It's been interesting to see Anker slowly move into the off-grid market with their Anker Powerhouse lineup which goes well beyond what a small battery backup is capable of as far as power storage and even includes AC outlets and capable solar charging as well. This is perfect for people who are camping but I would also lump in people with large properties/farms where getting power everywhere isn’t possible and also people in the trades which may not have power available where they are working. Anker’s latest product falls into this same category, their EverFrost Powered Coolers integrate large battery capacity into a powered cooler to keep things cool or frozen for up to 42 hours depending on the size you go with. With summer coming up I can’t think of a better time to be able to put one to use, so today I’m going to check out the new EverFrost Powered Cooler 40 which is the 43L capacity to see what it is all about.

Product Name: Anker EverFrost Powered Cooler 40

Review Sample Provided by: Anker

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

 

Specifications

Capacity Tested

43L

Capacities Available

33L, 43L, and 53L

Temperature Range

-4° - 68°F or (-20° - 20°C)

Duration Time

33L – 42H
43L – 35.8H

53L – 27H

This is the time the cooler can maintain a 39°F (4°C) with an ambient temperature of 77°F (25°C).

Warranty

2-year warranty for the full device

3-year warranty for the compressor

Input Power

Battery Capacity

299Wh

Battery Type

NCM

Adapter

95W

Car Socket

95W

Solar

100W

USB-C

60W

Output Power

USB-A

2 x 12W

USB-C

1 x 60W

Dimensions and Weight

Product Dimensions

33L- 642 x 430 x 487mm or 25.2 x 16.9 x 19.1in
43L- 732 x 430 x 487mm or 28.8 x 16.9 x 19.1in

53L- 852 x 430 x 487mm or 33.5 x 16.9 x 19.1in

Product Weight
(With Battery)

33L- 22.2 / 48.9lb
43L- 24kg / 52.9lb

53L- 27.5kg / 60.3lb

Product Weight
(Without Battery)

33L- 20kg / 44lb
43L- 21.8kg / 48lb

53L- 25.3kg / 55.8lb

Package Dimensions

33L- 793 x 513 x 561mm or 31.2 x 20.1 x 22in
43L- 887 x 513 x 561mm or 34.9 x 20.1 x 22in

53L- 887 x 513 x 561mm or 34.9 x 20.1 x 22in

 


 Packaging

Normally I have the chance to check out the full retail packaging of a product, but sometimes they come in ahead of their launch and there isn’t packaging at all or in this case we do have the box but it has the white box treatment because it is a preproduction sample. So I can see that the EverFrost Power Cooler 40 does come in a well-protected box even given its size. But we have no idea what the packaging will look like in the future.

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When you dive into the box inside the cooler comes wrapped in plastic and it has foam in all four corners to keep it from moving around and protect it from damage in shipping. The outer box itself also came inside a second brown box to double up on the cardboard. Our sample didn’t come with the instruction manual but inside of the box, Anker did have the included accessory cables which all came tucked away in cutouts in the foam. The cooler's battery is shipping installed in the cooler itself which gives it a few extra layers of protection to prevent any major damage to it.

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Photos and Features

The Anker EverFrost Powered Cooler has a traditional full-sized coolers rectangle size and Anker has it available in three different size models. They have a 33L model that they call the Powered Cooler 30, the 43L model which we have here today that is the Powered Cooler 40, and then the Powered Cooler 50 which is 53L. All three have the same dimensions when it comes to the height at 19.1 inches tall and the depth at 16.9 inches it is the width of the cooler that they change depending on the model. The 33L model is 25.2 inches, the 43L model is 28.8, and the largest model the 53L is 33.5 inches wide or long depending on how you look at it. For comparison one of the largest coolers at my local big box store is a 48 Qt and is 25.71 x 14.12 x 14.25 Inches. The EverFrost Coolers are noticeably larger in height and depth and the 43L model we have here is a little longer as well. So the size of all three of the EverFrost Coolers is on the bigger end of things when we compare them to a traditional cooler. But these aren’t a traditional cooler at all, they are a small refrigerator or freezer that also have a built-in battery to run completely off the grid. You can see that when you check out the overall design which sticks with the camping/nature theme and has a dark green color with a few black accents. They do have the Anker logo printed on the side in silver as well. The side of the Power Cooler has a textured plastic finish across most of the cooler, just like you would see on a traditional cooler. But towards the back wheels is a non-textured area which has ventilation for the airflow that the refrigeration needs.

