coolers

[laoutdoorsman]

igloo maxcold, or coleman xtreme??

i have 2 coleman xtreme series coolers...1 is a 60 quart with wheels, and 1 is a 70 quart without wheels....love them, they work great....

recently, since starting to build my camper, ive decided that i want to put a cooler semi-permanently on the tongue of my trailer...wantig something larger, i ordered a igloo max cold 100 quart from academy...well, it showed up this weekend, and i have to say that im not real impressed with it(the overall construction, thickness, lid construction)...havent used it yet to compare the "cold-keeping ability"...so, granted, my intitial reaction is only based on looks...ill test it out his week....

but, i figured id start this topic, just to see if any of yall may have already compared the 2...

[Arne]

I've not had great luck with any of the 5 day coolers (I have 2)..... Marine coolers seem to be better, I have one of them....

They have some more expensive coolers that are supposed to be much better, but ice isn't that expensive. Especially if you freeze your own in milk jugs.

Quote: My family is very outdoors oriented.
I have preferred backpacking to any other form of camping. When my wife and I got married and had our boy we started car-camping. Nowhere near as adventurous, but far more comfortable.

One of the things I hate about going car-camping is having to leave camp every other day to go and get more ice for the coolers. The last time I went camping we used the Coleman Xtreme 70 Quart Cooler (Which I have reviewed separately. See my profile.). We ended up going for ice darn near every day. It’s not like we took a case of hot soda cans from the oven-like confines of a car trunk and plopped then into the cooler with just a 2.5 lb bag of ice and left the cooler sitting in the sun all day.

Well, I’ve finally found the perfect cooler.
I’ve been using one of the Cabela’s Outfitter Series Ice Otter Coolers for about a year now. Be warned, this is not the kind of cooler you want to take for a day at the beach. Oh it’s not really that big. This model is the seventy quart size, and it measures 25 L x 17 W x 18 H just like most other seventy quart coolers.

Here’s what makes this cooler better than any other cooler I have ever used before:
First, it’s built like a tank, the housing is made of polyethylene with UV blockers. This means the plastic material which forms the housing is extremely durable and resistant to the UV rays of the sun which can cause other coolers to become discolored, brittle and break upon light impact. Like when you toss an old, empty cooler into the bed of a pick-up and watch it break.

Secondly,
all the interior spaces are filled with insulating polyurethane foam. Every other cooler I’ve used has a hollow space and relies on the “Air gap” for insulating. Polyurethane foam is used for adding buoyancy t

[Arne]

another link// I'm looking too.

http://blog.bestcampinggearreviews.com/2009/03/best-camping-cooler-coleman-xtreme.html

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4807332#ShortReviewTitleBar

[laoutdoorsman]

that second link(walmart coleman xtreme 70 quart)...i have that cooler, and totally love it..ive had great results with it...ive kept drinks iced down for 3 or 4 days easily without adding any more ice ...never tested it longer than that....i also have one thats only a tad smaller that is built pretty much the same(it has wheels)...ive had about the same results with that one too..

im just hoping this igloo is comparable...im gonna load it up tomorrow and test it out this week...

i agree on the ice being not all that expensive....just can be a hassle...i would not own a cooler that i had to add ice every day...in fact, i just gave one away, that would keep ice for a day or 2, and that was its limit...

i make my own ice...and i find it last so much better than store bought ice...but once i am away for several days, restocking with homemade ice aint gonna happen....at grand isle, when i go fishing for a few days at a time the marinas have a certain brand if ice called "slo-melt"...its a local company, and you can get it in 20 pound bags for about 3 bucks, and it lasts so much better than just regular old convienence store bag ice("party ice" or whatevr brand)...

[Larwyn]

I get great results with this one, I added the latches and a gasket around the lid.

[laoutdoorsman]

i like those latches...whered you get them?? hardware store?? or are they something special?? are the screw just thru the plastic outer shell, or all the way through??

[Larwyn]

The latches are stainless steel from Austin Hardware. The screws are short stainless sheetmetal screws carefully snugged to prevent stripping. I used no adhesive between the aluminum plates and the cooler but that would probably be a good idea, even though mine have shown no sign of loosening up. The two larger screws in the upper lip of the ice chest do most of the holding as the plastic is a lot thicker at that point. I bent the plates to fit snugly with just the top two screws the others are not holding much as the plastic is really thin on the body of the ice chest. The plates are important unless you find latches that can be attached to that thicker white plastic around the upper rim.

[TheresaD]

Larwyn, I guess the important questions about your cooler would be this... How much Guinness does that baby store? and... Does that tap let you pour the perfect pint?? How cool would that be to have a freshly tapped pint sitting on your picnic table while you watch it cascade!?! Now that would be sweeeet!!

