Two years ago Anker expanded their already wide range of products with their first battery-powered cooler, the EverFrost Powered Cooler, and I took a look at it. It had its issues, but it was useful and over the last two years I’ve been using it on trips and in between trips we keep it running in our basement to have a few cool drinks there and as a backup if the power goes out or if our refrigerator has any issues. Well, Anker hasn’t left things alone, this spring they introduced the EverFrost 2 lineup and I was able to take the EverFrost 2 40L along with us on our most recent drive to Florida and today I’m going to take a closer look at their new design to see what has changed and talk about what the experience has been like.
Product Name: Anker Solix EverFrost 2 40L Electric Cooler
Review Sample Provided by: Anker
Written by: Wes Compton
Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE
Packaging
The Solix EverFrost 2 40L Electric Cooler comes in a huge box, so big that you can see it takes up my entire photo area in the pictures below. That’s no surprise given the size of the cooler itself. The box is your basic brown cardboard box with all of the artwork on the box printed in black. It has the Anker Solix repeated multiple times with it up at the top, on a line drawing of the cooler, and below that with both the Anker Solix brand name along with the model name as well. The end of the box did have a label with the SKU on it along with multiple warnings for shipping and warehouse use warning about the batteries inside and its overall weight.
When you get into the box the cooler itself is wrapped up in a plastic and has a heavy duty foam formed around in all of the corners to keep it away from the sides of the box. The foam has two trays formed into it on top for the accessories that the EverFrost comes with and next to that is a large ziplock bag with all of the documentation inside.
For documentation, the EverFrost 2 40L comes with three things. You get safety documentation for the cooler itself and another for the removable battery then you have the manual as well. All three comes with a QR code right on the front that you can scan and get a more complete version of the user guide.
Photos and Features
The EverFrost 2 40L looks extremely similar to the original EverFrost design while also being different in nearly every way as well. The outside of the cooler has a textured plastic finish in a green/grey color. The previous design has more green to its color and our sample at least had really bad defects in the finish where you could see dots all across it where something was glued or attached to the back. That isn’t an issue at all here, the quality is much better and I like the slightly more subtle color. The cooler design has a vent at the back side next to the battery compartments but this time around that vent is a lot smaller, the original design had the vent run all the way down next to the wheel. There is a metal bottle opener on the side, like before and the lid has a nice latch built in which you can see well from this side. The big new addition though is the black bar across this side. This is an attachment point for a few accessories that they sell to go with the cooler. You can add on a fake wood finished tray and they have the road trip kit which has a dual cup holder, knife holder, and a rod holder for someone fishing. With their already a built-in shelf I don’t personally see myself needing the extra one but I do like the road trip kit. Especially the cup holder, the knife, and the pole holders are specific for someone fishing. That kit is $60 and the tray is $80 you can see the tray HERE. The rear wheels are the same design as the original design including being plastic which is fine for any normal use but as I mentioned with the original cooler if someone was going farther into the woods, these might not be enough.
The main handle side has a flip out shelf/handle just like with the previous EverFrost design. The design here hasn’t changed at all visually but it is noticeably easier to unsnap this time around. You can pull the shelf out and there is a metal rod that drops down and hooks on the cooler to keep it propped up.
The back side of the cooler is similar to the front and like with the front it has a second air vent. The vent matches the front in its location and size and is smaller than the vents on the previous EverFrost coolers. There is a small vent up in the top edge as well and this side has the same Anker Solix branding on it. This is the side that the lid pivots on and you can see the hinges up at the top.
The back of the EverFrost 2 40L is where a lot of the action is. Down at the bottom is a large vent that is angled down and between the rear wheels. This is the main vent for the refrigeration. Just above that is a weather sealed plug, this has two connections depending on what you are trying to do. The larger left connection is the plug for the included power supply and DC cable, this does have a fuse next to it as well to avoid any issues. Then next to that the smaller blue plug is a solar panel power connection, in addition to being able to charge and power with DC or AC with a portable solar panel, you can keep things charged when camping. Above that is a large panel that covers the entire battery compartment. That cover has two clips at the top and doesn’t have a green/grey finish like the rest of the cooler. They have also given it a fake carbon fiber texture. The cover has the Anker Solix branding on it and two smaller snap-out plugs give you access to the plugs built into the battery as well as the battery status light without taking the cover off. The original EverFrost had similar access to the one battery but this time around it has the weather plugs for when you aren’t trying to use those connections. The Type-A and Type-C can both be used to keep your other devices charged but the Type-C can also be used to charge the EverFrost as well if you prefer that.
The battery compartment is one of the big changes with this new design. The original cooler had one large battery in the center and this time around they have skinnier batteries that are longer and the cooler has room for two batteries. It only comes with one but you can buy an extra if needed, however, they are expensive at $249. The battery compartment comes with a battery-shaped tray in the extra hole which is great for tucking away your power cables. The battery itself has a handle that has a latching mechanism built in, like the original. Each battery tray has one plug with ten pins on it near the top edge.
