Dometic Ice Maker Powered 12 Volt 53L Cooler

2025-06-05T20:00:00

Very efficient, quiet, stores a lot of volume. Highly recommended. This will be replacing our traditional coolers. One negative point, the ice maker is semi-misleading. The space allocated to making ice is very small. Ice cubes that you make are made through a tray, and they're the size of sugar cubes. But it's ice, none-the-less.

Tong20131

2024-09-06T20:00:00

Rattles on today's bumpy roads, slow to cool, and VERY poorly insulated resulting in additional power drain. Doubt it will last a day past warranty and no doubt coverage will be denied based on the rattle.

CSS C.

2023-07-25T20:00:00

I will make this short and sweet. The unit worked great for a couple years running full time in my overland land cruiser. The thermostat quit working.... on the highest setting it was freezing everything in the unit. Not happy with customer service at all. I would not buy this product again I think they're better choices out there. I tried to buy a new thermostat wiring kit and they are unavailable. Good luck!

Marlando

2023-06-28T20:00:00

We love this cooler. Love the capability to make ice when we are out wheelin'. Wish the top of the cover was made better but overall it's a great cooler.

Moneypit

2022-04-06T20:00:00

Have had this unit for about a year and am thankful that I havent had any compressor failures or anything of that sort. For the most part it functions as intended HOWEVER, the compressor makes a clunking/rattling noise if you drive over rough road or railroad tracks, or things of that nature. This is really annoying when you have the unit inside of an SUV that is essentially daily driven. There is no reason for this and the CFX3 SLD55 unit to make as much noise as they do. It should ride silently regardless of it being inside an SUV or mounted in the bed of a truck. The cfx3 app is also god awful. It doesn't work half the time whether your on bluetooth or connected via wifi. This app needs a substantial overhaul.

Todd B.

2021-09-25T20:00:00

This is the 2nd CFX unit I purchased, the first one was dead on arrival (warning 33). I submitted a case to Dometic on a Sunday explaining that I was planning to leave on a camping trip Friday. The next day I had a pre-paid return label and my replacement was on it's way. The replacement arrived just in time! We purchased this unit because our Rough Country 45L was too small. This unit, while bigger and more feature rich is not a great 'value' when you compare price per L of cold storage. Time will tell where durability comes into play.

Maine B.

2021-06-24T20:00:00

We have use the 55 on our trip to the Baja and several camping trips and we are very happy with this cooler, frig and as a freezer. It is so amazing not to be messing with ice and water. It works great, love the Bluetooth app to my phone. Great product and company to work with. I love it.

wnmoon52

2021-06-07T20:00:00

This is my third 12V fridge. I have the least use with this CFX355IM but am already pleased. I run the fridges off a portable battery box. While driving, the battery is charged via an inverter and I switch to a 100w solar panel once parked. I am seeing average power consumption at around 11.5 watts per hour with this CFX355IM at 70 degree outside temps and a 36 degree fridge setting. I can run 7 days without charging the battery but with the solar and a small amount of driving, the battery box stays fully charged. No drain from the vehicle battery and cold food all week!

SirShaggy

2020-12-19T19:00:00

Get good quality produce, seafood or meat and keep them fresh! Tired of of using our old ice chest which can get really heavy when filled and sometimes having your items ending up submerged in water. On a typical weekend trip we use 2 to 4 bags of ice, which can cost $10 to $20; not anymore with this fridge. The ice maker is great too, can easily make 4 good cocktails. I actually wanted the CFX3 75 Dual Zone but the size of this 55IM fits perfectly sideways in our Audi Q5

norbs007

2020-09-06T20:00:00

I purchase this item on June 14 for my birthday. I was going back and forth between ARB zero 50 QT or Snomaster 50QT and some South African brand . They all have some advantages and disadvantages compare to this. Depending what you are looking for. Dometic IM 55 is for a weekender who has stock battery and not too serious about hard core overlanding. It looks slick and works quietly as well as consumes very little but be careful When you are not driving because it shuts down to protect yourself car battery and that can ruin your food all together. Ice maker works ok and I use to take ice cream to camping since my older son is a picky eater that option is really important to us. I prefer plastic (polymer) construction better because it's a better insulation and it will not dented as easy as other ones. Also, I checked and ALL of them are MADE IN China but assembled in USA or other origin countries like Australia or South Africa but Dometic has more advance compressor and better interior and exterior to my opinion. Things I dislike: 1.Battery protection makes it hard to trust since it can shut down without notice even with Dometic app on my cellphone. 2. Power consumption is low but not as low as it was advertised.88 Amp/H 3. Great ice maker but missing a separation wall can you imagine your home fridge and freezer has no wall between them?? Crazy ! 3. I purchased the cover too , and side walls are awesome but top side is something . it has sharp hooks which must be hooked to inside the lids and if you are not careful you can rip your door gaskets on a brand new fridge . 4. I absolutely dislike the Dometic app. Colors are nice but functionality sucks . Let's put it this way it feels like they hired someone who just learned to design phone apps and this was his/her first job. So primitive that a kid would have done a better job. (sorry kids no insult) But overall for my needs and a sale price of 900$ I love it and it serves my needs .I care about USA assembly quality and this was has it.