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The front of the EverFrost Powered Cooler looks nearly the same as the back that you saw above including the vented area near the wheels. The front however has a built-in bottle opener which may come in handy depending on what you are using the cooler for and up on the top edge the black lid has a latched handle on this side to keep the lid closed. The textured plastic does have an interesting dot that you can see all over it, I don’t know for sure without ripping it all apart but I suspect these are where the inside and outside of the main assembly are plastic welded together. I’ve seen it on other coolers before but it's especially noticeable here. This could be because our sample is a preproduction model. I won’t be able to confirm that until the retail coolers come out. The other thing I wanted to point out was the wheel configuration. The Powered Cooler 40 and the other sizes as well have wheels at the back to help you pull the cooler around which is important given its weight of 48 pounds for the mid-sized 43L model. The smaller 33L is 44 pounds and the large 53L version is 55.8 pounds. That is without anything inside the cooler, this isn’t something you are going to want to carry around once loaded up, the wheels will be very helpful. But I am concerned that the plastic wheels may not hold up as well long term, especially with that kind of weight. The ground clearance isn’t very high as well which may be an issue if you plan on dragging it far off trail or even down some trails.

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The end of the EverFrost Powered Cooler opposite of the wheels has a large black handle attached to the cooler. Its main function is to use with the wheels to pull the cooler around but Anker has given it a secondary function in that it can also be a small attached table on the end of the cooler. It flips up and under it, there is a small attached lip on the cooler, this works with the metal bracket in the table/handle to pop out and prop the table up. Our preproduction cooler did make this bracket extremely hard to remove but that is the type of issue that normally gets worked out when you go to production, at least I hope it does. In addition to the table/handle, there is a traditional handle up top as well which when combined with the handle on the other end can be used to pick the cooler up.

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The wheeled end of the EverFrost Powered Cooler has the same handle that we saw on the other end for two-handed carrying. But below that, once you get past the textured plastic finish into the flat finish you are into the electronics and refrigerator portion of the cooler. This starts with the large black panel which has a small access hole in the middle. This covers up the battery opening and is where the battery slides in. The opening in the panel gives you access to the USB connections for charging other devices as well as charging the battery backup if needed via USB Type-C or the yellow solar power connection on the battery. Then down at the bottom below that are more ventilation slots and in the middle of that is a squared-off 12 or 24 volt power connection, this is what the included power cables hook to for charging the battery and plugging the EverFrost Powered Cooler to your car or AC power.

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The bottom of the cooler has the two wheels that I’ve already talked about but on the opposite end, they have two plastic sliders to prop the cooler up when you aren’t moving it around. Between them, there are two plugs in the plastic housing with one being the drain hole for the cooler. You don’t need the drain for your melted ice, but if you clean it out or spill anything a drain will come in handy. The plastic housing has more of the plastic welded spots which are a lot more visible here. Then towards the back, it does have a sticker with the serial number and a larger sticker with all of the model information. There is also a large green sticker warning that c-pentane is used in the foam which can be very flammable.

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The top of the EverFrost Powered Cooler is all black plastic with a majority of the space taken up by the door. Because of the size of the cooler, it was a little hard to get good pictures of this area but you can see that when it ships the screen on the left does come covered in plastic to prevent any scratches. Near the end beyond the door, you have a glossy finished area which has the Anker branding on it and a small inch and a half side status screen. To the right of that, you also have four buttons. One is the main power button, two for up and down in the controls, and then a gear icon to flip through the options. Being up on top you do need to be careful that this doesn’t get banged up, however.

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When we open the door to the cooler Anker has given the door a magnetic seal similar to what you would find on a home fridge. The lid has a ball chain attached to the lid and to the cooler to keep it from flopping too far open. The lid itself is also thicker in the middle with extra insulation and has the Anker branding on the underside.

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For capacity inside it will depend on what size EverFrost Powered Cooler that you go with but I have the breakdown of all three sizes below. The refrigeration does take up a good potion in that bottom corner on all three designs. Each is the same size except for length but the 53L model is unique that it is divided up and you can control both halves to run at two different temperatures, making it possible to run half as a freezer and the other half as a fridge. The 33L and 43L options also both can run down to those same temperatures, only you have the one section. I was surprised when I opened things up that the interior has a metal cage inside just like in some chest freezers. I also love the LED light which is a small feature that will be a big help. I know even with a traditional cooler there have been multiple times a light would have helped. The metal cage for our pre-production model did have a few areas that seemed like an afterthought. Specifically where the lid chain attaches the cage was just bent to fit around it, which works but I have to wonder if that is how it will be with a production cooler. The same goes for the drain plug down in the bottom which the cage just barely covers up and blocks the removable plug in the bottom.

