EcoFlow Glacier Evaluation – A transportable fridge with 40-hour battery life & ice dice maker
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EcoFlow Glacier Evaluation Score
Abstract
The EcoFlow Glacier is an extremely spectacular product that, so far as I can inform, outclasses all different related merchandise in the marketplace.
Execs
- In all probability the perfect/most superior transportable fridge in the marketplace
- 40-hour+ battery life potential
- Solar energy might run this off-grid indefinitely
Cons
- Very costly
- You must contemplate the scale of it earlier than shopping for
The EcoFlow Glacier was revealed at CES 2023 and formally introduced final week. It’s now that can be purchased immediately from EcoFlow and ought to be on Amazon.
It is a new product class from EcoFlow, nevertheless it builds upon their speciality of transportable energy stations.
It is among the solely merchandise in the marketplace that may be a transportable fridge with an optionally available slot-in battery, making it really transportable with out the necessity for a separate transportable energy station. It’s also the primary fridge that has an built-in ice maker that produces 18 ice cubes in roughly 12 minutes.
I used to be unusually excited by this when EcoFlow revealed it at CES, and it fortunately lives as much as my expectations. The one caveats are that it’s huge and really costly.
Specification
- The world’s first fridge freezer with an built-in ice-maker that produces 18 ice cubes in roughly 12 minutes
- 38L capability good for 60 cans of 355ml delicate drinks
- Break up capability of 23L and 15L
- 120W compressor
- Temperature vary of 10 °C/ +50°F to -25 °C /-13 °F.
- 298Wh battery capability runs for as much as 40 hours of refrigeration or 19 hours of below-freezing temperatures on a single cost.
- The battery has USB-C with 100W energy supply
- Excessive-speed cooling with environment friendly energy-saving
- Straight cost utilizing photo voltaic panels
- Rugged design & IPX5 ranking
- Full app management
Design / Capability / Options
The very first thing I assumed once I unpacked this was how massive it’s; it’s huge. To be truthful, the one expertise I’ve of a fridge that is something like that is the Alpicool K25 which solely has a 25l capability and has no battery or ice maker.
With it being so massive, one in all my first ideas was that maybe the ice maker was a bit overkill. It simply provides to the scale and price of this machine. However, in actuality, I doubt it makes that a lot distinction to the bodily dimension. A 38L fridge with a built-in battery is at all times going to be gigantic.
Contained in the fridge, the capability did not look that huge at first, however I rooted round my kitchen and stuffed it with as a lot beer as I might discover, and my considerations in regards to the capability have been rapidly alleviated.
To present some context of the capability, with the spacer eliminated, the fridge can match about eleven 440ml craft beer cans per layer. It will be twelve, however the rail the spacer mounts on will get in the best way.
For 330ml cans, you’re looking at about 15 cans.
I did not handle to fill the fridge with beer, however you need to simply get 4 layers if not 5.
App
Like many of the different EcoFlow merchandise, this may be paired up with an app and connects to WiFi. This lets you management all of the capabilities immediately out of your telephone. The app is extra helpful for this fridge than the facility stations, as you’ll seemingly wish to change the temperatures or make ice semi-regularly, which is less complicated than the on-device buttons.
Mains & Photo voltaic Charging
My preliminary cost was completed utilizing the mains adaptor. Curiously, there is just one enter port, and it makes use of an XT60 port. You then get an influence brick that is appropriate with this and a cable on your automotive. This port can be what you’ll use for photo voltaic charging.
When charging from mains, I examined this with an influence meter, and the fridge solely pulled round 200W when charging. That is a bit sluggish in comparison with a number of the EcoFlow transportable energy stations, however this solely has a 298Wh battery, so it ought to cost in about 90 minutes from flat.
Within the north of the UK in April, you aren’t going to get the perfect efficiency from photo voltaic charging, however I used to be fortunate to get one sunny day to check out the EcoFlow 220W Bifacial Photo voltaic Panel with it.
In the course of the summer season, it ought to be fairly simple to run this solely from solar energy, particularly in case you solely use it as a fridge. Fridges do not use that a lot electrical energy as soon as they hit the goal temperature, and the 220W panel I used can simply hit 200W in good circumstances, simply as quick because the mains cost. You’d in all probability solely want about an hour of excellent daylight day-after-day to maintain this operating indefinitely.
Ice Maker
The ice maker looks like such an over-the-top piece of engineering. I would say it’s extreme, however you might be spending £1250 on a fridge, so you need to anticipate some over-the-top options.
I used to be somewhat perplexed about how this could work at first and if it might actually make ice cubes in 12 minutes. Amazingly, it really works virtually in addition to marketed.
The ice maker compartment is a big container for water. It then has 18 steel contact poles the place the ice varieties round. You then have a tray which the poles poke by.
I used the app to begin the ice cube-making course of, and the Glacier will start a countdown. You must maintain the lid closed, however you will notice the ice beginning to type across the steel poles. The timer did bounce again up at one level, so it took longer than 12 minutes, nevertheless it should have been lower than 15 in complete.
When the ice is made, the fridge will run a second course of that loosens the ice dice, after which you’ll be able to carry the tray out of the water, supplying you with 18 decent-sized ice cubes.
As you’d anticipate, this explicit function requires considerably extra energy than the usual fridge. My finest guess is that it makes use of a bit underneath 10% of the battery.
