Discussion
I'm bewildered at the current offerings - standard name brands and lots of Chineseum and going up to £400 for non-electric variants on wheels.
So could someone recommend a decent one. Ice packed rather than electric. Size the standard 20-30 litres. Needs a special talent of being able to sit ithe boot of a hot car at events. Price below 100 notes.
Or should I go for an Army Norgie?
So could someone recommend a decent one. Ice packed rather than electric. Size the standard 20-30 litres. Needs a special talent of being able to sit ithe boot of a hot car at events. Price below 100 notes.
Or should I go for an Army Norgie?
I've been using one of these for the last 15 years or so.
https://www.igloocoolers.co.uk/igloo-maxcold-50-ca...
Very happy with it. The latch broke recently, and I was pleased to be able to buy it as a spare part.
Key for us is to use frozen 1.5l or 2l water bottles to keep things cold inside.
https://www.igloocoolers.co.uk/igloo-maxcold-50-ca...
Very happy with it. The latch broke recently, and I was pleased to be able to buy it as a spare part.
Key for us is to use frozen 1.5l or 2l water bottles to keep things cold inside.
Similar vein - I’ve a road trip on the west coast of the USA in October - 1st port of call after collecting the car will be a Walmart to pickup a large enough cool bag to hold several large bottles/ice from an ice machines in ziplock bags to keep everything cool !!
Igloo 36 Can cooler Bag
It can then come back with me at the end of the trip.
Igloo 36 Can cooler Bag
It can then come back with me at the end of the trip.
Coleman cool boxes claim to be the best. I have one and it performs very well. Of equal importance is using good ice packs. I use these ones:
4 Mid-Size Cooler Freeze Packs 10" x 10” The Coldest Pack at 18 Degrees F. https://amzn.eu/d/dSk7Fic
They stay cold for ages and being thin, don't take up much room and have a big surface area.
4 Mid-Size Cooler Freeze Packs 10" x 10” The Coldest Pack at 18 Degrees F. https://amzn.eu/d/dSk7Fic
They stay cold for ages and being thin, don't take up much room and have a big surface area.
We have an igloo 50l cooler. A couple of frozen 5l bottles are good for keeping things cool for a long weekend.
Just been to North Devon for a week and bought a 40l Halfords Electric cooler. On hot days we kept it outside the tent by a hedge in the shade as it only cools 16C below ambient. Any beers or wine that went in got pre chilled in a bucket of tap water. It did the trick.
Just been to North Devon for a week and bought a 40l Halfords Electric cooler. On hot days we kept it outside the tent by a hedge in the shade as it only cools 16C below ambient. Any beers or wine that went in got pre chilled in a bucket of tap water. It did the trick.
QJumper said:
I have found Igloo maxcold and marine coolers to be very good, keeping ice for a few days.
Indeed. We have one for our Le Mans trips, and end up throwing away ice that we arrived with despite constantly opening the lid to take out cold beer and fill up with warm beers. The trick seems to be to drain any water out each morning.Like someone else said, you can buy replacement hinges and catches so should last indefinitely.
chuenmanc said:
I've been using one of these for the last 15 years or so.
https://www.igloocoolers.co.uk/igloo-maxcold-50-ca...
Very happy with it. The latch broke recently, and I was pleased to be able to buy it as a spare part.
Key for us is to use frozen 1.5l or 2l water bottles to keep things cold inside.
Thanks for the advice everyone. I was going to buy something like the above, but I spotted this on FaceBook Marketplace for £80 which I picked up last night. The lady had used it only once and found it too big:https://www.igloocoolers.co.uk/igloo-maxcold-50-ca...
Very happy with it. The latch broke recently, and I was pleased to be able to buy it as a spare part.
Key for us is to use frozen 1.5l or 2l water bottles to keep things cold inside.
https://www.igloocoolers.co.uk/igloo/bmx/52/cool/b...
I really like the T snap locks and inner seal which holds everything air tight.
We have one of these
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15906268/outwell-ecoc...
Seems to do the job - have it plugged in in the car while en route then switch to mains.
Worked ok on Tuesday when baking hot on the drive down so that beer was still cold!
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15906268/outwell-ecoc...
Seems to do the job - have it plugged in in the car while en route then switch to mains.
Worked ok on Tuesday when baking hot on the drive down so that beer was still cold!
I have been through a few looking for something that really works.
Pure coolbox I have settled on a Yeti, works better than any other I have tried. But is expensive.
Plug in I recently bought a Dometic compressor coolbox which can chill to -18 regardless of ambient temp. I ordered too much frozen food last week and had to set it up in the garage just before the really hot spell. It ran at -17/-18C even though it was around 40C in the garage for a week or so before I could make space in our freezer, very impressed with it.
Just reread op, ignore all this, both options way over budget (unless you can find one on Ebay)
Pure coolbox I have settled on a Yeti, works better than any other I have tried. But is expensive.
Plug in I recently bought a Dometic compressor coolbox which can chill to -18 regardless of ambient temp. I ordered too much frozen food last week and had to set it up in the garage just before the really hot spell. It ran at -17/-18C even though it was around 40C in the garage for a week or so before I could make space in our freezer, very impressed with it.
Just reread op, ignore all this, both options way over budget (unless you can find one on Ebay)
Boring, Russ and Teddy - all very good info - thank you.
I think I will eventually aspire to get a Dometic one as constant -18C is better than the boxes that cool to 18C below ambient.