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The battery pack for the EverFrost Cooler is basically a portable battery backup that just happens to also fit in all three of the EverFrost Cooler models. That flexibility is great and given Ankers's wide range of products could even be tied in with other products in the future. It is 7 and a half inches wide, just over 4 inches tall when you have the handle down, and 3 and ¾ inches deep. Its shape is rectangular but all of the corners have been rounded and if you look at it from the side or front views you can see it is wider at the top than at the bottom which helps it slide into the opening on the cooler. The outside is all plastic with the top having a blue color and it has a built-in handle that also doubles as the latch. When you put the handle down two spring-loaded prongs stick out of each side but they are angled so you can drop it in even with the handle down. Then near the bottom, it has a grove in it to keep the battery from being installed backward.

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The bottom has all of the model information printed on it including the certifications logos and its model number which is A1780. The bottom also lets us know more about its inputs, outputs, and capacity. It has a total capacity of 20800 mAh at 14.4 volts which puts it at 299 Wh. They list the watt-hour rating in the specifications to prevent confusion because mAh is often used with 5v power banks but at the higher wattage, this battery has a much higher capacity than a 5v 20k battery backup would have. Its power input through the USB Type-C connection maxes out at 60 watts and that plug can output at that same wattage as well. Then the USB Type-A plugs can both do 2.4 amps each. The top of the battery has the Anker logo in the center then the three USB connections that I have already mentioned. It also has a heavy-duty power plug for the Anker 100-watt solar connection that their portable power banks also support which means that you could use a solar panel to keep your cooler running. The top of the battery also has four pinhole status LEDs so you can see the battery capacity left and a button to activate those LEDs.

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In addition to the EverFrost Cooler and the battery that powers it all Anker did include a few accessories to go with them. You get a bundle of wires for a few different uses. Two of them go together and would be the main AC power supply and cable. The EverFrost has a unique squared-off connection which the power supply has a plug for, then the additional cable is the AC cable which in my case is for US power plugs. The power supply itself has a 95-watt output and supports 100 to 240-volt inputs which means with different cables it will work internationally. The AC side looks to be a C7 connection which should make finding replacements for that easy at least. They include a surprisingly long DC power cable for hooking the Everfrost up in your car. The cigarette lighter plug even has a power switch to help prevent the cooler from running down your battery accidentally. Then the last cable adapts the squared-off power plug from both power cables to the smaller plug that Anker uses for their solar panels. The idea is to have the option to be able to charge the battery independently using either of the charging cables if needed. Overall you have a lot of flexibility on how to charge the EverFrost Cooler and its battery, especially once you also include Type-C which you can charge the battery up with as well. Each option has different capabilities as far as charging power as well, the USB Type-C connection for example caps out at 60 watts. Both the power AC to DC power supply and the DC car adapter are 95 watts, and the solar connection can do 100 watts.

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Software and Performance

You wouldn’t expect a cooler to have an app, but the EverFrost Powered Coolers do work with the Anker app, so before getting into my main testing I did want to check out what the app offers. You will need to add the cooler to the app and I did have initial issues with this but eventually, it cleared up and the cooler was picked up and connected. The app will guide you through resetting the cooler to put it into search mode.

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Once you have it connected it will be listed under your devices along with any other Anker-branded devices. The main page once you open up the coolers page has a picture of the cooler up top which shows you what temperature it is currently at. Below that you can open up a page to set the temperature. This has a few default temperatures down at the bottom. For me, I would love to also have the option to set one custom preset as well because if I was carrying meat I would want to keep it below 40 degrees but above freezing but there isn’t an option in that range at all. Beyond that, you get one at 32 and one at 5 degrees as well for a deep freeze. The main page also shows you the battery level and below that small graphs show the battery input and output levels to show you usage and if you are charging.