Cooling – Fridge & Freezer
The EcoFlow Glacier has a temperature vary of 10 °C all the way down to -25 °C. Most competing merchandise can solely go all the way down to -20°C.
The divider in this lets you set a unique temperature for both sides, and you should use whichever aspect you need for the fridge/freezer.
Throughout my testing, I primarily used it solely as a fridge with the divider eliminated. I used it at a buddy’s BBQ for our beer, and it carried out completely, with the temperature set to 2°C.
Loaded with beer, the fridge is extremely heavy, however due to the wheels and telescopic deal with, it’s simple sufficient to maneuver round. I nearly managed to get it into the automotive myself.
Noise
EcoFlow state that this has a noise degree of simply 37dB, which is significantly quieter than many competing choices. Nevertheless, once I first plugged it in, it was very loud. Much like transportable energy stations, the followers ramp up when charging at a excessive wattage. With the followers ramped up, that is audible in one other room.
As soon as the battery is charged, the fridge could be very quiet. Much like common fridges, you solely actually hear it when the compressor kicks to convey the temperature again down. When the compressor makes a noise, you’ll be able to hear it in the identical room, however I barely registered it. It’d annoy me if I slept proper subsequent to it if I used to be tenting however apart from that, I doubt I might discover.
Battery
The battery is offered individually and is a big rectangular cuboid that you simply aspect in. You’ll be able to due to this fact have a number of batteries in case you want energy for prolonged intervals. It additionally improves the longevity of the Glacier. I imagine the battery makes use of NMC, just like the older EcoFlow energy stations such because the RIVER. It will seemingly imply you will have 500 cycles to 80% capability.
The battery has a single USB-C port, and this may present different gadgets with 100W energy supply. Alternatively, you’ll be able to cost the battery, which will likely be useful when you’ve got invested in a spare.
In April within the UK, I did not have a lot motivation to go off on a tenting journey and do that in an atmosphere it’s designed for. However I did run a easy take a look at to see how properly the battery did. I loaded the fridge with my beer, set the temperature to 2°C, and when the battery was absolutely charged and the fridge was on the goal temperature, I took it off cost.
Throughout this take a look at, I solely opened the fridge three or 4 instances, so it isn’t fairly a real-life utilization situation. It was left in my kitchen, which has been sitting at round 18°C.
I used to be sceptical of the 40-hour battery life claims, however in my situation, it exceeded this. It lasted so lengthy I had left the home for an evening earlier than the battery died.
I began the take a look at on the 14th of April at 7 am.
I left the home for a day and evening away on the 16th at 6 am, and the battery was at 16°C.
After I returned dwelling on the 17th at 3 pm, the battery was predictably lifeless, however the beer was nonetheless fairly cool, chilly sufficient to drink, not less than.
Worth and Various Choices
The EcoFlow Glacier is a high-end product with a value to match. The fridge itself is £1049; you then want to purchase the battery individually, which is £299. You will get each the fridge and battery collectively for £1249.
The Anker EverFrost is more likely to be the perfect various, however this has not formally launched but. It’s accessible to order on Kickstarter and has three capability choices, 33L, 43L and 53L. All of them have the identical 299Wh battery, and this additionally accepts photo voltaic enter. This lacks the ice maker, however the beginning value is $799, and in case you purchase it through the early chook pre-order section, you will get it for $519 with delivery from July 2023.
Within the UK, there’s the THQ Alpicool TWW35 which is priced at round £500. It is a 35L fridge that makes use of a 15600mAh, 173Wh lithium-ion battery and weighs in at 17.5kg. They declare it’s going to maintain the fridge cool at 5°C for 20 hours when the ambient temperature is 25°C. It’s also a dual-compartment design with a 10L and 25L compartment, and the temperature vary is -20°C to +20°C.
conventional automotive fridges, you’re looking at round £250 for lots of the Alpicool choices. You will get the Alpicool CX40 40L for £232. It has a temperature vary of -20 to +20°C however is single-sided and lacks an ice maker. It then weighs 12.9kg. You’d then want a conveyable energy station, the EcoFlow River 2 has barely much less capability than the Glacier battery and weighs 3.5kg and prices £270. That may be a appreciable saving compared to the Glacier, however it’s a far inferior general answer.
General
The EcoFlow Glacier is an extremely spectacular product that, so far as I can inform, outclasses all different related merchandise in the marketplace.
Even with my nit-picky nature, there’s nothing I can actually criticise this correctly for. Nevertheless, EcoFlow has developed such a feature-rich transportable fridge it’s inevitably gigantic and terribly costly. As a result of value, I might anticipate nothing lower than a flawless product.
This, due to this fact, appears to make it fairly a distinct segment product. Not less than within the UK, it seems like it’ll have restricted attraction.
The EcoFlow advertising materials has individuals utilizing this in huge rig vehicles, huge pickup vehicles and off-grid buildings. It looks like this is a little more US-centric, and I can completely see the attraction right here. We like tenting and street journeys within the UK, however it isn’t fairly on the identical degree because the US.
That being stated, if this fridge does attraction to you, and you may justify the fee, it’s wonderful.
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I’m a UK tech blogger and have been within the business for over 10 years now, operating Mighty Gadget and its sister websites and contributing to different websites across the net. I’m captivated with all tech, together with cell, wearables, and residential automation. I’m additionally a health fanatic, so I cowl as a lot health tech as potential.
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