Bushman SC35-52 portable fridge freezer | The best 12v Camping Fridge? | 9 year Review [2021]
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2024
- I didn't realise I had my Bushman 12v SC35-52 portable fridge and freezer already for 9 years! It has followed me through all touring vehicles and has seen around 250.000km of hard Overlanding and Touring all over Australia. In this video, I unpack a new Bushman for my Camper Trailer and give you my thoughts on the old one who is with me for 9 years now and has never missed a beat.
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Do you have a Bushman Fridge? What is your favourite 12v fridge and how long do you have it for?
New ones come with an Anderson plug adapter.
I own 6 car fridges and this is the best.
Ive had a 40l engle since i was 18.im turning 39 this year.in a car everyday of its life.changed a $30 fan once about 10 years ago.
That's very good I'm wondering if a new Engle would still last that long? Seems like quite a bit has changed.
@@AlloffroadAu I’ve a 1985 Engel that was my parents, still going strong 36 years later. Been serviced once in its life and gets used for at least one trip a year. I think you’re right Stephan they probably don’t build them like the used to.
I bought a Bushman because it has the highest review rating of any car fridge. I initially thought it might be a bit small for a family camping trip, but the size is fine and doesn't take up too much space like the larger fridges. The 52 litre configuration has a temperature gradient from top to bottom and allows you to keep lettuce on top and frozen meat at the bottom and chilled meat/cheese in the middle, so it is a clever design to give you a multi-zone fridge/freezer very simply. The baskets allow tall bottles of drink to stand upright, and they never freeze, even though their base in in the frozen zone. But one of the best features is the low power draw. I can run it in my Prado 120 on the standard rear outlet with no problem even though all the 4WD specialists tell me I can't and try to sell me a dual battery system. I removed the relay that cuts off power to the auxiliary outlets when you turn off the ignition and put in a jumper cable, so the fridge gets continuous power from the main battery when you turn off the ignition. It's fine for a day or two with a single battery (Century Overlander semi-cycling). I'll look at getting a solar recharging system if I need to camp for longer which is a much cheaper solution than a dual battery system.
yes, I'm also very happy with my 3 bushman fridges. The oldest one is now 13 years old. A friend of mine just replaced his Bushman after 25 years.
Why have I overlooked the bushman... I'm in the market again and this video has helped my decision making.. thanks mate 👍
They are a pretty good fridge, I've had Bushman since 2007 and it still is going strong..we used in East Arnhemland for 3 years..the drinks and foodstuff were cold in 35c heat with 80% humidity..the Bushman did not miss a beat.
Awesome bit of kit (I’ve had mine >6 years) and great customer service from the Bushman team...parts are available and don’t cost an arm / leg.
I had a closing clasp break (my fridge slide closed whilst the clasp was up...bushman gave me a few free). Cables / baskets all very reasonably priced also.
Power draw also one of best...they used to advertise an ADF study on fridges used, and the bushman had lowest power draw...but maybe a bit old now, and people carry small power plants in their 4wd now.
Right on, I saw the same study and bought the fridge based on that 9 years ago.
yep ive had mine for 3 years and love it
very good , i will have a look at the Bushman as i'm looking for a new fridge
I've had two Waeco 50lt fridges for 20 years now (one 20, one 19 to be exact) and both still perform faultlessly, though a multiple brownout event two years ago caused the mains side of the 19 year old fridge to fail, but no problem on 12V. Both fridges have been off-road in the Victorian High Country more times than I can remember.
I just got my fridge today❤️. Was looking forward to it 😉
Enjoy; my two are still going strong.
Thanks mate, good tip on the +ve cable.
No problem 👍
Great review i have never seen that brand of fridge before I definitely will be checking it out thanks for sharing 👍
Thanks for watching!
My 1st fridge was the bushman's awesome fridge ! Run a 80 ltr Engel thought the bushman was far better! Now have 60 ltr Arb haven't had time to test it but bushman still in the shed on back up
Bought one ,awesome versatility built like a tank but not too heavy.
Totally agree
I have the bushman. 15 years old now only issue has been a cracked circuit board. $99:00 express post with instructions on how to change. They even threw in some new seals which I didn’t ask for. Rang them back to ask about the seals. Reply was it’s 14 years old and being banged around they might need changing. That’s customer service. I also do the freezer trick it works a treat.
I've had the cheaper Engel eclipse for about 7 years now and it's been faultless. Nothing fancy - it just does what's it's meant to. I always have it set to about 1 degree to keep the beers nice and cold and it uses about 1 amp per hour at 25-30 degrees ambient temp so doesn't use a whole lot of power.
I recently got a 25L brass monkey fridge thru Jaycar for $330 to use as a dedicated freezer. Actually pretty decent for the money and it has Bluetooth which is good but non essential. The build quality is a bit average - not very well insulated and has a flimsy aluminium case and no tie down points which is rather crappy, but it actually used a little less power than the engel when set to the same temp for the same period but this is probably due to the smaller size.
