BougeRV CRD2 40L review: A budget dual-zone camping fridge freezer that rolls with you

If you’re looking for an efficient, low-cost fridge-freezer for your camping travels, you might not find a more suitable budget model than the BougeRV CRD2 40L dual zone portable we’re reviewing here.

Whether it’s a standard passive model from the likes of YETI and Coleman or a genuine portable fridge-freezer like the classy EcoFlow Glacier Classic we reviewed in 2025, there’s a plethora of best coolers for camping on the market.

But I’ve got to say that this new BougeRV may well be one of the most versatile and best-value models I’ve come across, even if its temperature stats aren’t the most accurate.

BougeRV CRD2 40L Dual Zone Portable Fridge Freeer review

Price and availability

The BougeRV CRD2 is available in the UK in two sizes: the 40L (43QT) version under review and a 49-litre model for those with bigger aspirations.

If you live in the UK, you can purchase the BougeRV CRD2 40L direct from BougeRV for a very reasonable £239.99 or, if purchasing from Amazon, the standard retail price of £329.99.

If you’re shopping Stateside, head straight to BougeRV, where this 43QT option retails at $309.99, or try Amazon for the same price. And if you wish to go large, you can purchase either the 52QT version for $349.99 or the whopping 61QT variant for $399.99.

Specifications

• Capacity: 40L (43QT) / 49L /57L
• Dual zone: Yes
• Temperature Range: -20°C to 20°C (-4°F - 68°F)
• Capacity: 60 cans (330 ml)
• Size: 73 x 46.1 x 43.8cm (28.7 x 18.14 x 17.24in)
• Weight: 19kgs / 41.9 lbs
• Wheels: Yes
• Pull handle: Yes
• Power consumption: +/- 55W
• Built in battery: Optional
• Max Solar Power: 100W
• Warranty: 2 years

Design and features

When it comes to camping or van life, nothing beats having a proper compressor fridge to hand. And if that fridge just so happens to also have a freezer zone, well, so much the better.

Yes, you could get by with a top-quality passive cooler from YETI or Coleman for a couple of days using just ice, but when that ice melts, your food and drink end up floating in iced water. And then you need to find more ice from somewhere.

And that isn’t always practical. Likewise, any passive cooler’s stated capacity is vastly reduced the moment you quarter-fill it with ice.

A two-zone 12V fridge freezer like the BougeRV CRD2, on the other hand, will stay on ad infinitum if your pitch has an electricity supply. And if it doesn’t, you also have the option to power the CRD2 via the best portable station, especially if used in cahoots with a solar panel.

Alternatively, this model can stay fully powered for up to 10 hours using its optional 100Ah LiFePO4 battery (£195), which you could keep topped up with a BougeRV solar panel. In essence, the solar panel charges the battery, which in turn powers the fridge. I unfortunately never received the battery for this review, so I can't say much more about it.

I’ve reviewed quite a few portable 12V fridges over the years – including the premium and therefore rather pricey EcoFlow Glacier Classic (£600, £629 with 40-hour battery) – but I think this model offers the best bang for your buck, to coin a hackneyed term.

At 73cm in length, 46.1cm in depth and 43.8cm in height, and a reasonable 19kgs (41.9lbs) in weight, the CRD2 isn't too large for the boot or too heavy to lift out of the car when using its two heavy-duty retractable side handles.

Once it's on the ground, you can simply unlock the long aluminium extension handle and pull it along on its small but rugged wheels. This is an especially handy feature because once the BougeRV CRD2 is full of goodies, its weight increases dramatically.

Having wheels and a proper handle to hand means you can wheel it a fair old distance without too much effort. And that makes it a great day-long picnic choice, too, especially if used with its optional battery.

While the BougeRV CRD2 would look more at home on an American campsite or out in the wilds, backwoods, backcountry, whatever you want to call it, I'm rather smitten by its rugged RV-style appearance and overall build quality, which feels tough and well put together.

However, the casing’s dark colour does get hot in direct sunlight, which suggests the compressor will need to work harder if the unit is left out in the sun.

The BougeRV CRD2 normally retails at around £240 without the optional battery and £350 with the battery. For this fairly meagre sum, you get a very decent 40 litres (43 QT) of packing space, divided into two sections – on the left, a large zone of approximately 32.5 L replete with a drainage plug, and on the right, a much smaller 7.2 L zone, each with its own internal LED lamp.

According to the blurb, this model will hold up to 60 330ml cans of pop or a wide range of camping ingredients, including all the essentials like water, soft drinks, beer, milk, and butter. Furthermore, the lids for both zones can be easily switched around to open from the other side by simply unclipping and refitting them.

You can configure these two zones any which way, whether both are used for refrigeration at around 3˚C, both are used for freezing (down to the unit's advertised 20˚C) or as a fridge/freezer combination of either.