[Larwyn]

Larwyn, I guess the important questions about your cooler would be this... How much Guinness does that baby store? and... Does that tap let you pour the perfect pint?? How cool would that be to have a freshly tapped pint sitting on your picnic table while you watch it cascade!?! Now that would be sweeeet!!

It will hold more than a couple of people can drink in one sitting, that's for sure. The tap on the side allows me to drain the water more easily without unloading everything around it. Of course with Guinness you do get the perfect pint every time whether you pour it from a tap, a can, or a bottle. As a side note, that Guinness label on the ice chest was cut directly from a Guinness can.

[Shadow Catcher]

I am thinking of making my own cooler and found plans.
Ice from our refrigerator starts out at -20F. Testing bag ice freezers on a couple of occasions, no great surprise fond them to be at about 30F, so what you start out with makes a huge difference. The Coleman Extreme are supposed to have insulation in the lid and I am going to drill a hole and find out. You can find cans of foam for insulation and that can be injected into the cavities that are not filled. I am also going to make a cover out of the silvery mylar (Reflectix) bubble wrap insulation.
Coleman is supposed to be working on extending the days to 9 then Ultimate is supposed to be six.
Coolth depends on what you start with, how often you open, ambient temperature, is it in the sun...

[Team Varekai]

Reading this thread reminded me of a tip I tried with mixed results
We liked to tent camp and with our 4 kids along always getting into the ice chest containg drinks the ice was always an issue. I read on a website that you could extend the "life" of the ice by adding rock salt..... I agreed thinking this is how you freeze homemade icecream so on our next outing I loaded the icechest with probably 3 cases of sodas and bottled water that were room temp. I added a layer of ice followed by a LIGHT layer of salt then more ice and more salt. Didn't think I used that much because this was a new idea so I went conservative, or so I thought. We drove to Big Sur, gotta love Calif. coastline, set-up camp and settled in. Later that evening my son went to get a soda and wondered why someone put their empty can in the chest He grabbed another one, when he tried to open it it was froze to a slushy-like state.....we all thought WOW this really works Until the next day when everything was froze SOLID, there were even cans that burst, ripped the can right down the side. So needless to say, ice was not an issue that trip, but there were a couple of drinks runs that had to be made. So I guess in moderation, say fill chest with drinks, then ice, then a little salt on top should suffice. I haven't tried it again because SHE won't let me LOL So folks, there's my 2 cents, enjoy.

[laoutdoorsman]

well...not sure about this cooler..mite be returning it to get a coleman xtreme...


the test...(not scientific)

i loaded it monday around 10am, with a case of room temp diet cokes(cans), 1 really cold 16oz bottle of water, 16 cold coors lights(12oz cans left over from lsu game sat nite)(beers were cold, ice was melted but still in cold water)....this left room in the middle for probably another 20 cans or so...so the cooler was not full...i covered with chunk ice and snow to where no cans were visible...

today is wednesday 430pm...still really cold, but most of the ice is melted..there are 4 or 5 decent sized chunks...this has been in my house, minimal opening......

i know i didnt load it the way youre supposed to, pre-cool the cooler, pre-cool the drinks, and fill the cooler(this is a biiiig cooler)---but i still think i wouldve seen better results...ive done the same thing at other random times with a 70 qt coleman xtreme(keeping beer iced down during the week in the house) and ice has lasted for 4 almost 5 days..

maybe just being a bigger cooler was the difference?? maybe if i had prechilled everything, and had it full, id have gotten better results??

[fpoole]

There's been some talk of these..
Yeti
http://www.yeticoolers.com/categories/Tundra-Series/

(sorry, I can never get those URL to work as a link)

[laoutdoorsman]

yeah im familiar with the yetis, and the icy-teks....i just can see paying 400+ for a cooler...maybe if i was a guide and my business depended on keeping ice for a week...i think i can manage by keeping ice for 3-4 days...

my plans are to build an insulated box(plywood with 3 layers of foam) to put a large cooler in, so between the 2-3 days of ice keeping built in to the cooler and the extra insulation from the box, i think i should be able to handle a consistant 4 or 5 days between ice purchases while out and about...

[Endo]

There's been some talk of these..
Yeti
http://www.yeticoolers.com/categories/Tundra-Series/

I would love to get a Yeti or an Engel cooler.

The Engel is slightly less $$ than the Yeti.
Yes they are still REALLY expensive but they look top notch!
There are some interesting videos on YouTube about each type.
The Engel claims to be the most efficient cooler on the market.