Most of the top of the EverFrost 2 40L is filled with the cooler door which has a slightly indented section across it. All of the controls are all along the back end and it has a very similar setup compared to the original EverFrost coolers. There is an oval with a glossy black finish, this has the Anker Solix branding whereas the original model just had the Anker branding. In the center there is a display screen, the EverFrost 2 40L has a larger display. Then next to it on the right you have all of the controls. While similar, the new controls have an additional button when compared to the original design, and the buttons themselves are improved. The old design has bubble and recessed buttons built into the plastic cover where this design has proper independent buttons that should hold up well. They now have an easy lockout by pressing the up and down buttons at the same time. The new button is the temperature control button. Before you had the menu where you could go to the temperature control setting and then change it. This design just gives you a more direct way to get to that important setting. Then there is of course a power button which now has an LED status indicator around it.
The bottom of the EverFrost 2 40L continues the green/grey plastic shell but a lot of the area on the bottom doesn’t have the same heavy texture that we saw on the sides. They have a large silver sticker that has the model information and below that a green sticker with c-pentane on it. That one lets us know that the refrigeration on the cooler uses cyclopentane. Also right there is a small white sticker, that has the serial number for the cooler and a small QR code. The two rolling wheels are at the back and the front just has two skis to keep the cooler off of the ground. In between those you can see the drain hole that goes with the drain plug that we saw inside.
The most obvious change when you open up the inside of the EverFrost 2 40L is the fan built into the bottom side of the lid which the old cooler didn’t have. The fan helps keep even temperatures and also helps with this cooler's faster cool-down speed, it can be down to temperature in 15 minutes. The lid is heavy, like a refrigerator, and has a quality magnetic gasket around it along with the latch to keep it closed. Inside you have a built-in LED light, like before which as it turned out was very useful when using the original EverFrost. The EverFrost 2 is available in two sizes, the 40L we have here and a larger 58L. This is a little different from the original which were 43L and 53L capacities. The larger model has a split design that lets you run both sides at different temperatures but this design is one temperature for the whole cooler. There is a smaller 23L model also announced but it isn’t out yet. The inside is 14.64 in (L) × 12.31 in (W) × 13.65 in(H) and the metal cage inside of the old design is no longer there. My initial reaction was that this might be dropping the durability down slightly, but after some thought it is less weight inside and helps give you the entire capacity. When compared to the old design, the EverFrost 2 no longer has the small shelf built into the design which accounts for the smaller capacity but this new shape should be a little more usable. Down at the bottom, there is still a removable drain plug and it is recessed down into the cooler this time. You aren’t putting ice in this cooler so it shouldn’t be needed often but should make cleaning easier.
The battery included with the EverFrost 2 40L has a similar design to the original cooler but they have changed the shape up as I mentioned when we talked about the battery compartment. The new shape does mean there is room to be able to add a second battery or if you want longer life you could run two and have extras that you swap in. Given the charging options though one or two should be more than enough. They have a capacity of 288 Wh and with that, the 40L model we have here is said to have an operation time of 52 hours with one battery and 104 for two. The later 58L dual zone cooler is lower at 39 and 78 hours respectively. For charge time on one battery you will see 3.6 hours to full charge with the 100-watt solar panel, wall outlet, and car charger, and using USB Type-C is slower at 5.5 hours. The Type-C connection on the battery can only output or input 60 watts whereas solar is 100 watts and 95 watts for the car and AC connections. Speaking of the USB plugs you do get a Type-A connection as well that outputs 12 watts and next to that the battery has four status lights and a button to check the battery status. You can use these as a high-capacity battery pack as well as the battery for the cooler. So on vacation for example, once you get to the hotel and plug it in, you can pull the battery out and use it. The batteries did drop the bright blue color of the last model for the black and grey. Overall I like the new design, but considering I have two of the old batteries I wouldn’t have been upset if I could have used them with this model, the batteries are an expensive pickup at $249. Down on the bottom of the battery, there is a large sticker with all of the warnings, information, and the serial number. The 10-pin connection is there and there are four rubber feet as well.
While the EverFrost 2 40L is battery-powered, you do need to keep it charged and it can run directly plugged in as well. For that, Anker has included three components. You get a direct wire 12-volt accessory plug for your car or what they used to call them, a cigarette lighter plug. That cable plugs directly into the plug on the end of the EverFrost 2 40L and into your car on the other end. Then you also have an AC to DC power supply. This comes with a power cable which in my case has a US two-prong plug. On the other end, it has a C8 connection. Then you have the power supply itself which plugs into the cooler. The power supply can output up to 95 watts at 14.5 volts and pulls 2.5 amps from the AC connection. All of the cables can fit in the accessory tray in the battery compartment and it’s great to have both options depending on where you are using the EverFrost 2 40L.
