blocking lid. Overall, the lengthwise lid opening makes using the fridge much more convenient compared to if it opened vertically. This was a smart design choice by EcoFlow for their portable fridge aimed at overlanders and campers.
Mounting Options for Flexibility
Some prefer mounting the fridge in the classic overland setup – in the trunk on some type of slide. This allows accessing the contents by opening the rear.
However, during long road trips, I prefer having the fridge mounted in the back seat. This makes it easy to get items from the fridge without stopping the vehicle. With the Glacier’s lid opening front-to-back, it’s simple to reach in and grab what I need, even while driving.
The back seat mounting is also convenient when at camp. I can access the fridge through the rear door, while saving trunk space for other gear. The Glacier’s lid requires less overhead clearance than fridges with lids that open the long way. So I haven’t had issues with items stored above the fridge.
Overall, the Glacier offers flexibility in mounting location – trunk or back seat. I’ve found the back seat optimal for road trips. But it’s nice having the option to mount in the trunk for a more traditional overland setup.
40 Quart Capacity in One Straight Compartment
The Glacier refrigerator has a capacity of 40 quarts, which is arranged in one straight compartment instead of having a raised section like most other portable refrigerators. This streamlined internal shape significantly improves usability.
During my trips, the issue was never the absolute volume but rather some items simply didn’t fit nicely in my previous Dometic fridge. With the Glacier’s optimized 40 quart capacity in a straight compartment, I can now easily fit items like gallons of milk and juice, blocks of cheese, packs of meat, and large containers of leftovers.
The straight layout allows me to fully utilize the width and depth of the fridge. I don’t have to work around a raised shelf bumping out in the middle. Everything can be stacked evenly from front to back and side to side.
While some people may not need 40 quarts of capacity, I found this size to be ideal for my week to month-long road trips while still fitting in an SUV. The Glacier hits a nice sweet spot between being too big or too small.
Built-in Battery
The Glacier comes with a built-in 300 watt-hour battery pack. This eliminates the need for a separate power station to run the fridge. The built-in battery provides several advantages:
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Convenience – No need to separately charge and monitor a portable power station. The Glacier’s battery is integrated and charges along with the vehicle.
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Faster charging – The Glacier can charge up to 180 watts through AC power or solar input. This allows the battery to recharge in around 2 hours. Portable power stations often charge much slower through a car’s 12V outlet.
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Automatic power switching – The fridge automatically switches to using the built-in battery when disconnected from 12V power. This prevents any power interruptions.
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Higher input voltage – The 300Wh battery outputs 25V, compared to a typical car’s 12V system. This higher voltage allows the compressor to operate more efficiently.
The integrated battery makes the Glacier a very convenient all-in-one solution for off-grid refrigeration. You don’t need to worry about separately charging or connecting any external components.
Charging Options
The Glacier has multiple ways to charge its built-in 300Wh battery pack for powering the fridge on the go.
Car Charging
You can charge the battery by plugging into your car’s 12V outlet while driving. This will charge slower than other options, taking around 4 hours to go from 0 to 100%. Faster than a typical portable power station that takes 6 hours, but not as fast as the AC and solar options.
AC Charging
The included AC power adapter can charge the Glacier’s battery from 0-100% in around 2 hours. This is the fastest charging option. As long as you can plug into an AC outlet at camp, you can easily top off the battery overnight or during driving breaks.
Solar Charging
You can directly connect solar panels to the Glacier and charge the built-in battery pack. Ecoflow rates the max solar input at 240W. However, the actual battery charging rate is limited to 180W. So any solar input above 180W doesn’t increase charging speed. By Ecoflow’s estimates, solar charging is only 0.1 hours faster than AC. With my usage, I found solar and AC charging speeds to be nearly identical.
Running Without Battery
The Glacier comes with a built-in 300 watt-hour battery pack. If this is unplugged, there can be issues:
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There is a constant 3-5 watt power draw, which adds up over time.
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A voltage booster kicks in if the input is below 15 volts. This happens because the internal battery is 25 volts.
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You cannot run the ice maker without the internal battery.
So in summary, running the Glacier without the built-in battery is not recommended, unless you have a 24 volt system or higher. The fridge is really designed to work with the internal battery pack for optimal performance. Some key reasons:
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Avoiding the constant power draw when unplugged. This saves energy.
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Enabling use of the ice maker.
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Operating without the voltage booster kicking in and affecting performance.
The Glacier fridge needs the built-in battery to work at its full potential. It’s best to keep it plugged in for energy efficiency and features.
Ice Maker: The Con And Pro
The ice maker is a major selling point for the Glacier fridge, but it does come with some drawbacks. The inclusion of the ice maker adds about two inches to the overall length of the fridge. For some users, especially those with tight space constraints, this extra couple inches could potentially prevent the fridge from fitting properly.
However, the ice maker itself offers excellent performance. It can produce up to 18 ice cubes in a single cycle and complete the process in under 15 minutes. This quick ice production seems to excite a lot of users who want ice for drinks, smoothies, and cooling items down before hikes. While the ice maker may not be useful for everyone, it’s a highly desirable feature for many overlanders.