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There is a settings menu as well. This has settings to adjust the screen brightness and the voltage protection levels for the USB outputs. You can also rename the device for the app here and switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius if you prefer that. You can also update the firmware, but our cooler didn’t require an update. Overall the app lets you keep tabs on things like the temperature and power levels of the battery but you can also get away without the app as well. You can change temperatures and check the temp on the display screen and the battery itself does have the basic pinhole LED readout.

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To start my actual testing I started the EverFrost and set it to -2 degrees. It started at 70f and was inside a room sitting at 74f for this test. I wanted to check out how long it would take for the cooler to reach below zero. This test ended up taking 77 minutes in total and once it reached -2 degrees the cooler did continue on beyond that down to -5 before turning off. When doing this I also took a look a the noise level of the refrigeration unit on the cooler. Much like my own home fridge which when you have a lot of activity going on you would never notice it is on, the EverFrost does still get noisy when cooling down in a quiet room. This was especially true when it initially turns on which was noticeably louder on our unit, but they may be an issue with it being pre-production. The room's noise level base was 34.2 but on startup the cooler ran at 46.2 decibels. Once the initial noise was over that dropped down to 43.9 decibels. To be fair this isn’t too loud, but it is enough that when camping you might not want it next to your head in the tent.

Our battery came completely discharged, in fact, the cooler wouldn’t even pick it up until I charged it. But this gave me a chance to see how long charging the battery would take. For this, I went with charging it over USB Type-C which as we know is the lowest wattage charging option. Type-C is capped at 60 watts whereas the included power supply or the car adapter can charge at 95 watts, so those will be faster. But from being dead the big 299 watt-hour battery took 3 hours and 42 minutes to charge completely. It charged at 60 watts until 2 hours and 50 minutes in where it slowly dropped in charging wattage until it was completely charged. The full battery on the EverFrost does get you a surprisingly long amount of cooling time, however. From Ankers numbers which they set it to 39 degrees in an ambient temperature of 77f the 33L can last 42 hours, the 43L can last 35.8 hours, and the 53L can last 27 hours. That will change depending on the temperature that you are targeting as well as if it is hot outside. Sadly here in Ohio, it has been cold and raining and not hot enough to put the cooler to the test at a temperature higher than 77f like Anker tested. But getting a day to two days of cooling out of one charge is enough for a weekend trip, especially if you don’t mind things warming up for the last few hours. You can also extend that by recharging from your card for example. Anker is also planning on selling additional battery packs which could make longer trips completely off grid easier to do or even easier would be recharging with the 100-watt solar panel that is supported.

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When charging the batter I did also check things out with our thermal camera. I was curious to see how hot the battery was getting with how much power it was taking in for such a long time. Especially because the plug on our cable was getting hot. Most of the heat was at that cable but you can see that there is some heat being generated below the power connections as well

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I also put the thermal camera to the test to check out the cooler itself when it was running. With the lid open you can see deep down in the bottom it was -5c or 23f at the time. But I was more interested in what the thermals looked like on the outside with the lid closed. You can see a clear difference in the insulated cooler sections from the area of the cooler that has the refrigeration and electronics which runs much warmer. There is some air being leaked into the latch area of the lid. Beyond that, the insulated cooler section was down to 58f which was lower than room temperature but the cooler had previously been running at down to -2 and this was when it was warming back up.

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Before loading the EverFrost I did check out the performance of the LED light inside which does a great job of lighting everything up even in a dimly lit room.

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As for the onboard display and controls. I have some doubts on how the bubble-like touch controls will hold up through abuse over the long term. But they work well and give some feedback where a capacitive control wouldn’t. The onboard display is simple, showing your current temperature and the batter level at all times which is all you need along with the ability to change the cooler temperatures which you can do with the controls.

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Last on my list for testing things out I did need to fill the cooler up and see how much it could hold. One of the main issues that we run into with our normal ice cooler is that you have to plan around adding ice into the mix. So whatever you put in you need to leave half of the space for ice and with a lot of foods, you have to make sure things are sealed and can’t get wet and also make sure those things are down in the middle of the ice. This also leads to you digging around with a frozen hand trying to find that last (insert your favorite soda name here) or when my wife and I took our last trip there were multiple foods that we had to burry to keep them from going bad that we couldn’t find until we unloaded the cooler. That isn’t going to be an issue with this setup, you can fill it to the top and not have to worry about adding ice, and without ice and with the light you should be able to find what you are looking for. The stepped bottom shape of the cooler does mean that you can’t just throw in your soda by the 12 pack however as you can see below. Well you can, but it's going to waste a lot of space. Unloading them, however, I was shocked at how much could fit in the cooler. In the deeper section, I could fit 16 cans per layer with two layers deep before you get to the wider upper level. In total, you can fit 48 normal cans and still have a layer to put a few small items in as well. But for my pictures, I put in 3 12 packs and a few bottles with room for plenty of other things. In short, even with the middle-sized 43L cooler that we have here, you can keep an entire cookout or trip cooled inside.