If used as a double-zone fridge, I would suggest the larger zone for drinks, milk, etc., and the smaller zone for stuff like butter, sausages, ham, bacon, tomatoes, and anything else you don't want to be rummaging around for.

The BougeRV CRD2's side-mounted interface isn't the slickest in town, but it's very easy to get the hang of and features two sets of temperature controls, one for each zone, along with a Settings button to engage Eco mode, which is designed to conserve power by optimising the compressor's performance.

In essence, it operates at a lower power consumption (typically less than 45W) compared to 55-60W in normal mode. Eco is ideal for running the fridge on internal battery power or via a power station, solar panels or when ambient temperatures are cooler.

In Eco mode, the internal temperatures will likely fluctuate more than in the normal Max mode, though not too negatively so.

Heading to the power points on the side, you get an AC input, a DC input (with supplied cable for running it off the car’s cigarette lighter socket), a solar input and two USB-C outputs for charging small devices.

One big bonus with this model is that it is app-compatible, so you can also control the unit from afar. This remote method is especially pertinent when fiddling around in the Settings section, which can be quite fiddly if using the unit's interface.

Aside from selecting Eco or Max and your favourite temperature unit (°C/°F), the settings function also features a battery protection option for those using their car to power the fridge.

If, say, you've plugged the fridge into your car's cigarette lighter, and you don't have the engine running (always a risky procedure), you can choose how low you want the car's 12V battery to go before the fridge shuts down to save it from completely discharging, and therefore not starting the engine.

Is this model as well insulated as the best YETI? I very much doubt it, but as long as you keep it running, it will stay chilled for the entire trip.

Performance

I admit to not having taken this fridge on a camping trip yet, but I have run extensive tests at home and have been mostly impressed, even though its internal temperatures are off the mark when checked against a pair of calibrated fridge thermometers.

I'm running a final test as I write, with the large zone set to 3˚C and the smaller zone to -10˚C. With both cavities’ internal ambient temperatures currently around 16˚C, it will be interesting to see how quickly they drop and how accurately the unit's thermal sensor perceives them.

In the meantime, one of my earlier tests coincided with the task of finding somewhere to store six bags of frozen hash browns and sausages for a breakfast day in our village hall, and the BougeRV CRD2 came to the rescue.

It was already on when I filled it and started the test at around 7 pm. I set the large zone to its lowest minimum temperature of -20˚C and the smaller zone to 5˚C because I'd left it empty.

I'd say it took most of the evening for the larger hash browns zone to reach -13˚C according to the fridge's own thermometer, but by the morning the interface showed it had attained an acceptable -18˚C.

However, my own fridge thermometer begged to differ, showing -16 °C. So, on evidence of this test alone, the BougeRV CRD2 can be off by a few degrees. Also, it never actually reached -20˚C on the interface. The smaller zone, however, fared much better, reaching 5˚C on the unit and 5.9˚C on the fridge thermometer.

Had this been a home fridge, I might have been a bit concerned by this result, especially for the freezer section, which is normally around -19˚C for a home fridge.

I see no real issue with this temperature anomaly for something used for camping. Even its lowest true temperature of around -16˚C is more than enough for camping or outdoor use – unless you're on an extraordinarily long camping stint of more than three months, the safe storage period for most frozen foods is -19˚C.

But back to the current test, the one with the large zone set to 3˚C and the smaller zone to -10˚C. After 60 minutes of being on, the fridge is displaying 3˚C, but the thermometer is displaying a strange 6˚C, while on the freezer side, the interface is displaying -10˚C as set and -8.9˚C on the thermometer.

Now, some users may freak out at these erratic figures, but I'm mindful that it's a budget fridge freezer, and this is the type of inconsistent performance I would expect from such a unit. It just means that when I'm camping, I would personally set the main fridge section to around 1˚ or 2˚C and make adjustments if necessary (a dedicated fridge thermometer helps with this).

Likewise, if using the freezer compartment, I would set it to the full -20˚C mark for extra safety, knowing it would likely hover around -16˚ to -18˚C after several hours on, even if it's hot outside. You basically get what you pay for, and, in this regard, I still maintain you're getting a very decent product for the money.

Verdict

The BougeRV CRD2 40L is an admirably practical piece of refrigeration kit that’s tailor-made for life out in the great wide open. The ability to run the fridge and freezer compartments simultaneously is a major boon for campers and van-lifers, while its extendable handle, rear wheels, app control, and the ability to run off AC mains or a power station, DC from the car, a solar panel, or the optional battery add further appeal.

While the inconsistent temperature readings suggest it was built to a certain price point, I don’t think this matters much in the grand scheme of things. I still maintain that, if you’re in the market for a low-cost 12V fridge-freezer, the BougeRV CRD2 40L remains a very decent contender.