Dometic CFX5 45 Powered Cooler
An ice-free solution for extended camping adventures, the Dometic CFX5 45 powered cooler holds up to 67 cans and has a rugged design with vacuum-insulated panels to ensure exceptional performance.
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- 45-liter capacity holds up to 67 cans (12 fl. oz.)—a versatile size for up to 5 people's weekend adventures, family camping trips and extended nomadic travel
- Durable exoframe design with reinforced corners and edges; self-folding aluminum alloy handles help you take it anywhere
- Easy-to-read, weatherproof, high-resolution TFT color operating display with 18W QC 3.0 USB port and soft-touch buttons
- Powerful compressor with variable motor speed optimization technology that automatically adjusts speed for optimal performance
- Optimized ratio of exterior to interior proportions provides maximum compressor efficiency; extended evaporator on inner walls ensures an even distribution of cold air
- Internal details include a removable wire divider and an interior light
- External details include a removable textured nonslip lid, TPE gaskets to ensure a tight lid seal, and an integrated bottle opener
- VIPs—Vacuum Insulated Panels—minimize thermal transfer through superior sealing and air removal techniques for superb energy efficiency
- Reliable and stable interior; internal components are mounted on calibrated springs to isolate noise and endure sustained vibration off road
- Temperature range of -7°F (-22°C) to 68°F (20°C); uses less power than a 60W light bulb
- Control the cooler, track energy consumption and monitor temperature with the Bluetooth smartphone app
- App can alert you when the lid is left open, monitor history and connect multiple devices at once
- 3-stage dynamic battery protection system actively monitors inbound power and prevents draining a vehicle battery or allows deep draw on dual batteries
- Powered by AC (110–240V), DC (12/24V)—or go off-grid with Dometic batteries and Obsidian solar panels (not included)
Imported.
View all Dometic Hard-sided Coolers| Best Use | Camping |
|---|---|
| Gear Capacity (L) | 45 liters |
| Gear Capacity (cu. in.) | 2,746 cubic inches |
| Material(s) | 32% metal/28% plastic/26% other fibers/14% polyurethane |
| Dimensions | 27.3 x 18.7 x 15.7 inches |
| Weight | 41 lbs. 3.2 oz. |
| Electric | Yes |
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Capable electric cooler/freezer
Fair warning, this is a nerdy review. Fast review: The cooler is very capable with the right expectations. I was able to set as target temperature at both fridge and freezer settings and achieve both. The app functions, you can remotely control the cooler. I didn’t find the temperature status display to be accurate, sometimes it was WAY OFF from measurements. The cooler worked on AC and DC but the majority of my time was on AC (how I’ll normally use it). The handles are spring loaded so they don’t flop around in the car and feel really sturdy. The drain port is on the bottom of the lowest point, making this actually easy to drain. On to the nerdier stuff. Upon first receiving the cooler I powered it on a paired it to my phone through the app. No issues whatsoever there. The app interface is simple but clean and easy to understand. I decided I’d test the fridge temperatures first so I loaded it up with canned drinks. I easily fit about 35 of the taller but skinnier energy drinks because that’s what I had on hand. The traditional 12oz can would be able to pack in way more. I then used a separate cooking / bbq thermometer setup to track the air temperature above the cans and the temperature touching the cans at the bottom. In all the pictures I’ve attached air temp is orange and blue is whatever I’m testing. (Cans first, water to freeze later) I know these temperature probes to be very accurate within less than a degree. I upload screen shots of the Cooler app and my probe graph. Compare clocks at the top to match photos. Unfortunately it’s VERY cold outside so I can’t do a summer-ish simulation. Best I can do it 70 degrees as the outside of the cooler temperature. In a real TX summer day this is going to have to work harder. The first four photos show the cooler just after loading to about 2 hours after. What I want to point out is the “status” reading from the app and cooler display is significantly off what I measured to be going on in the air and cans. 10 degrees off in the second two photos. I had the cooler set to 41 and you can see the graph is slowly approaching that temperature. For the app and cooler to display 34 is kinda wild. If I were without my external setup I’d start to worry I was going to freeze and blow up cans. The fifth picture shows the graph after four more hours. It’s really getting close to the 39 degrees desired. The sawtooth air temperature show duty cycle of the heat pump, or how often the cooler has to turn on to cool. At about one third of the graph I changed from 41 degrees to 39. You can see the response on the orange graph. I’m only asking the cooler to do about 30 degrees change from outside to inside for this test. That’s not very big and I’m a little surprised how slow it is to come to temp. The sixth photo shows the graph after running all night. It’s final leveling off at 39 (where I asked it to go). The seventh photo shows what the app and control panel indicate for the temperature inside. 