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.
