BougeRV 23 Quart (CR22) Review

BougeRV 23 qt specs

• BougeRV rates it at 60 W in MAX mode and under 45 W in ECO.
• Weight is 22.3 lb on the listing; OutdoorGearLab measured 19.8 lb. OGL measured 21.7 L usable volume.
• OGL recorded 8.3 W average DC draw at steady state but doesn't state the ambient temperature, so we don't treat it as a rated draw.
• Colors are separate listings (grey $144.39, black $159.99 on Oct 29, 2026).

Other sizes in this series

Each size is a separate Amazon listing. Prices are typical street prices, not live.

Specs are compiled from manufacturer listings and independent reviews and may change between production runs. Confirm on the Amazon page before buying.

How long will a battery run the BougeRV 23 qt?

Estimated runtime on a 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery (about 90 Ah usable) with the fridge set to 37°F and the lid mostly closed. BougeRV doesn't publish an average draw for this model, so these figures are estimated from its size, calibrated on fridges that do publish one, and are rougher than usual.

* With 5 peak sun hours and 25% system losses. Freezer settings, frequent opening and warm food all add load. Try your own battery and weather in the battery runtime calculator.

The BougeRV 23 Quart, sold as the CR22, is a small single-zone compressor fridge that runs on 12/24 V DC or household AC and costs about $145–152 on Amazon depending on color (check today’s price). For that money you get a real refrigerator that can freeze, sized to sit on a back seat, plus 3-level battery protection and both cords in the box. It’s our pick for the best small budget fridge and the cheapest sensible way to stop buying bags of ice. If you’re not sure 23 quarts is enough, our fridge matcher sizes it against your trip.

Who it’s for (and who should skip it)

It’s for road-trippers, commuters, anglers and solo or two-person weekend campers who want cold drinks and lunch without melted ice, and who don’t want to spend several hundred dollars to get it. At about 20–22 lb it’s light enough to carry one-handed, which matters more than spec sheets suggest when you’re moving it in and out of a car every day.

Skip it if you need a fridge and freezer at the same time (look at the dual-zone ICECO GO20, with a Secop compressor and a removable divider, at about three times the price), if you want app monitoring, or if you’re feeding a family for several days. Twenty-three quarts holds about 23 cans; a week of food for two won’t fit.

Cooling performance

OutdoorGearLab, which made it its small powered cooler pick, found the CR22 reached temperature in 1.3 hours and got down to −3.2°F. Fast pull-down is useful for a small fridge, because you can load room-temperature drinks mid-trip and have them cold within the afternoon.

Temperature control is looser than on premium fridges. OGL measured about 3°F of average deviation from the set point, where the best units hold within about half a degree. For drinks and sandwiches, that doesn’t matter. For raw meat or dairy, set it a few degrees colder than you need and use a separate fridge thermometer to check it.

The other caveat is condensation: OGL saw moisture build up on the upper walls after a few hours. Keep food in sealed containers and wipe the walls when you stop.

Power and practical use

BougeRV rates it at 60 W in MAX mode and under 45 W in ECO, but those are compressor-running figures. Averaged over a day, the draw is much lower. OGL recorded 8.3 W average at steady state, though it didn’t state the ambient temperature, so we don’t treat that as a rated figure. Our own capacity-based estimate is about 194 Wh a day on a 90°F day at 37°F inside, or about 0.67 Ah per hour at 12 V.

That’s frugal. By our estimate a 288 Wh DC power station would run it for a little over a day in summer heat, and a 100 Ah LiFePO4 house battery for several days. To replace a day’s use with solar you’d need roughly 50 W of panel in five peak sun hours. Our guide on how long a battery will run a 12V fridge covers the math, and the battery runtime calculator does it for your setup.

The 3-level battery protection is the feature that makes it safe to run from a car’s 12 V socket. Use the highest setting when it’s plugged into your starter battery.

Reliability and warranty

The CR22 has one of the biggest owner bases in the category: about 3,200 Amazon reviews averaging 4.6 stars when we checked. That doesn’t guarantee your unit, but a large, long-running review record is the best reliability signal a budget fridge can offer. BougeRV covers it for 2 years, longer than the 1-year whole-unit warranty on the Alpicool C20. BougeRV doesn’t publish the compressor make.

How it compares

The obvious rival is the Alpicool C20, at about $170. The C20 has a slightly narrower box and an app, but its official specs are thin and owners are split on how well it holds temperature. We’d buy the BougeRV first. Our BougeRV 23 Quart vs Alpicool C20 comparison goes deeper.

If you have the space, the Euhomy 59QT costs less than $100 more and holds well over twice as much, though it’s a much bigger box and very slow to cool down.

Bottom line

For about $150, the BougeRV 23 Quart is a real compressor fridge that freezes, sips power and has thousands of owner reviews behind it. Expect some condensation and a few degrees of temperature swing. If you need tighter control or a split freezer, step up to the ICECO GO20; if you just want cold food in the car without ice, this is the one to buy. See where it ranks in our best small car fridges guide.

Featured in our guides

• The 7 Best Portable Fridges of 2026: 12V Fridges Ranked by Trip, Power and Budget
• The Best Budget Portable Fridges Under $300 (and the Thermoelectric Trap to Avoid)
• The Best Small Car Fridges of 2026: Compact 12V Fridges for Road Trips and Day Trips
• Best Portable Freezer for Camping: Which 12V Models Reach 0°F

Sources

• amazon.com
• outdoorgearlab.com
• outdoorgearlab.com