So in summary, the ice maker adds length which may create some fit issues, but it also enables quick on-demand ice production which many find really appealing. It’s a trade-off that users will have to weigh based on their needs and setup. Those who highly value the ability to make ice may find the extra length worthwhile.
Thinner yet Better Insulation with Vacuum Panels
Traditional portable fridges rely on thick polyurethane foam for insulation. The thicker the walls, the better the insulation, but more thickness also means less interior capacity.
The Glacier breaks this tradeoff using vacuum insulation panels (VIP). Despite having over 25% thinner walls than comparable models, the Glacier maintains excellent insulation.
VIPs can provide an insulation value (R-value) of R-30 per inch, compared to R-5 to R-7 per inch for foam. With half-inch VIP walls, the Glacier achieves R-15 insulation with minimal thickness.
In a side-by-side test, VIPs allowed 5 times less heat transfer than an equal thickness of polystyrene foam insulation. This proves VIPs provide drastically better insulation for their thickness.
The Glacier combines VIPs strategically with foam insulation. This balances exceptional insulation from VIPs with the easier shaping and sealing properties of foam around complex areas like corners or fixtures.
The end result is a fridge with industry-leading energy efficiency and cooling capabilities, while maximizing interior capacity. The Glacier breaks past the traditional insulation versus space tradeoff.
Energy Efficiency
To find out the real world fridge performance, I ran two energy consumption tests compared to my Dometic. The first test was cooling down over 4 gallons of water from 85 degrees down to 36 degrees – a lot of thermal energy so a pretty abusive test. The Glacier cooled down a lot faster thanks to its larger 120 watt compressor. You may think this would use more energy, but no – energy is power multiplied by time. The Glacier has higher power so it simply gets the job done in less time. Once I verified the water itself reached 36 degrees, the energy consumption between the two fridges was nearly identical. This means both compressors have similar efficiency.
After the first test, I fully charged my power station. The second test measured the steady state energy consumption after 24 hours. The Glacier used slightly less energy than the Dometic. My garage was pretty hot, ranging between 70 to 90 degrees throughout the day. The Dometic is a top of the line fridge, so I would say the Glacier has a similar top tier efficiency even with much thinner walls.
Cooling Performance
The Glacier cools down much faster than my previous fridge thanks to its larger 120 watt compressor. To test this, I put over 4 gallons of water starting at 85 degrees into each fridge and observed how quickly it cooled down to 36 degrees.
The Glacier was able to cool the water down fully in just under 90 minutes. Comparatively, it took my previous Dometic fridge almost double the time at around 160 minutes to fully cool the 4 gallons of water to 36 degrees.
The Glacier’s stronger compressor allows it to quickly cool to the target temperature. This is advantageous when you have a large load of warm food to cool down quickly before it spoils. The Glacier was clearly superior in getting the water chilled rapidly despite having thinner walls. Its vacuum insulation technology combines with the high powered compressor to deliver excellent real-world cooling performance.
Temperature Uniformity
In contrast to my Dometic fridge, the Ecoflow Glacier showed much more uniform temperatures throughout during testing. After running an initial cool down test on both fridges, the Dometic’s dairy compartment remained significantly warmer than the set temperature. This compartment would eventually reach the target cold temperature, but it was never fully in my control.
On the other hand, the Ecoflow Glacier displayed consistent, even temperatures across both its zones after the same test. This showcases the Glacier’s excellent cooling system and insulation, allowing you to truly rely on the temperature settings you choose. Whether you need to keep food safe or store delicate items, the Glacier won’t let you down.
No matter what I stored in various parts of the fridge, the Ecoflow Glacier maintained temperatures within 1-2 degrees of my selected settings. This uniformity ensures everything stays right at the temperature you want, without any surprises. Overall, the Glacier’s precisely controlled, uniform cooling system stood out as a major advantage over my previous Dometic fridge.
Conclusion
The EcoFlow Glacier is an impressive fridge that offers top-of-the-line features for Overlanding. The dual-zone temperature control provides flexibility, while the 40 quart capacity is perfectly sized for small to mid-sized vehicles. The built-in 300 watt-hour battery enables off-grid power, and the fast charging options allow you to stay powered up on long trips.
Perhaps most impressive is the vacuum insulation panel technology, which enables thinner walls while maintaining excellent insulation. Tests showed the Glacier matched top-tier energy efficiency and cooling performance. The temperature stayed uniform throughout, avoiding issues with the “dairy compartment” in typical portable fridges.
The integrated ice maker produces ice quickly and will delight those who want chilled drinks on remote adventures. However, for those with tight space constraints, the extra two inches of length and ice maker components come at a cost. I would love to see a shorter Glacier model without the ice maker for minimalists like myself.
Overall, the EcoFlow Glacier is a feature-packed fridge ready for demanding journeys off-grid. It performs as good as it looks, albeit with a few limitations depending on your specific needs. For most Overlanders, this will be the perfect centerpiece in your rig’s galley.