The Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge: First Impressions & Review

Car Fridge For 5th Gen 4Runner

Introducing The Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge – A More Affordable Portable Dual Zone Fridge For Your Rig

Car refrigerators are definitely a luxury item to have out on the trails. By the time you’ve equipped your rig with the essentials, the last thing you may want to do is spend another $1000+ on one. Luckily, you no longer have to spend quite that much in order to keep your food and drinks ice cold. The Bodega Cooler portable car fridge gives you all the convenience you need, at a reasonable cost.

Bodega Cooler offers several sizes in their TWW line. It ranges from the 35L that we’ll be taking a look at here, all the way up to a massive 75L variant. Every model offers durable construction and is designed for use both as a dedicated car fridge or to be brought along like a traditional cooler.

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Advantages Of A Car Fridge

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Reversible Lid

For the occasional day trip, most people may just opt to fill a cooler with ice. Prior to having a baby, this is what I would do, but then our needs changed. Now, we have perishables that need to be stored at properly maintained temperatures. This is something that a cooler just can’t do; whether it’s a cheap Rubbermaid one or a top-of-the-line Yeti.

Another major factor is size and weight. With a cooler, you’ll need ice, which also takes up valuable space. In turn, you end up needing a 65L cooler for 40L worth of food and drinks. As a dad and designated carrier of all things, the Bodega Cooler portable car fridge is much easier to transport.

The one downside to a refrigerator over a cooler is obvious – if you plan on taking your food to a beach or away from a power source, a cooler is usually the way to go. That is, however, until I came across a game-changing feature of the Bodega TTW35 portable car fridge.

What Bodega Cooler Offers

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge

Boedga Cooler is fairly new to the game, but they’ve come out swinging. They offer a range of refrigeration and cooler products to suit everyone’s needs. I’m not sure I’ve seen a brand offer such a diverse product line ranging from cooler bags to wine refrigerators, and everything in between.

They really strive to provide as much value as possible without drastically sacrificing quality. With the use of high-quality compressors in all of the refrigerators (which are their life’s blood), they are perfect for recreational use.

Bodega Cooler offers a 24-month warranty on its fridge compressors and accessories.

The TWW Series

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Camping Setup

While I can’t seem to find a definite distinction between the product lines, I’ll refer to the TWW Series as their adventure line of refrigerators. We’ll be reviewing the 35L model, aptly named the TWW35.

Every size model in this line offers dual zone cooling where you can set independent temperatures and has mobile app control. There is a large retractable handle and large wheels for easy transport, so no more bending over to grab a small grab handle while dragging tiny wheels.

The TWW Series can cool down its smallest compartment from 68 degrees Fahrenheit to 32 degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 15 minutes. Regardless, it’s always advised to pre-chill any car refrigerator prior to using it.

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Battery Pack

What really intrigued me about this line is that they feature an optional detachable battery pack. The battery pack inserts flush into a dedicated slot on the bottom of the fridge and claim to have an 8-10 hour run time. You can leave the battery pack installed full-time, and it will automatically charge whenever the fridge is plugged into a power source.

Battery Powered Car Fridge

Once an external power source is disconnected, the fridge will automatically switch to battery power; that’s slick!

I really look forward to using this feature when we go to parks and want to bring the fridge with us. Previously, I would need to lug both a portable fridge and a power source to keep it running.

Specs

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Overlanding

  • Operation: 100-240V / 12V / 24V
  • Dimension: 23.62×15.75×17.32 inches
  • Fridge Capacity: 37 Quart(35L)
  • Left Zone / Right Zone: 25.69 Quart / 10.63 Quart
  • Item Weight: 39.2 pounds
  • Refrigeration Range: -4ºF~68ºF
  • Noise Level: <42dB
  • Rated Power Input: 90W
  • Rated Current: AC 1.5A-2.7A , DC 6.0A(12V) / 3.0A (24V)

Features

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Controls

In the box, you get both an AC power adapter and a 12V DC power cord for your vehicle. They even include a small detachable cutting board that integrates directly into the lid.

On that note, the lid’s opening direction is also reversible without the use of any tools. I actually needed this feature because out of the box, the lid’s opening direction wasn’t suitable for my trunk space.

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Inside Space

On the inside, there are two different-sized compartments with removable baskets. The smaller one is intended to be the freezer side, but you can set the larger one to those temperatures as well if you need to. There is a drain hole in the larger one as well, should something spill. Each compartment has interior LED lighting, which is a nice touch!

The controls are simple, and you can set your temperatures with just a couple of clicks. There is a mobile app for temperature control, although I couldn’t seem to get my fridge connected to it. This isn’t a big deal to me, as I’ll always be within a few feet of the fridge anyways.

Final Thoughts

Bodega Cooler Portable Car Fridge Retractable Handle

At a price point that undercuts some of its well-known competition like Dometic by almost half, I can’t seem to find any major flaws in the Bodega Cooler portable car fridge. With regard to built quality and features, I think it is an excellent value that is perfect for my weekend-warrior type use.

Sure, the mobile app controls are unreliable and there could be better tie-down points for securing it in transit; but those are things that I can live without in exchange for the money savings to actually fill the fridge with food.

If you’ve been searching for a car fridge this Summer season, I’d recommend taking a look at Bodega Cooler. As I mentioned earlier, there’s an option for nearly everyone, and more affordable models if you don’t need many bells and whistles.

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Danny
Danny
6 months ago

How long does ice last when it’s not plugged in or turned on? Does it work like a Yeti cooler?

Georgia
Georgia
1 year ago

I prefer a BougeRV fridge to a Bodega 🙂

Jose
Jose
14 days ago
Reply to  Georgia

Why?

Andrei
Andrei
1 year ago

Is the new Smittybuilt waypoint fridge the same thing as this bodega fridge?

Barry
Barry
2 years ago

Great review Ryan! I’ve been running Bodega fridge for about 1.5 years and it has been rock solid in any conditions. Great for long road trips, overlanding, day trips, etc. I did add an Anker 400 Powerhouse in-line, between the fridge (with the internal battery) and the AC port in the rear. That way I can get 20+ hours of run time for longer trips or stops. Another pro-tip is to hook up some cheap USB fans and drop them in the cooling compartments…this is really helpful to get the cooler to temp quick.

Jose
Jose
14 days ago
Reply to  Ryan L

How long of runtime are you getting out of the internal battery?
Also, did you measure the temperature in the smaller compartment? I found out that, on my unit (45L), the smaller side is always way up from the temperature set point.

For instance, if I set both compartments to -20C (the minimum allowed), the big compartment goes as low as -18C while the smaller compartment can only achieve -12C. However, if I set them to -12C, the smaller one stays at -5~-6C.

I did the following test on my leaving room, AC on to keep room temperature around 24C, set both compartments to -20C, empty and let it running for 4 hours. Temperatures inside where stable around -17C for the big compartment and -12C for the smaller compartment – as said, the smaller was not getting colder, no matter the time.

At this point I set the temperature of the big side to 4C (fridge temps) and set the smaller to -12C (freezer temp). My hope was that the smaller would keep up and stay around -10C~-12C. But no, as you can see here (https://justpaste.it/c66n6), the big compartment swings around the set point. Although the smaller compartment never reaches the desired set point temperature, it has a much stable temperature overall

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