Eric Y.

2020-07-05T20:00:00

This thing is quiet, efficient and reliable. I use it along with a Dometic PLB40 battery and an Overland Solar Bugout 130 solar charger. My biggest gripe with Dometic was they were not at all helpful in guiding me to a compatible solar panel for the plb40, so since I have tested this cooler along with the additional items, I wanted to let others know the three make an AWESOME combination!

Jesse K.

2020-06-18T20:00:00

I got this for a week long camping trip for some dispersed camping in Northwest South Dakota on federal lands open to dispersed camping. The fridge stood up to 60+ miles of offroading on sketchy USFS roads both in the bed of the truck and in the cab. It's whisper quiet and not only stays cold bet gets cold crazy fast. I was initially worried about being able to fit enough food for a week in this size but without needing ice you can easily fit enough food for a few people for a week with room to spare.

Will_J

2020-05-11T20:00:00

Does everything it's supposed to do, dependably. More features than I could ever expect from a mobile cooler. And this has proven to be rugged in gnarly conditions. Ice is an added bonus and puts this cooler into a league of it's own.

seijisays

2020-05-09T20:00:00

I have owned this cooler for several months now, and have taken it on 5 camping weekends. I love this thing! It uses very little energy and works well with our off-road camper. Ice if you want it, easy to use. We run it with a dual 100mAh battery setup and a small 90w solar system. We can easily run for days with this, and we also run LED lights, water pump, etc. If we doubled the solar, we could run indefinitely. In a nutshell, this cooler was well worth the price. We make pre-planned meals, run the cooler a day or two early on AC power, load up the cooler, then switch over to DC when we leave. This really is an awesome product. I really have nothing negative to say about it.

Off G.

2020-03-08T20:00:00

The unit appears to be well built and functions well, however, I did find some issues with it. 1) The manual instructions are nearly useless and not the same as what is found on-line which are somewhat better. 2) The "ice maker" is a useless joke and I immediately removed it to make more room. I would only be suitable for a "barbie" size house. 3) It is very unfortunate that Dometic does not facilitate the direct connection of the unit to a 12 volt fuse block (without having to go through their very expensive proprietary plug connection which just adds another connection where one loses power). 4) Nothing showed signs of freezing until it was set to as low at 27 - 26 degrees (and the only hint of freezing was at the very bottom of the compartment). 5) The unit is a bit noisier than I expected, but then again this is the first time I have purchased such a unit. 6) The wire baskets appear to be flimsy. All that said, I am hopeful that the unit is as good as the price indicates it should be. However, it does have a bit of a learning curve (especially in regards to the temperature issues).

Philip

2020-02-04T19:00:00

Cruising with the CFX3 is a total game-changer for me. It has tons of space, super intuitive user-friendly controls, and an ice-maker (!) which is a real luxury after 5+ days on the road. I don't have to mess with melting ice, dented cooler walls, and questionably fresh food ever again (I also don't have to worry about banging the CFX around, it's built tough and can travel with me anywhere). My only challenge now is figuring out a killer menu for my next trip!

katewhitney

2020-01-29T19:00:00

So far I am loving the CFX3 55IM - it replaced our CFX50. How can you not like having ice cubes at camp!! The fact it makes ice in a separate compartment without loosing space, is awesome!! And, it fits in the same Dometic bed slide as our old CFX50. Win win!

AVDH20

2020-01-12T19:00:00

It's one thing to keep it beautifully simple astride two motorcycles for 80,000 miles from Antarctica to the Arctic over nearly five years with nothing but a double-walled water bottle - that is, to keep our liquids hot or cold for a day - but when you migrate to a 4WD, you enter a brand new world of self-sufficiency. Your means multiply ten fold, and all at the push of a button. Gratifyingly, we have been bestowed with a total lifestyle change on the road. Namely through the ability to refrigerate (or freeze) our food in a portable CFX3 55IM and keep it charged with a PLB 40 handheld Lithium battery.

fourwheelednomad

2020-01-12T19:00:00

I have had this fridge now for almost a month and really love the added benefit of an ice maker. I have no need for a freezer on most of my trips but I used to really miss not having some ice when I needed it. Now with this new fridge I get the best of both worlds. The new design is great and it has been the perfect camping partner.

SeanScott74

2020-01-12T19:00:00

I had the honor to be one of the first ones getting hands on this awesome Cooler. I had the CFX 50W before and was super happy with it because of the great performance and durability but as I heard that the CFX3 will have an Ice Maker on board I knew it's time for an upgrade. What an awesome enhancement! The Ice Maker is a real gamechanger for me and the new design is also awesome! I definetely recommend this cooler to everyone looking for the best without making compromises.

Jan H.