As an illustration, on Friday night I threw a load of icepacks into the Igloo to prechill it. Then I froze a dozen bottles of 500ml water as my "ice" along with a box of 10 Capri Sun pouches.
Then on Saturday morning I filled the Igloo with the frozen water and Capri Sun, and put in the chilled soft drink cans. The Igloo sat in the boot of the car in 28C heat for whole of Sat and Sun being opened regularly. Upon checking this morning, the water bottles and Capri Sun were still around 95% ice.
I think I will eventually aspire to get a Dometic one as constant -18C is better than the boxes that cool to 18C below ambient.
As an illustration, on Friday night I threw a load of icepacks into the Igloo to prechill it. Then I froze a dozen bottles of 500ml water as my "ice" along with a box of 10 Capri Sun pouches.
Then on Saturday morning I filled the Igloo with the frozen water and Capri Sun, and put in the chilled soft drink cans. The Igloo sat in the boot of the car in 28C heat for whole of Sat and Sun being opened regularly. Upon checking this morning, the water bottles and Capri Sun were still around 95% ice.
I wasn't going to mention 'proper' ie compressor fridges but, as Dometic now has been, consider Dellonda. I've had a 50l. one for two years now and I can't fault it. And at C. £300, it was well under half the price of a Dometic. It's adjustable between +20° and -20°C and has two independent zones so that you can eg have half fridge @ 3° and half freezer @ -18°... just like home! On 12v it only draws an average of 1.5A (50% cycles between 3A and off). Wouldn't be without it.
If you do want a 12v portable compressor then the Alpicool ones are meant to be really good. I really need to get a better standard box as my £15 Tesco one isn't great! But a LOT of how well they work is also down to how you pack them. Make sure they're pre-chilled, pack them to be as free of space as possible and open/close them as quick as possible.
Looking at 12V coolbox for the boat.
Anyone actually got firsthand experience of anything other than the Dellonda?
With the dual zone ones, how are they controlled?
I may want to have a few cold blocks in the freezer end, so I can ramp up the freezing when the engine is running, then let it tick over the rest of the day.
I have some solar power, but mostly only run the motor for short periods and not every day.
We have quite a small battery by yacht standards, so any Ah per day info is valuable.
We won't be storing frozen food for more than a few days, but the ability to have ice for drinks would be nice!
Cheapskate option is a £100 table top freezer from Curry's and an inverter. Unfortunately all the mains mini freezers are side door AFAIK?
And I'm not enthusiastic about mains voltage on a potentially wet boat at sea!
Anyone actually got firsthand experience of anything other than the Dellonda?
With the dual zone ones, how are they controlled?
I may want to have a few cold blocks in the freezer end, so I can ramp up the freezing when the engine is running, then let it tick over the rest of the day.
I have some solar power, but mostly only run the motor for short periods and not every day.
We have quite a small battery by yacht standards, so any Ah per day info is valuable.
We won't be storing frozen food for more than a few days, but the ability to have ice for drinks would be nice!
Cheapskate option is a £100 table top freezer from Curry's and an inverter. Unfortunately all the mains mini freezers are side door AFAIK?
And I'm not enthusiastic about mains voltage on a potentially wet boat at sea!
OutInTheShed said:
Looking at 12V coolbox for the boat.
Anyone actually got firsthand experience of anything other than the Dellonda?
With the dual zone ones, how are they controlled?
I may want to have a few cold blocks in the freezer end, so I can ramp up the freezing when the engine is running, then let it tick over the rest of the day.
I have some solar power, but mostly only run the motor for short periods and not every day.
We have quite a small battery by yacht standards, so any Ah per day info is valuable.
We won't be storing frozen food for more than a few days, but the ability to have ice for drinks would be nice!
Cheapskate option is a £100 table top freezer from Curry's and an inverter. Unfortunately all the mains mini freezers are side door AFAIK?
And I'm not enthusiastic about mains voltage on a potentially wet boat at sea!
If being cheap I'd make sure the fridge will work alright on a cheap inverter, as some stuff and I believe motors would be included in that require the more costly pure sine wave inverters.Anyone actually got firsthand experience of anything other than the Dellonda?
With the dual zone ones, how are they controlled?
I may want to have a few cold blocks in the freezer end, so I can ramp up the freezing when the engine is running, then let it tick over the rest of the day.
I have some solar power, but mostly only run the motor for short periods and not every day.
We have quite a small battery by yacht standards, so any Ah per day info is valuable.
We won't be storing frozen food for more than a few days, but the ability to have ice for drinks would be nice!
Cheapskate option is a £100 table top freezer from Curry's and an inverter. Unfortunately all the mains mini freezers are side door AFAIK?
And I'm not enthusiastic about mains voltage on a potentially wet boat at sea!
Teddy Lop said:
If being cheap I'd make sure the fridge will work alright on a cheap inverter, as some stuff and I believe motors would be included in that require the more costly pure sine wave inverters.
Good point.Currently I'm considering this at £190
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284932295557
hellorent said:
Those are all 'thermo-electric' types, which often come in below £100.They are not so efficient and leak heat when not powered.
On the plus side, no moving parts. (apart from a couple of fans)
And they can also keep things warm, which is nice when your local takeaway is not as good as the one 20 minutes away.
Not the best test in the world, it would be good to know current used and some measure of the insulation, like how long a can of beer stays at 5degC in a 25degC ambient with the power off or something.
Seems to me, we've had a couple of seriously hot spells this year. Sailing gets awkward when you have to shop for food every day and a cold drink is nice to have. £200 is feeling affordable?
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