So far, the Dometic is working out.
TL;DR - After switching over to a Dometic Fridge, things have been working "just fine." I think I still technically preferred the ARB overall, but the Dometic has a few nice features the ARB did not. And, most importantly, it's actually cooling.
Back in May, I had to get a new fridge when my 7-year-old 50qt ARB stopped cooling. Ultimately - mostly due to price and warranty length - I went with a Dometic. At the time, I had two reservations about the Dometic:
- The latching mechanism for the lid. I'm still worried about this, but it's seemed to work fine so far, and I'm a little less worried about it breaking now than I was back when I initially got the fridge. I'll continue to monitor it.
- The interior size - which is slightly smaller, with not-quite-as-good organization. This hasn't been too much of an issue, either, though I did have to figure out a new set of containers that would use the space optimally, since the old set I was using did not fit the new dimensions.
There are also a couple things I like about the Dometic that I didn't know when I was only going off first impressions.
- The Bluetooth app is nice. I can quickly and easily monitor the fridge temp or turn the fridge on/off without being at the control panel for the fridge. I thought this was a total gimmick when I first got the fridge, but I've used the feature a few times now - to adjust the fridge temp at night - rom the comfort of the tent - having forgotten to do so before getting into bed, and to turn the fridge off - when I was driving - while heading back to Las Vegas to put the truck in storage.
- The fridge stays at a much more consistent temperature than the ARB. Where the ARB would oscillate between 34° and 40° when set to 37°, the Dometic keeps the temp between 36.5° and 37.5° when set to the same temperature. I'm sure the ARB did this to be efficient when turning the compressor on (running it for a longer period of time), but as long as the Dometic doesn't burn out the compressor, it keeps food at a much more consistent temperature, reducing freezing of veggies and warming of foods that spoil easily.
- The Dometic is a little quieter than the ARB. It's not significantly different, and it might just be that the pitch is a little different, but I don't hear the Dometic at night (when I'm in the tent) as much as I heard the ARB.
And one thing I dislike about the Dometic:
- The LCD display on the front of the fridge is useless. It shows almost no information when the fridge is running normally - perhaps to save power - and only shows the temperature when you push a button on the control panel. The ARB always showed the current temperature in big, bold numbers, so that was better.
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