Interesting to see the bushman review because now I'm thinking of heading for a dual zone but will have to change the whole setup too much for now . . . . . Will be checking out bushman for sure if I do 👍
Thanks for the review mate 👌👍
I have two Engel fridges, the first is an old yellow top i bought new in 1983 (36 litre I think), it sits on a shelf in the shed and my son uses it whenever he goes camping, it has never not worked. My second i bought in 1995 (40 litre) the old grey model which came with the optional spring base which it still sits on and a bag. I got it for the first time i drove to London and back 97-99. It did a second trip to London and then south in 2003-06. In all that time i have never turned it off, over 600.000k's. Sometimes it is in my office at home with drinks in but mostly in my car. I have never spent a cent on either of them except for my original purchase. I suppose that's what is meant by "buy once cry once". Recently i bought a Bushman 110 (?) upright for my campervan and i look forward to it giving me the same service as my Engels
Unfortunately they don’t make 20 year old or 40 year old Engels anymore. There are plenty of fridges on the market nowadays that are just as good or if not better than modern made Engels.
@@Phil_McAvity only time can tell
I've had my Bushman for about nine years now. The 'bag' is a source of frustration so recently I actually just cut the top off it and left the surround to protect the carcass. Under the control panel is an overide toggle switch in case the controller fails...I had to replace mine about two years ago. The corners of my extended height lid have curled up a little and there is slight yellowing of the white plastic. With their factory in Research Victoria, they are just 15mins from my home so feel like they're Australian and am happy with the product.
If buying another fridge, I would probably go a dual zone like the Kickass a familiy member has and has been working well. Would love their small interior fridge for drinks during the day but can't justify $899.
Interesting vid on fridge covers here - ua-cam.com/video/_fhnGbGyZVg/v-deo.html
Have removed my cover since seeing this and can't say I've noticed a difference but haven't measured it. Fridge looks better with no cover tho 👍
They are a great fridge. 👍🍺🇦🇺
Yes they are!
Another great review as always, cheers Stefan. The Bushman looks pretty good. I had a waeco fail with all of our meat in it at Lake Ayer some years ago, hence I will never buy another one. Our Engel is pretty good but uses a lot of power. The insulation is not good enough imo. We have 2 Trailblaza fridges, one is about 15 years old and still as good as the day i bought it. Trailblaza is by far the best fridge I have had experience with and the only one I trust these days. They are a little bulky and heavy, but for power usage, reliability, ruggedness and after sales support, they are unequalled imo.
yes I heard that Trail Blazer are also very good
@@AlloffroadAu They dont have any fancy crap on them, just reliable controls. I never touch my Trailblaza's controls, no need to. I just plug them in and fill them with food/drinks and they work everytime without fail. No annoying messages or errors etc just cold beers.
Seems like engel or bushman are the only choice to make. I'm about to buy my first 12v fridge and it makes choosing very hard. You hear the success stories of the old engels with some horror stories of the newer models. So far everything I've heard about bushman is positive. The fact you can have a "dual zone" in one zone set as a freezer makes it very convenient and reliable. I was going to buy a dual zone but throughout my research found only bad news
Thank you for making my decision so much harder ahaha
i heard that Engle stopped carry parts for the older Fridges which would be quite a pity.
Yeah that would be unfortunate for all of the collectors out there, forcing them to buy a new model if ever they had any issues
Sometimes it's hard to know with fridge brands how much of it is honesty and how much of it is brand loyalty like the good old Nissan vs Toyota debate aha
But for you to get 9 years and counting from your bushman is seriously impressive. Even though they're made in China, it'd be nice knowing that you can support an Aussie business along the way too
Engel is also twice as loud while running
If those latches have lasted you 9 years on your current Bushman, I'm not sure i agree that they need to be stronger or chunkier (i.e. heavier). I know what you're getting at for those who might be a bit rougher on the gear but it seems like they've found a good design and stuck with it.
yes mate however they are liddle fidelly but again no deal breaker at all just something which could be improved...
Thanks for this review. I’m looking in to purchasing a fridge, maybe something that’s a bit smaller than what you’ve just purchased.
There’s quite a selection of brands as you’d be aware of, a lot of them seem a bit flimsy. I tend to purchase products based on the positive word & review of others.
Thanks for watching! I just received the Bushman Roadie for Testing, it's 16l and will likely replace the middle console in my Hilux or Cruiser. Looks well made so far and I expect it to perform like my other Bushman but time will tell.
My older 30L Ironman fridge uses around 20 amp hrs per day and man that power consumption looks good. Time to trade up I think.
Go for it!
