Cool box question

[Macocious]

Right, those icey tek boxes look amazing but I think they might just be too good for my purposes and they're so so expensive!

We'll probably only be using the cool box for 3 or 4 days at a time. Can anyone recommend a good middle ground cool box? Would something like a Coleman be much better than a £10 jobby from Wilkinson? Don't want anything too big as we don't have much space in the car. There's only two of us and a baby.

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[Kmski]

I have a Coleman 36QT Xtreme Cooler -it is advertised as able to keep ice for up to 5 days in temperatures reaching 32C. This is one of the most affordable quality boxes on the market. It is quite big but I think smaller ones keep ice for only 3 days in 32C. This Xtreme range is really good in my opinion as most cheap boxes usually cool to about 18 degrees below ambient temperature. So anything above 22 C and you have a problem and tents warm up quite a bit on sunny days.

[Macocious]

Thanks for taking the time to reply Kmski. That 36QT coleman does look really good but I've been out to measure the boot and I just don't think it'd work with our tent. I've decided to go with the 25L icey tex despite saying I wouldn't...

[GobblersKnob]

Agree with above, but tbf we have only this year graduated to an Iceytech after eight years of camping with a super cheap second hand coolbox that our neighbour was putting in a skip!

If you use a cheapy, just be prepared to rotate ice packs every 12/24 hours and food every two days, so only put in it what you are going to eat in the next 48 hours.

Also personally would never leave a coolbox in a tent during the day it gets far too hot, ours goes outside in the kitchen area under a table where it will be shaded from the sun and is covered by a wet towel.

Bear in mind that the claims of all the expensive boxes are based on a high fill, ie all frozen contents and not opening the box for the length of time claimed. Ie totally the opposite of how they will be used when camping

[GobblersKnob]

Lol, come over to the dark side

Mine is currently pre-cooling for tomorrow

[hettie]

Yes! Waeco do a range of passive cool boxes see one size here
Really very good, same qualities as iceytec but cheaper.. I have the one linked to above and it kept ice for 4 days (not tried a longer trip yet).