BougeRV Rocky 40 Review: The portable fridge and freezer for the road

A reliable and energy-efficient way to cool food and drinks can be invaluable when traveling. Passive coolers with ice packs quickly reach their limits, and the common thermoelectric coolers that use Peltier elements often only cool to a few degrees below the ambient temperature, proving to be real power hogs. The premier class for on-the-go cooling, therefore, is the compressor cooler, which functions like a real refrigerator—independent of the outside temperature and remarkably efficient. The BougeRV Rocky 40, a cooler with a 39-liter capacity, fits exactly into this category.

The BougeRV Rocky 40 has proven to be an extremely well-designed and powerful compressor cooler. Its key strengths are clearly its robustness, the high flexibility offered by its dual-zone system, and above all, its low power consumption.

However, with an empty weight of almost 19 kg (approx. 42 lbs), this mobile fridge-freezer isn't quite so "mobile" after all. When fully loaded, carrying the cooler quickly becomes a feat of strength, even though the large handles are quite comfortable.

The BougeRV Rocky 40 is available directly from the manufacturer's online store as well as on Amazon. The cooler itself is priced at around $420. For those looking to buy the cooler bundled with the matching battery for off-grid use, the cost is around $530 on Amazon. (All prices are as of late July 2025.)

The BougeRV Rocky 40, which weighs about 19 kilograms (about 42 pounds) empty, immediately conveys a sense of durability and high-quality construction. Its body combines a rugged black plastic frame with sleek stainless steel panels on all four sides and the lid—a design choice that not only looks appealing but also ensures durability and easy cleaning.

For portability, two large, self-retracting handles are recessed into the sides. While these make the cooler manageable when empty, carrying it fully loaded can be a real endurance test for a single person. The design is packed with thoughtful features, including a reversible lid that can be re-mounted to open from either side, an integrated bottle opener, and the main control panel with its bright display.

Opening the lid reveals LED lights that illuminate the interior, which is lined with the same type of white plastic commonly found in household refrigerators.

The centerpiece of the design is its flexible layout. A removable divider splits the 39-liter (41-quart) space into two zones—a 17-liter left side and a 19-liter right side—or it can be taken out completely to create one large compartment.

The left compartment is tall enough to hold most bigger bottles upright, while the right compartment has a raised step to accommodate the compressor housed underneath. To make access even easier, the cooler comes with two wire baskets that can be lifted out, simplifying loading and unloading. For easy cleaning, condensation and meltwater can be drained through an integrated plug at the bottom of the cooler.

The Rocky 40 can operate as a dual-zone cooler, allowing the temperature for each compartment to be set separately within a range of –20°C to 20°C (-4°F to 68°F). Dual-zone operation necessitates that the left compartment maintain a temperature that is either equal to or higher than that of the right compartment. During testing, the cooler was set to –18°C (0°F), the recommended temperature for frozen foods. It reached this temperature effortlessly and maintained it consistently, even in warm summer conditions. Once the divider is removed, the cooler operates as a single zone.

Additionally, the Rocky 40 is highly effective in maintaining its internal temperature, which is indicative of its good insulation. After four hours without power in an ambient temperature of 20°C to 24°C (68°F to 75°F), the contents, previously at 8°C (46°F), had warmed by only 1°C (about 1.8°F).