Summertime means more outdoor activities, which might mean a trip to the beach or the lake, or a long weekend at a softball tournament.
One thing all those activities have in common is a cooler full of drinks.
We’ve all hauled a big cooler full of ice and drinks on our outings, but what if you didn’t need to worry about ice?
I’ve been testing a portable, battery-powered refrigerator called the EcoFlow Glacier ($1,199, EcoFlow.com) and it can keep your food and drinks as cool as you like — and it can even make ice.
EcoFlow is a company known for very good portable power stations of all sizes.
This year they introduced a new line of smart home products that includes the Glacier, a robot lawn mower called the Blade (which I’m currently testing) and the second generation of their battery-powered air conditioner called the Wave 2.
The Glacier Portable Refrigerator is about the size of a large cooler. It has handles on each side for easy lifting, which is helpful, because it weighs 50 pounds empty, and measures 30.6 inches by 15.2 inches by 17.5 inches.
There is an optional $99 wheel kit that includes a telescoping handle so you can pull it around like a suitcase. The wheels stick out pretty far from the Glacier, but after carrying it around for a bit, you’ll really want those wheels. By the way, the wheels are detachable without tools.
EcoFlow/TNS
The Glacier can be powered by an included AC adapter, a 12-volt car adapter or a 298-watt-hour rechargeable battery. The battery can power the Glacier for up to 40 hours of cooling.
The battery can be recharged from a wall plug in 2.2 hours, from a solar panel in up to 2.1 hours and from a 12-volt car charger in four hours.
The battery has a USB-C port on the side that can be used to charge the battery, or it can be used as a power bank to charge your phone or other gadgets.
Note, you can buy the Glacier without the battery, which would appeal to RVers or other stationary installations. The Glacier-only price was $849 at the time of this review.
You can also buy an extra battery ($299) if you’d like to charge one while using the other.
Inside, the Glacier has a large 40-quart compartment for its contents with a removable divider. There are LED lights that turn on when you open the door. The Glacier can hold up to 60 cans.
With the divider installed, you can choose a different temperature for each side. The temperature range can be set from 50 degrees down to -13 degrees (your cooler can’t do that). It also includes a removable wire basket to keep things organized.
The Glacier can cool itself from 86 degrees down to 32 degrees in under 15 minutes.
The Glacier is the only battery-powered refrigerator I’ve seen that includes its own ice maker that can make 18 small, ring-shaped ice cubes in just 12 minutes.
You pour water into the ice cube maker on top, then touch a button to start the process. There are silver “fingers” in the ice bin that get cold and the surrounding water freezes, making hollow, bullet-shaped ice cubes.
Once the ice is made, you press another button to “release” them. You can choose between large and small cubes. Large ice (thicker) takes 20 minutes, while the small cubes are ready in 12 minutes. The ice maker has a drain tube to drain any excess water.
Jim Rossman/TNS
Since the Glacier can hold temps well below freezing, it can make and store ice.
Note that if you are on battery power, making ice uses up about 10 percent of your battery life.
App
The Glacier can connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to the EcoFlow app on your phone. You can control all the functions, including setting and monitoring the temperature and making ice.
Display
The color display is very readable in bright sunlight. It isn’t a touch display; rather, it’s controlled by a set of buttons below the screen. The interface was easy enough to learn, and controlling the Glacier is intuitive.
With the battery in place, you can connect solar panels directly to the Glacier and with an average amount of daylight, it is possible to keep it running off the grid.
Overall the Glacier is an impressive addition to EcoFlow’s lineup.
I’ve used other portable refrigerators but never one with battery power until the Glacier. The dual-zone capability and large capacity make it an excellent choice for food storage as well as drinks.
The handles and wheels make hauling it around pretty easy, and the ice maker is really a bonus feature that I really enjoyed.
I can’t wait to see what other smart home products EcoFlow has in their pipeline. Keep on the lookout for the EcoFlow Blade (robot mower) review in the coming weeks.
Jim Rossman is a tech columnist for Tribune News Service. He may be reached at jrossmantechadviser@gmail.com.
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