Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler Evaluation

The Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler is an intriguing choice for van lifers, automotive campers, or anybody simply spending the day on the seashore. However is that this moveable fridge price lugging round in your outside adventures? We put it by means of its paces to search out out.

Worx has constructed a whole ecosystem of energy instruments and lawncare gear that function utilizing a shared battery pack. Having a common energy supply that’s swappable throughout a big selection of merchandise brings familiarity and comfort to customers. 

Now the corporate brings that very same philosophy to a line of out of doors merchandise, together with a battery-operated cooler. This moveable fridge makes use of the identical batteries as Worx instruments, however this time they’re devoted to preserving your favourite drinks chilly regardless of the place you roam.

In brief: The Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler’s skill to maintain meals and drinks chilly — and even frozen — with out the necessity for ice will undoubtedly enchantment to automotive campers, tailgaters, and daytrippers. However the unit isn’t with out its quirks, which may in the end restrict its enchantment for some outside lovers.

Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler Evaluation

Electrical-powered coolers have been round for years, with firms like Dometic and Camco providing a variety of fashions. However battery-operated variations of those mini fridges are comparatively new to the market, bringing extra freedom and performance together with them. One such mannequin is the Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler, which cuts the facility twine in favor of enhanced portability. 

The cooler comes with two 20V battery packs, that are additionally suitable with Worx energy instruments and garden care gear. A separate battery charger is included within the field, though the facility cells will cost within the cooler itself when it’s plugged right into a 120V wall outlet or a 12V port in your automobile.

The unit ships with cables to plug into both of these kinds of retailers.

Maintain Issues Cool

In response to Worx, two fully-charged batteries will energy the cooler for about 10 hours on common. The precise runtime relies on the unit’s temperature settings, which might vary from -4 levels Fahrenheit to 68F. When set to decrease temps, the refrigeration unit should work more durable, drawing extra energy within the course of. After all, it additionally relies on the ambient air temperature outdoors and the temperature of issues loaded into the cooler.

The cooler additionally has an “eco” mode that makes use of the batteries extra conservatively in comparison with its “max” mode, which cools the temperature extra quickly.

Throughout my testing, I discovered that when the thermostat was set to 40F, I may obtain about 10 hours of use on the batteries alone. Elevating the temperature prolonged runtime by an hour or two whereas dropping it under freezing sapped vitality at an accelerated charge. Throughout one check, I barely achieved 6 hours of use with a temperature of 20F.

The cooler has a vivid, easy-to-read LCD display that shows the present temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius. It additionally exhibits whether or not it’s in “eco” or “max” cooling mode and the present cost ranges for the battery packs.

If the unit experiences any points, the display may also flash an error code indicating its present standing. That didn’t happen throughout my testing. 

Temperature settings are adjusted utilizing separate “+” and “-” buttons. A 3rd button grants entry to the cooler’s settings controls. And an influence button turns the cooler off when not in use — however curiously, it doesn’t flip it again on.

To energy up the system, customers should both pull the batteries out after which click on them again into place or unplug them from an influence outlet and plug it again in.

This appears relatively unintuitive and is made worse by the truth that I couldn’t discover any point out of it within the proprietor’s handbook, which primarily consists of equally puzzling diagrams.

Worx Fridge/Freezer: Weight & Measurement

Worx says the cooler weighs in at 29.8 kilos, however once I dropped it on the size with each batteries in place, it was over 33 kilos. Fortunately, it has a built-in deal with and a set of wheels that make it simpler to maneuver round.

The wheels aren’t particularly giant, nonetheless, so it doesn’t roll over tough floor as simply as we’d like. When taking it to the seashore, plan on carrying it throughout the sand.

The cooler’s refrigerated chamber can be comparatively small in comparison with the unit’s general dimension. That’s as a result of the cooling unit and battery receptacles take up a good portion of the area. Worx says there’s room to carry as much as 35 12-ounce cans, though I may solely squeeze in 32 canned drinks.

By comparability, a equally sized commonplace Coleman cooler can maintain greater than 50 cans, with room left over for 20-plus kilos of ice.

Worx Powered Cooler Evaluation Abstract

Whether or not we powered the cooler utilizing batteries or an AC outlet, it constantly maintained its temperature — with solely minor fluctuations — always. However not like another moveable fridges, the Worx mannequin solely has a single compartment, making it very difficult to hold drinks and frozen meals concurrently.

Having twin temperature zones would offer extra versatility but additionally additional reduce down on carrying capability. 

Regardless of just a few drawbacks, there’s a lot to love about this powered cooler, particularly in the event you’re already within the Worx ecosystem. The corporate’s interchangeable battery packs give this unit a stage of versatility that may’t be present in most different fashions, most of which stay tethered to an AC or DC outlet.

Built-in cupholders and a bottle opener are additionally good additions, as is a normal USB-A port for charging cell units. 

This could make the Worx 20V Electrical & Battery Powered Cooler a preferred choice for automotive campers and tailgaters specifically. Nevertheless it must also enchantment to RVers and van lifers in search of a easy and fairly reasonably priced choice to be used on the campsite.

Priced at $499.99, the unit is considerably inexpensive than something within the Dometic line-up, even when it presents fewer bells and whistles.