Best plug in cooler??? What your take?

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jkl72-40

jkl72-40

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Howdy!!
My family and I are doing the Oregon to New York road trip to see my Uncle get inducted into baseballs hall of fame:bounce: (in July). So we are looking into buying a plug in cooler. What are some that you guys have and what are there prices. Pros/cons what lasts and any other info would be great. We wont be drivin the cruiser tho:frown:
thanks
 
It kind of depends on how you plan to use it.
If you are mostly staying in hotels and just want to keep drinks cool the Coleman 12V thermoelectric units will do IMHO. In fact my son drove OTR for two years and that was all he used. Running 24/7 he had to replace them every 8 - 10 months.
link->
This is the Cooler I'm referring to.<-link
 
I've had one of the Coleman Thermoelectric for about a year now.

As mentioned above they work great as long as you can keep them powered or assist in the cooling with a frozen water bottle or something.

I'd love an ARB or the like, but can't justify for that price.
 
these little thermoelectric coolers -if that is what you are referring to- are fine for what they are designed to do, i.e. keep cold things relatively cold. What they are not -despite the misleading ads- is real refrigerators. As in don't think you can put a hot bottle of Coke in the cooler on a hot day and think it will come out nice and cold a couple of hours later. Well, at least that's been my experience. And they do suck up juice too at that IIRC.
 
Congrats for your uncle, if you don't mind who is he?

I have a Koolatron P85 cooler that I got from Walgreens.com for $115 I believe. It's not a fridge but gets down to about 45 degrees in about half an hour and holds 52 quarts. It should keep anything cool and it also doubles as a warmer, just reverse the plug going into it.
 
mshelby said:
Congrats for your uncle, if you don't mind who is he?

I have a Koolatron P85 cooler that I got from Walgreens.com for $115 I believe. It's not a fridge but gets down to about 45 degrees in about half an hour and holds 52 quarts. It should keep anything cool and it also doubles as a warmer, just reverse the plug going into it.
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it may get the air inside down to 45 deg in that short a time if it's not too hot outside and empty, but I doubt very much it will get some amount of food down to 45 deg in anything less than several hours, if that. The Peltier chips are just not very powerful. Or have you found that not to be true? Easy to check with a few water bottles for example.

Anyway, the point is that if the cooler can maintain 45F, say, (they are usually limited to some fixed number of degrees below ambiance whatever it is, something like 40 F or so IIRC) when empty, then it can also maintain food already at 45F prior to insertion in the cooler at a constant 45F when in the freezer. So, you need to precool the food or buy it cold on the road, before putting it in thermoelectric cooler, otherwise things will stay warm for a long time in there, with possible health consequences. And consider that if it's 100F in the car (say when parked in the sun), it'll be as much as 60F in the cooler, not so great for perishables.

Bottom line for me is I bought one from a major manufacturer a while back, tried it, tested it, and promptly returned it. I thought it just was not very useful. I think I even wrote something about that experience on MUD someplace. So yes, I'm not that enthralled with these things admittedly, but if bought with full knowledge and acceptance of their limitations then life is good.

Keep in mind you'll need a constantly-on 12V outlet if you want to keep things coldish and then you'll have to keep an eye on the battery.
 
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Like I said it's no replacement for a fridge but it is a good cooler. Don't expect it to chill anything quickly but I only use it to put already cold stuff in it.

I also have a couple of ice packs that I will throw in it if the need is there. I would love to have a fridge but for what I use it for this is just about perfect.
 
eventhough whats the model #??

mshelby Doug Harvey NL umpire for 31 years
 
eventhough said:
I've used the little Coleman cooler and it worked OK but drained my battery quickly.

I just picked up an Edgestar fridge from CompactApplicance.com for around $400 shipped and it rocks. I've tested it a good bit and I love it.
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ah, I have an Edgestar too. did extensive testing on that one, several days worth, with detailed temp and current measurements. I'm happy with it. Very good performance indeed. Beats some of the big names.
 
Kyle Leckey said:
Doug Harvey NL umpire for 31 years
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Impressive, congrats on him being inducted. I am going to make it to Cooperstown one day (to see not to be inducted)
 
cool.... good idea!!
 
I had an edgestar fridge also. I used it around town for a few days and worked great. I took it on a five day camping trip in the ozark national forrest and it died after one day of off roading. I got spooked and sent it back since it was in the thirty day return window. I will save my pennies for an ARB. Having to come out of the woods to get ice was not fun. The customer service through the whole thing was great.
 
Kyle Leckey said:
eventhough whats the model #??

mshelby Doug Harvey NL umpire for 31 years
Click to expand...

Here is a link.

FP430 Compact EdgeStar Portable Refrigerator Freezer

The Edgestar fridge seems to be a newer model. I been fairly rough on mine for a few months and it worked well. You can often get them online (at the link) for around $400 shipped. I did splurge and paid around $90 extra for a five year warranty. I figured if I get 5 years of use out of a $500 fridge I'll be happy.
 
MEMCruiser said:
I had an edgestar fridge also. I used it around town for a few days and worked great. I took it on a five day camping trip in the ozark national forrest and it died after one day of off roading. I got spooked and sent it back since it was in the thirty day return window. I will save my pennies for an ARB. Having to come out of the woods to get ice was not fun. The customer service through the whole thing was great.
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mine is doing great offroad. There were some issues discussed regarding the plug working itself loose. Could that have been it?
 
eventhough....... thanks!!
 
I picked up my waeco from craigslist for 250 Been running great, except for the time my brother plugged it in backwards and fried the main control computer.
 
e9999 said:
mine is doing great offroad. There were some issues discussed regarding the plug working itself loose. Could that have been it?
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No, I wish it was that easy. That is what I thought originally when the temp. crept up, however it was something else. I could never get it below 55 degrees after what ever broke. Later that day I used my AC cord at a cabin and started to smell burning rubber. I really wish it worked since it is going to be hard to justify a 700 dollar fridge for a car. A lot of house fridges are not that expensive.

The customer service people were outstanding. I would not scare people away from the fridge at all. I would just recommend getting it right before a trip, so if it dies on you, you can return it within the 30 day window. The new ARB might be better designed, but damn 700 dollars.

Ok, now that I am fridgeless, what is the best cooler?
 
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