32 is way off again. It’s not 32 in the air or in the cans. Not helpful. Eighth photo shows the probes over a shorter time when the cooler is at temperature. It’s set to 39 and is holding at 38 quite well. I don’t know why their measurement display is so off when temperature is changing but it does seem to actually know what it’s doing. Probably two different teams worked on each part. I opened the lid many times to take a drink out during all of these graphs. That fact that you can obviously see where I did that is good, the cooler holds temp well even with short door openings. The lid does require a focused effort to make sure it closes. Gravity won’t do it, you need to squish the seals down. I like this, makes me know it’s closed right. After the fridge temperature sessions I wanted to get a feel for power off behavior. So the next photo (ninth) is showing a time history of the probes overnight and the next day turned off. There’s a pretty substantial climb at first in the air temp and then a gradual heat up as expected. Remember this is just cans of soda, no ice. Holding the temperature seems to be pretty reasonable. Towards the end of this picture of turned the cooler back on to see how fast it’d fall back down. It’s not super fast, 5-6 hrs to return. So this not something you can hope to load with warm food and run for an hour to get everything chilly. Precool your food and drinks and then have it plugged into DC in the vehicle while driving is going to help a lot. Ok now to test freezing. For this test I decided to keep it simple. I grabbed a cup of tap water and put it in the bottom of the cooler all by itself and set the cooler to the lowest it would go 18 deg F. The tenth photo shows this setup. It’s probably the easiest freeze test but I want to see if it can freeze something and not just keep something frozen. Eleventh photo shows the same orange air temp we’ve been seeing and now the blue is the probe in the water in the cup. The red trace is a third probe I added to a second glass of water on the upper shelf later on. What’s really interesting is the blue goes BELOW the freezing temp of water. This is really cool, since the cooler is relatively slow it managed to super-cool the water. Google super cooled water for some neat videos of water instantly freezing when disturbed. I opened the cooler and stirred the water with the probe and got the water to instantly solidify. You can see then the blue trace jumps up to where we expect frozen water to be. Wanted to see if I could repeat the experience so I added another cup of water and probe which shows up as the red trace. Sure enough, in the next photo we see that one also supercooling. Does this have any implications for food at a campsite? No idea, but it’s neat! So with that the technical nerd stuff is done. Finishing up my thoughts. The cooler clearly works. I will use this mainly when I have access to AC power and during long drives where I can tap into the alternator for DC. The idea of hooking up to solar powered battery is really neat too, but I don’t have a way to test that. My car shuts down the DC system not long after the car is turned off so without directly hooking to the battery I can’t get meaningful use that way. The cooler is heavy. I would not want to lug this around full of stuff by myself or very far with a friend. The cooler is EXPENSIVE. This is a lot of money when you consider the alternative of a nice cooler and traditional or dry ice. If you intend to use it as a very portable fridge / freezer for longer term use then the cost makes more sense. But one or two days on a weekend for a camping trip? Ehh it’s a bit steep. I tried to focus on mainly the data for this review. Hopefully seeing my semi-scientific testing informs how this thing actually works. One area I’d like to see improved is the temperature readout on the app and display. I feel like the cooler controller really must know the real temperature because it’s cooling correctly to my target. But the display is way wrong.
