****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I rarely give 100% praise for items, but THIS, was a game changer for us. We are expert road trippers, & try to be efficient, especially with food, because you never know when you might get stuck, caught out etc …. Well, this happened to us twice on this last trip (more later). This purchase was so we could keep freezer blocks frozen (along with other items) & rotate them out to smaller cool packs we keep in the front seat for immediate cold drinks or snacks. Now, the freezer section is smaller (our preference) than some coolers, the actual cooler part was tight, but worked well. I chose to use only (mostly) square containers for packing foods like cheese, sandwich meats, milk, cream etc…. Even used liquid eggs (I know, not everyone’s choice) in the square box. Plus I decanted things like mayo and mustard into smaller containers (yes some were round ). We had bacon, tortillas, salad stuff ,tomatoes & fruit too. Yes, you have to pack & unpack to get to things, but really, just the convenience of having this cooler , the extra effort was with it. The freezer was exceptional! I get chills (no pun intended) thinking about it! We had extra ice blocks, frozen veggies, frozen yoghurt, and a couple of microwave dinners (just in case), we had to take cardboard outer boxes off to pack , plus even extra ice cubes if needed…..all I can say is WOW!!!!!! We had it running in the car obviously, & then when we stayed in our motel/hotel for the night, we’d just plug it in there.So, our two incidents on this trip… firstly, my hubby took a bad fall so we ended up in an ER in Canada, & we were checked out of the motel…so the cooler was plugged into the car, being cautious I unplugged it (didn’t want battery issues)…the cooler spent several hours, almost 5 I think unplugged, and everything was still frozen & cold! I was amazed … Our second incident was related to having mechanical issues and we needed to rent another vehicle & tow ours home. (The vehicle we rented had not enough space for the cooler) so we left it in our car, unplugged for 5 hours the first day (& yes stuff was still cold & frozen by check in at the next stop); & on days 2 & 3 where our travel times were prolonged due to weather etc things were still fine at about 8 hrs!!!!!!!!! still frozen & still cold.Would I recommend this item? YES YES YES YESNow, biggest cons to this item (but certainly not in a way that we’d never use this again):1: The unit is heavy (obviously) when packed….definitely a 2 person lift (or see below)2: Wheels would REALLY help ( luckily we had a small collapsible hand cart already)3: Handles are sturdy but dangerous…they’re very robust and if you don’t let go just right they trap/pinch fingers ….4: PLEASE, an extra long folding handle & wheels would make this PERFECT.
