Koolatron Portable Cooler - Electric Lunch Cooler for Car, Camping, Travel, 12 V Insulated Hard Sided Refrigerator for Vehicle, Boat, Truck, Warming & Cooling, Cools Drinks,Food for Road Trip, 18 qt

It's a great product! My husband is a truck driver and he carries his drinks with him on the road. This item keeps them cold for him. This is the third or fourth one that I've purchased. Being used almost constantly, his has lasted roughly for two years. It's not heavy, a nice looking cooler and the price is decent. I'll purchase another one, when he wears this one out.

2013-08-07 update:This unit is still going strong. If kept running, it keeps drinks cold even on a 100 degree day under the tarp of my boat. On these days, it will be a little noticeably warmer but not much. I've put water bottles / jugs left out in the sun in here and it will start to make a decent dent in how warm it is within an hour. Oh yeah, I also backed over it with the car and it still works! I noticed that this was happening and stopped, and only hit the side without electronics, but still, it works.Update 1 (see initial impressions below): I received this during my lunch break and plugged it in to try it out. I threw a couple of beers in (already cold), fired it up, and headed back to the office. I got home eager to see the results. I opened it to get a blast of warm air. Yep, I had it in warming mode by accident. An important note: WARM VS COOL IS SELECTED VIA THE POLARITY OF THE POWER PLUG. It is fairly obvious if you know this, just keep the blue or red dot aligned with the arrow. However, its easy to miss if you don't know. Needless to say, the beers I put in were almost too hot to pick up. They say not to leave the unit in hot mode for more than 45 minutes as the plastic can warp, but I noticed no ill effects. It's actually nice to know it worked as well as it did. As a note, the power draw (of the 12 volt AC to DC adapter) was down from 60+ to about 47 watts, for whatever that's worth.Since getting home, I've had it in cool mode but empty. It is cold now. I'll post an update with some temperature and power draw measurements once I actually use it to cool some stuff. I'll put some pop in tonight and try it in the morning.Original Review (initial impressions):I recently purchased a boat and quickly have grown tired of buying ice each time I head down to it. The first couple of times, it's no big deal, but being greeted with warm beer and water each time unless you make a stop first has definitely grown tiring. I had actually planned on getting an electric cooler eventually since day one, but after several bags of ice it was definitely time.It was a little hard to decide what to get, with all the choices. I considered getting one of the larger models for not too much more, but in the end decided those would be unwieldy and this would be a nice medium.Just received this on my lunch break, so I've yet to try it on the boat. The 12 volt plug is a piggyback type, so it doesn't block your outlet. In addition, it has another outlet on the unit itself, so you actually gain an extra outlet. I plugged this into a 12 volt AC-DC adapter. It is the quietest electric cooler I have ever heard, barely audible. The last one my parents had was not loud, but definitely made a noticeable amount of white noise. I don't really think this will be a big deal on a boat, but it is a nice touch. According to my watt meter, it draws about 60 watts from the AC outlet. I don't know if this number changes as it cools down. At this rate, operating continuously with a power rate of $0.10 per kWh, it will cost $4.32 to operate per month. Not too bad. The unit itself seems well made.This unit is actually made in Canada. I try to buy US made wherever I can, but that is next to impossible for most items as we simply don't manufacture here anymore. I'd MUCH rather buy something from our friends to the north than something made in China if I can at all help it for sure.

I've only used this item once for a road trip, but it worked very well for me. Bought it primary for the dimensions - it fits very nicely behind the front seats of my 2023 Infiniti QX60.It kept my sodas and other items cool very well when only packed about half full, and reasonably cool when really packed full.I have not tried the heat mode.My only compaint is that the lid does not click into place or fasten shut. I could see some scenarios where it would be be important/useful for the kid to be secured into place.

UPDATE: Still going strong, I use this all the time! It has come in handy so many times and using in both orientations as I mentioned, I had not had any problems. I only wish it were a little wider sometimes so I didn't have to change the orientation of the cooler.ORIGINAL REVIEW:The cooler itself is great. I have had it for over a month now so I can't speak to longevity but the short-term experience has been great. I've used it to store leftovers, I've used it to keep drinks on shorter outings, and to keep food on longer trips. Here are some ideas to help with different setups:(1) Use it with a deep cycle battery to keep it running longer, even overnight while stopped at a campsite, hotel, etc. Personally I would go with one of the Optima YellowTops (Optima Batteries 8040-218 D35 YellowTop Dual Purpose Battery) because they are sealed, meaning they have less emissions and can THEORETICALLY (if you know what you're doing) be used in an interior compartment if absolutely necessary. My previous vehicle had one installed in the trunk and my current vehicle had space under the hood. To use it in combination with your existing battery, you could connect both batteries to an isolator like Blue Sea Systems Solenoid SI Series (120A 12/24V ACR) or NOCO IGD140HP Grey 140 Amp High-Performance Battery Isolator and you will ensure that your starting battery doesn't run down and that your cooler runs your deep cycle battery down entirely and you can still start your vehicle with the other battery.(2) Instead of the Koolatron battery saver which does not seem to work for a lot of people, wire the Havis ChargeGuard (an older version is here Chargeguard CG12D). Look on eB*y for good deals on that. It will keep more than just your cooler and has some nicer features as well.(3) Setup in the trunk of an SUV, leave enough room around the vents and tie the back part of it down with an appropriately-sized bungee cord (with the lid opening facing the back so you can open it normally with the trunk open). The bungee cord goes around the back with enough room that it holds tight and doesn't fly anywhere. This is what I did, and since the car is more likely to come to a sudden stop rather than an obnoxious start, it never moved. It is hidden, out of sight, and always available to store leftovers after a dinner while you spontaneously shop after dinner until you get home. The bonus side of this is that it is secure but also removable to take with you into a hotel room for instance.(4) Of course, I have mine plugged into a 12V receptacle that is wired to a switch in the front so while I am driving, if I decide I am going to stop for food that I will want to cool, I can activate it while driving and it will be cool and ready when I need it. Because it is not hardwired directly and still utilizes it's 12V receptacle, I can still take it with me (see #3 above).(5) If you want to use it indoors with 120V power, don't bother purchasing the overpriced Koolatron adapter, any decent reliable 12V power converter (at least 5 amps or greater) will do (such as Wagan 5 Amp AC to 12V DC Power Adapter or Schumacher PC-6 120AC to 6A 12V DC Power Converter). I will be using the DC power converter that came with my 5.11 Light For Life (google it).(6) You can also use this on its side (without blocking the vents) so that it opens and stores food almost like a real fridge. It will store leftover containers better this way. Since I mostly store drinks, though, I don't do this.