The other accessory included with the EverFrost 2 40L are these two plastic trays. When I first opened everything up, these baffled me, I couldn’t understand what they were there for but after reading the manual I found out they are for parking the EverFrost 2 40L. Basically, they are wheel chocks that you can put under the two main wheels to keep it from moving around. The idea is nice, but there were a few things about these that I wasn’t a fan of. The biggest thing, is you have to lift that corner of the cooler up to slide these under the wheel and because they are just injection molded plastic without a rubber grip on the bottom you could still slip around. The heavy weight of the cooler helps at least. My last issue is that these won’t fit into the included tray in the battery compartment. If I were going to use them, being able to store them away like that would be nice. In the end and this is a spoiler for our performance section. But I don’t see the need for them much unless you are using the other add-on accessories for the EverFrost 2 40L. But if being able to lock it into place is important, two locks for the wheels themselves might be easier to use and you wouldn’t need to bring them along with you.
Software and Performance
Before getting into testing out the EverFrost 2 40L I did want to check out its software. You can use the cooler without the app even out of the box but with the app, you can control things remotely, and is the only way to update the firmware which you should at least do once. Adding it on the Anker app is simple, powering it up and clicking add device in the app, and selecting the cooler is all you need. From there once added it will ask you to name the cooler and pick if you want to use wifi or Bluetooth. The wifi feature is nice, you can then adjust it at a distance as long as the cooler is near your home wifi but I’ve also had issues with the Anker devices spam connecting to my wireless so I stuck with Bluetooth. Not to mention, you are most likely to be using the cooler away from home anyhow.
Once connected the man landing page will show any Anker device you have setup and you can click on the EverFrost 2 40L and open up its specific page. There is a picture of the cooler up top that shows the current temperature inside. Below that the cooler controls are the first thing you get. You can set the temperature and pick from the three cooling modes Max, Smart, and Eco. Which works for you will depend on how quickly you want it to cool down and if you will need to worry about battery life. Smart flips between max and eco modes depending on what it thinks you need so that is a good middle ground. The home page also shows the current battery capacity and shows battery output and input currently as well as a small graph showing recent activity.
The settings menu button is up in the top right corner and this gets you into the few settings available. You can change the screen brightness and if you want it to always stay on. Then there is the voltage protection mode. You can change the device name here and change between Fahrenheit or Celsius for your temperatures as well. Then down at the bottom, you can check and update the firmware. You can see ours had an update. Sadly, the “what's new’ doesn’t give any information on what has changed or what bugs have been fixed which is an issue I see with most Anker firmware updates, sadly. There might as well not be a whats new listing.
My initial testing was done around the house which gave me time to get a feel for the controls and how the EverFrost 2 40L performed. Beyond the new button added, the controls aren’t really any different than I saw with the original EverFrost but I do like the new larger display screen. The addition of a temperature button makes getting into that setting a lot easier, the old setup took some getting used to. I also like the changed button design, they give more feedback when you push them and I don’t feel like they will wear out with a lot of use. The lockout was a good addition as well, I’ve kicked the cooler off or on a few times when putting things on it.
The interior of the EverFrost 2 40L did change up both its capacity and its shape but they did keep the bright LED light that lights up when you open up the door. That was a feature that I wouldn’t have thought would be as useful as it was but a lot of times we use the cooler when driving, down in our basement where we stand over it and create a big shadow, or outside when having a cookout or fire and having the light means you don’t have to dig around in the cooler to find what you need. I found for our use the smaller capacity wasn’t an issue. Even with the smaller capacity, if you are putting in soda or beer cans you can fit 45 cans with a little room to spare. For us, that means when traveling you have room for more than enough bottled water, soda, and also food as well. Where a traditional cooler you have to blend in ice in between everything to get things cooled down taking up sometimes half or more of your cooler space, you don’t need to do that here. On top of that, everything inside isn’t floating in water as well.
With a majority of households having a pickup truck, SUV, or van most people won’t be worried about size but because we travel in a car most of the time being able to fit the EverFrost 2 40L in our car is important and with our cars small back seat that can be a challenge even with a traditional cooler. The EverFrost even with a lower capacity is still a big cooler but it did fit in the back of our car when traveling. That said getting it in and out of the car even when empty was a pain and loaded that was even worse. Truthfully the smaller 20L model that hasn’t come out might be a much better option for just my wife and I. But in general, the EverFrost 2 was great for our trip to Florida and back. 2000 miles on the road is a rough drive every time but being able to not worry about getting and refreshing ice is nice and being able to just bring our cooler in and not worry about plugging it in at the hotel or even at our final destination we could keep our food and drinks inside and not intruding on our families fridge space.
