Cool Boxes... Anybody have one and how do you like it?

I read somewhere that the Thermo-electric ones will only do a temperature differential of 40 degrees ambient, so if it's 80 ambient, the best they will do is 40 interior, fine for food, but not for frozen stuff.

They are a lot cheaper than a compressor unit and use less juice (a consideration when camping off grid). I also heard that like an ammonia fridge, cool down is slower as well.

SidecarFlip wrote:
plus our dog is diabetic and her insulin must be kept cold all the time.

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Is this a joke?
If not, I'm at a loss for words......

I have a Coleman just like the one DutchmenSport has. it works great

We have the Dometic model but its the larger 110qt freezer/frig. Works great for keeping extra frozen food and 22lb bags of ice frozen. Runs on 110v or 12v would work great in the truck bed but we carry ours in the garage on our toy hauler.

Engel is a good one I've heard. I heard they use the Danfoss vaiable speed compressor. In a way I like the Engel better. It's made in Japan (Engel is a funny name, I suppose the actual company name is a lot different, but the Dometic is made in China. I prefer the Japanese product over the Chinese one.

Even the single zone Dometic goes down to -4 (f) if you want to freeze.

They all are expensive but so everything else today. I can justify the expense by the convenience factor.

I use 12Volt Engel cooler fridge,works like a dream,,just have to remember to unplug from lighter plug when not driving,and running engine,,otherwise you kill battery quick..
Even unpluged holds cold food overnight..
In my TC I have one 120 amp deep cycle batt. and 80w solar panel,keeps charging without problems even on cloudy days,,

I have an ENgel. it's a "Single zone" but can be a fridge or freezer... IN 12 years the only thing I have done to it is defrost a few times and blow the dust out... And I only did that because I figured it had been a long time since I put it in the RV and it likely needed dusting.

Only problems I've had with it,, Were "External" (It eats 3 amps of 12 volt DC and that only works if the connections are all up to spec.. I've had to fix a few)

Maybe time to loose the ice chest, but not the concept of the ice chest. How about an electric cooler. We've had an electric 12 volt DC cooler for 15 years. It finally died last fall and we replaced it with this one from Wall Mart. The sucker gets so cold, it freezes soft drinks. We use it for a second refrigerator in the camper, and it works marvelous in the truck when traveling, as well as at home for grocery shopping and such to put foods to keep cold in transit.

However, they do take a couple hours to cool down good, but once cold, stay cold, as long as they are plugged in. They are 12 volt DC, but come with an AC adapter. The 12 volt cord comes with a cigarette lighter style plug that fits perfect in the travel trailer plug near the television. So when traveling, we have the option of leaving it plugged in and running inside the truck cab (back seat lifts up), or inside the trailer.

We bought this thing last February (2017), and it's never been turned off since, except long enough to move it from the camper to the truck and back again. And to dump water condensation from the bottom a couple times. Did I say, it gets so cold it will freeze your soft drinks! They get just the "right" amount of ice in them on at top, they are perfect! We use it at home mostly for drinks. On the road, as a second refrigerator.

Click here.

Dometic seems a popular brand by sailors and campers alike.


I don't have anything first hand to share about the devices.

GordonThree wrote:
They're all so tiny for the price. Dollars per cubic inch yikes.

I've been wanting to put a residential deep freezer in the truck bed along with an inverted. Not as portable as one of those tiny chillers but perhaps more cost effective?

A simple temperature controller from ebay could let it operate as a fridge l.

I've actually done just that before. Went on an Elk hunt out west and put a deep freezer in a utility trailer and took it along. 4 seasoned hunters, each with a kill tag equals at least 3 mature elk and there isn't enough coolers and dry ice room available to haul it all back and air freight is stupid expensive, so we took the Amana along in a 4x8 utility trailer (and a genny and extension cord. We didn't camp, we 'camped in motels coming back but if we could not park directly in front of our rooms (and plug it in, we ran the genny to keep the Amana and the elk rock hard frozen.

I'd like to get a dual zone cool box for the backseat of my crew cab so when the wife and I are going somewhere, we have cold drinks and sandwiches available and she can use it when shopping in the summer, to get my French Vanilla home frozen instead of soup, plus our dog is diabetic and her insulin must be kept cold all the time.

I can park and get in my TC and get to the fridge anytime I want to, I'm looking at the convenience more than anything else.

Like most things today, it's a discretionary purchase, not a necessity. I'm feeling around for experiences of people who own them now, pro's and cons.