I have several questions if you can help me with it. Glad i came across your video as you anderson plug set up is what i've been searching for. Do you plug the watt meter permanently like that from the power source and the fridge? I'd like to do that to check the load and battery reading permanently if i can like that. Lastly, is the bushman quite enough if the fridge were to be put inside the tent while sleeping? Just like a normal fridge noise i can live with it. I heard the new engels makes an annoying pitch noise now. Some says its like a mini diesel. Exellent video that covers all basis for a new offroad enthusiast. Keep up the good work! Cheers mate 👍
no I don't need a watt meter permanently but you sure could if you wanted, fridge is pretty quite never bothered me in the camper trailers so don't think would be an issue.
@@AlloffroadAu Last question. Using the 52l configuration for a camping trip bringing variaty of foods from ice cream to fruits, my question is that will ice cream stored at the bottom stay frozen for let's say 3 days? What temperature setting should i run to maintain the ice cream frozen yet not too cold for the rest of the produce. Thank you.
This is wonderful, thank you..:) We're looking for a camping fridge/freezer and it was a toss up between this and one other.. Now I'm definitely leaning towards this one. :) Can you please tell me if the freezer/fridge layers works with the 35 litres fridge, or only with the 52 litres configuration set up? Thank you :)🙏
Glad it was helpful! Yes also works, but you have some baskets less
@@AlloffroadAu thank you :)
@@AlloffroadAu Thank you.. a freezer option is great occasionally, even if limited in basket number/size.
Good review. Could I ask where you got the power meter?
can't remember mate probably ebay and Amazon
The top extension is more or less the same as the Two Zone we have on our 60 litre Engel. Ours goes from 60l to 100l which makes it a bit of a space hog but we love it. I have to be honest and say that I have had bad experiences with Danfoss compressors. We have owned a few and two of them died not long out of warranty. Latches and hinges on the Bushman look the same as Engel. We have 3 Engels and stick with them because of both their reliability (our oldest is over 15 years now) and the low power draw that we find is about 1.75 amps per hour taken as an average over 24 hours. I would be interested to know how many amps the Bushman draws as they don't seem to mention it on their website.
I show the amp draw over 24h in the video mate
@@AlloffroadAu I'll have to watch again, must have missed that bit :)
@@AlloffroadAu Wow, how did I miss that! The dementia must be getting worse than I thought...
@@WesternAustraliaNowAndThen lol
Hi Stefan, yes it is an Australian company but where is the product made?
i think china like most things
Hi, just wondering how thick your insulation layer is and what did you use? Also Did you also leave a gap around the edge of the insulation layer, thanks, Geoff.
It’s a bushman insulation bag. It has holes cut out for the ventilation. There is space all around the slider.
@AlloffroadAu Hi Stefan, he means the insulation layer inside the fridge that you use to keep the above items from freezing. Us it just insulation around middle basket?
Wishing you the best with the dirty dcs case 🤞
What sort of camper trailer do you have Stefan?
I bough a Signature Delux 2 (not for remote touring but Family camping trips though)
I’ve bought one they are a great fridge but it hasn’t got a internal light which is a bit of a let down
yes agree a little internal LED would be not bad
Power use seems a bit low compared to what mines using.
Have had a waeco bouncing around in our cars for 15 years now. No problems with it. Thinking of something smaller, around 60 or 70 litres. Hopefully narrower/taller instead of the 80 litre squat tank that takes-up alot of room in our 100.
Sounds great!
Ihave a bushman cant fault it about 13 years old
I wanted to buy a Bushman for reliability but these narrow, really deep fridges are a pain in the arse. Bushman needs a new model, i dont mean with Bluetooth apps, i mean a 70 litre proper dual zone with completely separate bays. In 17 years i have killed 2 waecos, a cf35 and a cf60, when the last one died i replaced it with a 70 litre dual zone....
yes would agree, a bit more choice would be great though the narrow design fits my two set ups quite well.
@@AlloffroadAu Yeah, i have respect for the product, a mate has one and loves it. BUT, hes a batchelor. Im a family man and i need a bigger fridge, with easy access without having to dig through layers. 55 litres probably would have been enough, but not in this narrow/deep configuration, it would drive me mental. I have very much enjoyed your videos, thanks for the entertainment.
Still only gives you -10 on a 45c day in the shade.... bugger if your meds need to be at -20c. Engel plastic 40l x2 for me lighter and cheaper. Think the power draw is irrelevant these days using ie sun power maxeon solar cells and lithium victron intervolt dc better at higher temps, victron inverters more efficient gear. Word on the street atm is that bushmans is the go to for fridge freezers... think they will make a dent in Engel sales for sure. Pop top is a clear winner.
yea never measured but can tell you that it kept everything deep frozen in the Desert with 3 days between 47-49°c. Other fridges in the group struggled to keep the beer cold.