Great versatile cooler for travel and at home
I've used the cooler more than I thought I would. I so far like the fact that I can fit this cooler easily into the trunk of my sedan with room to spare, it also fits seamlessly into our SUV. The size of this cooler is such that I can lift it myself; as a petite woman, lifting a wide cooler can be impossible so I appreciate that it is narrow enough to do it myself! That being said, lifting it with a lot of food/beverage inside would be tough as it is fairly heavy when it's empty so I would be careful packing it too full. This has been fine for packing day use things such as a few meals/drinks/snacks for our family of four, I also like that it has a shelf to separate the deeper area into smaller sections. I also have been using this a lot for when I get too many groceries and they don't fit into my fridge at first, the cooler is small enough to tuck into a corner and is quiet enough to not be bothersome. A few things I struggled with: getting the cooler to turn on for the first time was not incredibly easy to figure out (after reading the instructions I got it to work....go figure!!), also you need to click the handle to the lid and listen to it click on order for it to be sealed shut. Overall I think I'll use this plenty for trips around town or to continue using as an option for when I have large gatherings or things don't fit in my fridge. I am not sure that I would grab for this cooler for a weekend camping trip, though.
An incredible electric cooler!
The Domestic CFX5 45 is my first powered cooler and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'm pleasantly surprised! Everything just worked really well. The first thing I did was go to the Dometic website and download the app. The link took me to an old app, and I instead searched the App Store for a Domestic app that had been recently updated. It was easy to find. The app walked me through setting up a Bluetooth connection with the cooler, and it proved to be an easy process. I can turn the cooler on and off and control the temperature with the app. I experienced no problems repeatedly using the app and connecting to the cooler. I initially set the cooler to 37 degrees. It started at 61 degrees and took less than 5 minutes to reach 37 degrees. It is extremely quiet and only emits a very quiet hum. It was never noticed while running continuously for a week straight. It maintains temperature well, though I have not able to use it in hot conditions. It comes with both a cord to plug into a standard outlet, as well as a 12V outlet. I had no problem using either, depending on the location (home vs in the car). I love the simple features of this cooler. It's solidly built. The spring loaded handles have a nice feel. I love the textured top. The latch is easy to open, though it does not always close securely without pushing down. This is really my only complaint. I appreciate the 2 baskets for organization, though found that it is sometimes helpful to remove the divider on the larger basket, or remove the baskets completely depending on the size of items you are putting in the cooler. I also loved the light that turns on when opening. It's very convenient at night. The surfaces are easy to clean and the drain makes emptying not a problem. 45L is a great all purpose size for a small group or family. I feel like the dimensions are very reasonable for the capacity. It also is lightweight for its size and features. I found it easy to carry around, though I load it after I put it in the car. When not using it on the road, it makes a great mini fridge at home. I also found it useful for going to the grocery store and keeping my food cool when making other stops on the way home. It just works. And it does its job VERY well.
The Portable Adventure Fridge
Overall, this is a feature packed adventure cooler. It is built solidly. The outside is made of a durable plastic. All of the hinge points are quality metal. The handles are very robust. When carrying the cooler, there are no loose fitting parts. Although, the handles have a bit of spring tension and lift outwards. This makes one person carrying a little more challenging since it spreads your hands out a bit more. I would say the 45 liter version is more of a two person carry if the cooler is full. So far, I got to use the cooler at home and in the family car. It is pretty roomy as it can comfortably hold a gallon of milk, some canned drinks, and bottled water with plenty of room for other foods. The larger compartment has a removable divider as well. It took about 20 minutes to go from room temperature to the specified temperature on the display. The drinks were able to stay chilled as if it in were my fridge at home. Not needing a bag or two of ice in the cooler makes for a lot better usage of space inside for our food. In the car, the cooler performed similarly to it did at home. In my usage, I think I heard the cooler fan running once in a quiet room, so it runs quiet and smooth. I used the dometic app on my phone to connect to it via bluetooth. The bluetooth connection was reliable at home and on the road. I was able to set the temperature and check if the door was left open via the app. I haven't tried the other dometic apps to trend power usage. I can't wait to take it on our planned camping and road trips later this year.