Cooldown time wasn’t an issue with the original EverFrost for us, we normally would load it up and have it running for a little while at the house ahead of time. But the 15 minute cooldown time for the EverFrost 2 is no joke, it takes almost no time to get down to temperature. We didn’t have any issues with inconsistent temperatures. The only issue we ran into really was we started to get close to freezing some of our drinks but a quick temperature adjustment fixed that. The larger split design of the 58L wouldn’t be a bad addition for these long trips, simply being able to bring frozen things along. On that same train of thought, for some people that split design might be even more important. For example, if you don’t live near the grocery store, being able to toss some refrigerated and frozen stuff in will keep them from warming up or if you are bringing this along with you to the beach you can bring drinks along with popsicles. The plastic wheels that I mentioned in our photo section weren’t an issue for our use but if that is a concern for you Anker does sell a wheel upgrade. They are a lot larger for beach use but are $99.99. Another feature that goes unnoticed is for day trips or if you have the extra battery capacity you are also getting a large capacity battery backup that you can plug in other devices as needed.
Overall and Final Verdict
With the first Anker EverFrost cooler it worked really well for the times we drove down to visit family in Florida, but beyond that, I didn’t expect that I would use it much outside of those trips. As it turns out, we ended up running the cooler every day as a small refrigerator in our basement to keep a few drinks available down there with it also doubling as emergency refrigeration if the power were to go out or if we ever had anything go wrong with our main refrigerator or freezer. That was an aspect that I didn’t really consider when I reviewed it at the time. Originally I thought that it would mostly be useful for people glamping. Similar to someone picking up a generator, a small battery backup, or flashlights in case of a power outage or a storm the EverFrost coolers are perfect for someone who is prepping. Especially if you also add in a solar panel to keep it charged up. It gives you a cooler or freezer as well as a battery backup to charge up other devices from. None of that has changed from the original EverFrost to the EverFrost 2. What has changed is the design has been refined. You can now add in a second battery to expand capacity and the overall quality of the cooler’s construction seems better as well with no molding issues on the outer shell like last time and an improved button design.
The new design now has a 15 minute cooldown time, so you don’t need to waste battery power until you are ready to put things inside and the new fan inside also helps keep temperatures consistent anywhere inside the cooler. All of the features that made the original great are still there with the biggest being that because this has refrigeration you don’t have to use ice. That means no stops to top off the ice, nothing inside is wet, and you can pack the cooler full rather than having to layer in ice to keep things cool meaning more usable capacity. You can also set the temperature to exactly what you want including deep into freezing temperatures which you can’t do with a traditional cooler. You also have an interior light which is surprisingly useful.
Being a refrigerator, there are times when it kicks on that it won’t be silent but it isn’t loud or noisy. As far as keeping it charged you have every option available. The cooler comes with a cable to plug it into your car as well as an AC power supply to charge it that way. But you can charge it using USB Type-C as well if you have a 60-watt capable charger and you also can hook up a 100-watt solar panel as well. The new design did add in a few possible accessories including a second tray that can be added to the side, a travel kit that has add on cup holders, a knife holder, and a fishing rod holder as well, beach wheels to help pulling it through the sand, and the previously mentioned extra batteries. I love the flexibility of all of the accessories but their main downside is cost. The add-on tray is $80, the travel kit is $60, the beach wheels are $100, and the extra batteries are $250. The Anker Solix PS100 Solar Panel that would work to keep things charged is $229 as well. Costs could add up quickly if you pick up a few of those. The other downsides for the EverFrost 2 include the wheels not being ideal for hiking or beach trips (which is why they have the add-on wheels), the included wheel chocks weren’t very usable and didn’t fit into the storage tray, and the biggest downside is this thing is heavy. A loaded up cooler with ice and everything is heavy as well, but because of the refrigeration, this is heavy even when completely emptied. It’s unavoidable but something to keep in mind.
As for pricing, the EverFrost 2 40L that I have here has an MSRP of $899.99 but right now on Amazon is $799.99. It’s been as low as $699 as well a few times now. The larger 58L split design has an MSRP of $1099.99 and is currently $999. The pricing is interesting because without a doubt that is a lot of money, especially when compared to a basic cooler. High-end traditional coolers however start to get up into the $300 to $400 range. When we start talking about refrigerated coolers like this you have plug-in AC/DC models and then a few models now that are similar with battery power. Surprisingly the EverFrost 2 is competitively priced when compared to other battery-powered options, but you can go significantly cheaper if you go with a plug-in option without any battery capacity. What works for your situation will determine what you actually need there. For us, a plug-in model would work when traveling but wouldn’t work at all as a backup for if the power goes out.
Live Pricing: HERE
