Anyone have personal experience using a 12v powered cooler for long trips in your car? There's plenty on the market at a wide range of prices. I'm looking for one that can rest on the front passenger seat along with a bag of dry snacks for a multi-week road trip. I won't be storing things over night in the car and using the cooler. It will only be used when in route and with the car running. I don't want the hassle of ice or freeze packs day after day. I'll probably have a few bottles of water, fruit and maybe raw veggies to snack on.
Joe, my Dad used one for years in the big truck (Coleman brand I believe). Only thing he ever said was that the temp of the cooler was based on the ambient temp in the car, other than that he liked it as it avoided ice packs/mess in the cab (home -lol) for day(s) at a time. I borrowed it a couple time for trips and I would agree, was pretty convenient.
They gave me a "care package" with the TGT, I reckon as compensation for having to wait so long. One of the things in it was this Porsche Cooler Bag. At first I thought it was just a cheap gimmick thing, but it runs about $300 if you buy it from their website. It is pretty nice and is pretty big (takes up the whole seat). You can plug it into the outlet in the trunk and it has loopa on the back for securing it to the tie-downs. But we put it in the back seat and plugged it in there. I gotta say, I was impressed with it. In total I reckon the drinks were in there for about 8-9hrs and they were still very cold when we got them. Granted, they were cold when they went in there, but still. I have never used one of these because I always figured they were crap and wouldnt do a good job. But I like this one and we will use it a lot. I say get one. It will save the trouble of messing with ice.
Lucky you, I did all the legwork on this 5 months ago. There's a couple nuances but the market has basically been split into name brand ARB & Dometics, and the white label ones (ICECO, BougeRV, Alpicool, VEVOR, AstroAI, etc.), but both the fancy and white label ones use the same 4 compressors. Of the 4, 3 are all basically Danfoss (now SECOP) designs and Engel has their own. Engels are expensive, minorly more efficient, and the least likely you'll be able to service. SECOP still makes their own compressors, LG has produced one that has a very similar build (and are being sued because of it), and everything else is the same unbranded design from a few fridge manufacturers in China. Finding which compressor each unit has is fairly easy, the LG and SECOP equipped ones will usually advertise so, and you can expect the non-advertised ones are the China unbranded ones. ARB and Dometic use SECOP. I went with the LG compressor, as it's reportedly a tiny bit more efficient than the SECOP and quieter as well, in a NewAir 48 quart fridge/freezer dual zone. The LG units are usually $75-100 more than the unbranded ones. One thing you can do is get one with a battery slot, which will switch over to battery once you turn the car off or unplug it. Battery is $175-ish last I checked. Runtime is dependent on how cold you set it and how hot it is outside, obviously. I did not use a battery and dropped my freezer section to -4 degrees every night and everything was still frozen when I woke up.
How much are the good coolers themselves? Are we talking like $40 or $400? If the cooler itself is expensive, and then a battery backup adds another $175, I would have to scratch that idea. You can get a 5-day cooler at Walmart for $50, and $175 buys a lot of ice.
I have this exact unit for the past 10-12 years and two "12v to ac power": Kooltron Always beside me, just like what you're looking for. When I traverl alone for my long ass drives (Montreal to Daytona) it does the job just perfectly. I just stop for gas/bathroom. Best part of it, you can actually use it also as a warmer Strongly suggest it !
12v Peltier coolers - Cheap ($50 or so), want 4A @12v constantly to operate. They take a day or two to get contents cold if fully loaded with room temp stuff. They only go about 60F below ambient at best, so in super hot weather they aren't super cold, and in cold weather, they'll happily freeze their contents as there isn't a thermostat. As a cooler, they're 'ok', not super insulated and the peltier section is a decent cold leak when off. So the temp will climb when unplugged. Because they're lightly modded coolers, they're not much heavier than a regular cooler, and you don't loose much volume to the cooling system. 12v 'Fridge' compressor coolers - Not Cheap ($300 and up) but they are actual fridges. They get down to temp much quicker, and the units have thermostats so they'll hold a set temp, and only cycle on as needed. Much more power efficient. Generally speaking they are better insulated too so they will maintain temps longer when not powered. They're heavy and the compressor setup eats up a decent chunk of volume leaving you with less capacity for a given footprint compared to a peltier unit.
IF this is for beverage only, I use a 1 gallon and also a 36oz yeti at work. 1 for water and 1 for ice tea and it lasts me all day even in dead of summer. My wife and I got so sick of bottled water, we change the fridge filter once a month and we both roll the same way. I put them in the fridge at night time. Friday after work I fill them both with ice to the top. They don't get warm all week. If you want hot stew/soup at work all day I do the same thing when I ice fish also. Fill the yeti with boiling water and go to bed. Next morning bring your soup/stew to a boil and dump the boiling water and fill with the soup and immediately close the lid. You want zero airspace if you can do it. I did this ice fishing in -10 and had hot beef stew at 9 at night. I'm all about packing light and less shit to break. I was a yeti fan when they were only sold at offshore fishing stores. They make a good product and honor their lifetime warranty.
Boom! Looks exactly what I'm looking for. I saw those on Amazon and wondered if they were any good so I posted here. Having the 120v adapter as an option is nice as well. I can plug it into my generator at the track. Price seems reasonable as well.
When I mentioned 2 ac power (120v) adapter, it's cause 2 have failed in the that period of time. But the unit works always perfectly. I plug it in the night before to cool it, with the food and beverages and in the morning, load it in the truck. Happy shopping.
I used a similar one years ago. Understand up front that it will elevate temperature of the interior of your vehicle, just like your refrigerator at home does, but in a smaller space.
My oldest boy recently got into hopping up Power Wheels with drill batteries so this is immediately what came to mind when I saw the title.
