Costco Igloo iceless 28

Well, I decided to keep the damn thing. Read some reviews of the power cord melting at the insert to the cooler. To me never felt hot at all, maybe they fixed that issue. It cools down real nice, bought some igloo ice liners for it when needed. Should work out nice for a variety of things.

CSG wrote:
I think I read on the label that it only cools to 36 degrees below ambient temp. That's fine if it's 60 outside but not so good if it's much warmer.

Yeah, that's pretty much the norm for "thermoelectric" coolers.

I opted for a portable "fridge/freezer" unit. Granted, it costs exponentially more, but I use it a lot, so it's been worth the expense.

http://www.northridge4x4.com/interior/accessories-fridges/arb-fridge-freezers

This one is a little bit more compact, and lighter weight than the heavy metal enclosure style, such as Engel and Dometic.

We've had a Coleman version for years. Mostly got used for multi-day hotel stays so we could manage our own breakfast and lunch foods. We found the fan to be a bit noisy and the A/C adapter got quite warm.

We've used it in warming mode for holiday meals more than an hour from home.

So far I haven't found a need to use it with the TT. I'd be more inclined to use my super-insulated traditional cooler with either block or dry ice.

We've had one on and off for years and generally like them. Yes, they won't keep things ice cold in 90 degree sun but if you can live within their parameters they are great.

We have a narrow Koolatron unit that fits behind the front seat in the car. Plugged into the 12V outlet it is nice to put lunchmeat, fruit, soda, water, etc in it. No dealing with ice, soggy stuff, etc. It works really well.

We will take into the hotel at night using a 120v-12v converter made for it and it will freeze things out overnight. I've had my share of icy sodas in the morning. One thing is after a couple days it can freeze the fins inside and it pretty much stops working. Flip the plug for 5 mins to warm it, melt the ice, clean up and back in business.

In short, not as good as a real fridge but we still love ours.

VTR wrote:
Only time I found it somewhat effective was when I put frozen ice packs in it after cooling it down inside first. Then it kept beer and soda ice cold all day.

So with ice packs it will keep things cool like a regular cooler I assume. You are talking about after it is unplugged? I can see cooling it before hand, getting in the truck and driving with it on. Then taking it out to fish some, return and turn it back on. How would it work in this scenario.

We usually boondock more than anything, but our fridge is small in the TT so when at hookups it would be nice.

I have already thought of some hilarious scenario's, with a generator.

No, I'm talking about using ice packs with it still plugged in. I never used it with ice packs while unplugged.

In your scenario, ice would still be better. It it were extremely hot, or you were going to be out for more than a day, then dry ice would work great. Using dry ice is a minor art form though. Gotta keep it separate, and the amount to use without freezing stuff in the cooler is sometimes hard to guess. But I've had great success with it. Especially when used with a divider in the cooler. Made mine from cardboard. Not fancy, but works

We bought one from Target. It cools down to 20 degrees less then ambient so, not good if its hot or cold. It can turn into a freezer in the mountains. I gave it to the son.

We have a thermoelectric cooler that looks like a dorm cube fridge. It was great while plugged into 120v for keeping the lunches at work but we haven't used much since. It did work for a day trip if plugged in the day before and we were not stopping for too long, then again a lunch tote and ice pack did as well without the hassle.

I had one stuffed behind the passenger seat in the Tractor-Trailer 20 yrs ago. The one I had could be confirgured either in the horizontal or vertical position. Great for travelling. Since I normally kept ME at about 70, the 40 below ambient kept everything plenty cold enough. Of course that was Iced Tea, a samich or two, maybe some fruit, candy bars, ETC... NO BEER.

Only stopped using it when I got a bigger sleeper with built in frig...hated it.....couldn't reach it from the driver seat.:(

I think I still have that cooler in the garage.:h

Haven't used it in 15 yrs----really need to clean out the garage:S

VTR wrote:
Just saw one of these at Costco. Plug in cooler for traveling. Anyone seen these. Need to check mine out see if I like it or not, so I can take it back if I do not like. 89 dollars plus tax. Decent size too.

I've got a couple of them along with one of the Norcold compressor based portable frig/freezers to supplement our puny 6cu ft absorption frig. I use the portable frig/freezer as a freezer for additional room and the two coolers for just that cooling and storing things like bread, fresh veggies, pop, condiments, etc. They do a decent job as long as you don't try and use them in high ambient heat environments. One issue I have found is running them off the trailer 12V you can actually get the fins frosted over that really reduces their effectiveness and they don't have thermostats in them. I have found putting them on timers where they shut off for 30min to 1hr about every 12 to 24 hours keeps the fins clear and increases their overall effectiveness tremendously. They work much better off the trailer 12V than thru their converters since the temp they cool to is directly related to the Voltage or actually the current draw and the litle 120 to 12V adapters just don't have the "UMPF" to operate them at their maximum. I have had to buy some 12V timers so I can put them on a timer and still run them directly off the trailer 12V.

Being able to keep like a loaf of white and rye bread along with things like mustard, ketchup, heads of lettuce and drinks in those really frees up the 6cuft Norcold installed frig for the more perishable and important items which includes DW insulin pens that she likes to keep stored in a refer. This also lets up leave a little more open space in that frig to help with it's cooling effficiency.

Four things I have always found lacking in normal TTs are the frig sizes, lack of real closet hanging space, lack of kitchen area counter space and drawer storage. Our current trailer came with good closet and counter space, I solved the drawer issue for the most part with some mods and these coolers and the portable frig/freezer solved the last issue so now I AM A HAPPY CAMPER:B

Larry

:) Hi, I tried one of these electronic coolers and didn't like it. I returned it. I have used a block of ice in the middle of the ice chest with drinks on both sides and topped with ice cubes. I could go a week on one block of ice. I haven't tried dry ice yet.