No need for ice.
I received these products for free from the REI Trailblazers sampling program in exchange for my honest review. The first time I used it was to store food when defrosting my fridge. It held all the food and most of my many condiments. It was a great way to test out the cooling and play with the screen.It did take me longer than I would have liked to realize that it takes a slight extra push on the lid to fully engage the latch and make the cooler run. The pictogram operating instructions did not help guide me on that and made me wonder if it was broken out of the box because even the screen didn't turn on the first time I plugged it in. Luckily sitting on it while scrolling for help online solved my issue. As a cooler it is pretty well insulated, but was surprised that it had no battery backup to just power the little display. I was hoping to monitor the internal temperature when not plugged into power. It is heavy so I don't recommend having to carry it full of food far by yourself. But it shows no signs of scrapes and dings. An overlooked feature is that the dc cigarette adapter completely unscrews into pieces which helps to replace the fuse or when it gets stuck in the cars power port (which is a problem I have sometimes). Also, whoever designed those handles is an industrial design genius. Comfortable, sturdy with a strong spring.
More efficient than previous generation.
More efficient than previous generation. Does not need battery protection when plugged in truck while garaged for several days.
DOA
I give this cooler 3 stars because the first cooler I received would not power up with AC or DC power. REI was right on the problem and sent me out another cooler. This one is working just fine. But, these coolers are not meant to retain the cold. It takes only about 15 minutes to go from 82 to 36 degrees, but as soon as you turn off the power it starts to lose temperature. I had 9 bottles of water, 1 bottle of Coke, and 3 mini cans of soft drink that were very cold when temperature reached 36 degrees. After turning off the power the cooler was up to 60 degrees within 2 hours. If you want to keep the cooler cold at all times you will need to invest in a battery backup that will keep the cooler running even when regular power is off. With all the above said, I just powered on the cooler in my 85 degree garage using the DC cord and it went from 82 to 37 degrees in less than 1/2 hour. I may have more updates after we use it in real world situations.
I'm OBSESSED!
I chose the Dometic CFX5 45 because it was the perfect size for my little family. I have little ones and I was exhausted trying to manage and keep our food cold. I've had just about every cooler on the market but when you're spending multiple days in the mountains, an ice cooler isn't practical. Our food would end up wet and soggy and it's beyond frustrating. I've had the cooler now for a few months and it's been a game changer for our family trips. JUST GET IT. you won't regret it.
Defective two times in a row.
I'm 0 for 2 with this cooler. The first one I received was DOA- no matter what I plugged it into, it simply would not turn on. Dometic for support confirmed it's just dead and recommended I return it to REI (which I did- thank you so much REI for the easy return process!). I took a chance and ordered a second unit. I first plugged it into a wall outlet in my home (AC) and although the start-up looked a little sketchy at first, it eventually turned on and cooled to temperature with no issues (though it's sometimes hard to tell if its running or not). I then plugged it into a 12V outlet and it ran for a while but then I received several compressor errors. I unplugged the unit, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then plugged it back into the wall outlet where it ran for about 24 hours with no issues again. I then plugged the unit back into a 12v outlet, and after about 12 hours I received the compressor errors again. Now it will no longer work whether its plugged into a home AC outlet or the 12v outlet. When I plug it into the wall outlet, I see the Dometic logo flash for a moment, but then can't get any of the buttons to work. This one will be going back to REI as well. Sigh.
Won’t turn on
Plugged it in but it would not turn on, just som wiggles on the display. Returned immediately