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Having the option to switch to keep things frozen opens up even more options as well. With an ice cooler, the best you can expect with anything frozen in the cooler is to slow down the defrosting. But with the EverFrost Powered Coolers, you can maintain frozen things. Ice Cream or ice pops can be ready to go for your kid's sports or as a treat when camping and for those who have a long drive to the grocery things can stay cold or frozen. 

 


Overall and Final Verdict

The Anker EverFrost Powered Cooler 40 is a departure from what I normally check out and in some ways a big departure for Anker as well. But it does revolve around large-capacity battery backups which is something that Anker is known for. Their upcoming cooler lineup that they are calling the EverFrost Powered Cooler is available in three different sizes but except for the largest model which has dual zones, they are all very similar in design. They take a traditional cooler design and integrate a refrigeration system in it capable of keeping everything inside cool or even frozen and then add in a large battery backup to power it all making the entire setup completely portable and off-grid. The battery alone depending on the cooler size, outside temperature, and the temp you set the cooler to can keep things cold or frozen between 1 and 2 days, our 43L model can do 35.8 hours for example. That is with just one included battery you will be able to get more than one and without utilizing its multiple charging possibilities. The cooler comes with both a car charger and an AC power adapter that can power the cooler and charge the battery. You can also use a standard USB Type-C charger like Anker sells or one of their 100-watt solar panels. Depending on how you are planning on using the cooler, one of the many options should do the trick. The battery also has USB Type-A and Type-C outputs as well so you can keep other devices charged as well.

Because of the refrigeration, you don’t have to worry about the downsides of using ice including having to find and buy ice, draining it all, having trouble finding things buried in the cooler, and all of the space in the cooler that ice takes up. Without the ice inside I was very surprised at how much I could fit in the EverFrost Powered Cooler 40.

This is Ankers's first time in this market and I did notice a few areas that leave room for improvement in the future with the design. For complete off-grid camping which is one of the many uses I picture the cooler coming in handy you have wheels that aren’t going to clear much off the trail and the plastic wheels themselves could be a little less durable than I would like in that situation. While I wouldn’t call it loud by any means, our preproduction sample was loud when starting up. The cooler is also large and heavy even before you load it up. I hope in the future, like with Ankers portable power stations, that we see a smaller more compact option that might be better suited for day trips in a car, picnics, and other situations where you don’t need the capacity to take 4+ 12 packs of canned drinks with you.

I’m not putting the price down as a con in this situation even though the $849 price tag for our 43L mid-sized model hits the pocketbook extremely hard. While expensive, once you compare it with some of the other battery-powered coolers out there like the LiONCooler’s, Dometic, or the Makita you are getting a LOT more battery capacity and life than the competition, and the EverFrost isn’t much more expensive for what you are getting. It’s far too early to know for sure, but Anker is also well known for having great sale prices pop up from time to time as well. Right now I’ve heard these will hit the market potentially near the end of June but no firm date has been set just yet. But hopefully, they don’t wait too long as the summertime is when they will be the most useful. Overall if you only need a cooler in situations where you will be able to keep it plugged in there are both AC and DC options out there that will be significantly cheaper. But when it comes to completely off-grid use from time to time, that is where the EverFrost Powered Cooler is going to shine.

fv6

Live Pricing: HERE

Author Bio
garfi3ld
Author: garfi3ldWebsite: http://lanoc.org
Editor-in-chief
You might call him obsessed or just a hardcore geek. Wes's obsession with gaming hardware and gadgets isn't anything new, he could be found taking things apart even as a child. When not poking around in PC's he can be found playing League of Legends, Awesomenauts, or Civilization 5 or watching a wide variety of TV shows and Movies. A car guy at heart, the same things that draw him into tweaking cars apply when building good looking fast computers. If you are interested in writing for Wes here at LanOC you can reach out to him directly using our contact form.

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