Nicolas C.
Reviewed in Canada on February 29, 2024
I know there is a small characters mention of the wall plug not being included. Showing a large picture of one is misleading to say the least.
Customer
Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2024
Keeping things cold when travelling - it’s easy to carry into hotels and works great
Patrick O’Brien
Reviewed in Canada on May 29, 2022
Bought this cooler to replace one I had in my truck. Came just as I was moving house and didn’t get to check it til 10 days later. Didn’t come with basket shelf, cooler was very dirty on outside. When I went to plug it in I noticed that the short cord on cooler side has the wire insulation cut open. When I plugged it in motor fan was very noisy. Obviously a used unit not new as I paid for. Update: 3 months into use it quit working. Worst cooler I’ve ever bought. Will not buy again.
Martin
Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2022
These are great for road trips where you are driving for most of the day. Load it up with all your cold snacks and drinks for the day and keep them cold and fresh while you drive without worrying about buying ice. Saves money and time stopping at restaurants to eat on a long drive. Be sure to pay attention to the connection when plugging it in as it can also be used as a food warmer. Don't want to get that wrong. You can also purchase an ac adaptor for this and take it into your hotel or motel and plug it in there. Very handy.
Andrea Hindbo
Reviewed in Canada on January 17, 2021
It’s great for one day use. I truck and sometimes spend three or four days on the road. If I don’t prop the lid open a bit or unplug it time to time it will freeze all my contents. No mater where I put it. I had a smaller one for years and it was great so I needed a bigger one so I searched out koolatron brand but ended up disappointed in the end. If it was adjustable temp it would be great
CS
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2016
EXCELLENT PRODUCT. IMPRESSIVE construction and performance. Upon receiving the cooler in June 2016, I tested it at home to determine what I could expect during a three week road trip where I would have it plugged into my SUVs 12volt battery system. My home test consisted of plugging the empty cooler into my home 110 volt current, using a Stronker 96watt 110v to 12v Power Converter which is itself an excellent well built product. After powering up the box using this power converter I waited 45 minutes to allow it to cool and then I placed a battery operated highly accurate digital thermometer on the bottom of the cooler. Fifteen minutes later I opened the box and read the thermometer, which showed that the interior of the box was exactly 40 degrees cooler than the outside air surrounding the cooler. The cooler then went on an 18 day road trip in July, 2016, running constantly 24 hours a day and performed flawlessly. I would buy this again in a heartbeat. I compared Koolatron to several other brands before purchase, looking at those other coolers, and the Koolatron brand is far superior to other available choices in the under $200. category. Koolatron has been making coolers for over 30 years and has several different sizes so you'll find a size that fits your needs. Then match a power converter to the current draw of the cooler you select. I like my power converter to have a rated capacity of twice what the cooler will draw, so that the converter is just loafing along when operating the cooler. I chose the 96 watt power converter made by Stonker, also available from Amazon. It is perfect for the P27 and gets warm but never hot when powering the P27. No more ice packs to try to refreeze each night, no more water to pour off from melting ice. PERFECT !Some have complained about this cooler’s poor cooling ability, “wouldn’t even cool our drinks” for example. I think they have failed to understand what they bought; this cooler is NOT a refrigerator like at home, having an internal fan that circulates the cool air around the items inside. This type of cooler has only a cooling plate that gets cold when 12 volts is applied to it. But that does creat a cold environment inside the cooler. You must do your part by putting into it drinks, and other items, that are ALREADY COLD. This cooler WILL keep them cold. It never failed to do so for me, day after day after day.What I omitted from my above original review is the following. During that 18 day road trip during the summer of 2016 I ran that cooler 24 hours a day by doing this: at the end of each day I put the cooler into my motel room and kept it running by using the 120 volt power converter to power the cooling. Then when we traveled by SUV we plugged the cooler into the vehicle’s 12 volt battery and ran it until we again stopped for that evening. Thus it ran constantly 24/7 for 18 consecutive days. Even though those were “summer” thus hot days, since the cooler was in an air conditioned vehicle, at about 72 degree interior, I calculated that a 40 degree temperature drop, this specific cooler’s tested capability, would allow me to keep already frozen items at the cooler’s bottom and non frozen items higher up in the cooler. And it DID WORK that way. Having a new high capacity vehicle starting battery when I started the trip allowed me to leave the car for up to an hour and keep the cooler running without concern of being unable to start the vehicle when I returned. Attention to these details made this a perfect COOL TRIP.
jalcruces
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2013
Upon ordering this cooler, I immediately also ordered the AC adapter. This has proven to be one of the best buys we have ever invested in. Per recommendations from various reviews, we pre-cooled our food and drinks in the refrigerator and also pre-cooled the cooler itself with the AC adapter. We live in a hot climate and were travelling through and to a hot climate. From 110 through 110 and stayed in a high 90's. We had a reasonably air conditioned truck, not so reasonably air conditioned cabin. We also put one Igloo cooler bar in the cooler, just to help it along. Everything was nice and super cold. We had a small refrigerator in our cabin, but chose to keep everything in the cooler as it seemed cooler than the frig (with AC adapter plugged in). We had butter in it (which was solid), drinks (which were as cool as they can get w/o being icy). We even put a cup of ice in it. A day later, the ice was still ice, although the ice on the bottom of the cup had solidified. I think the ice had already melted to water on the bottom of the cup by the time we put the cup of ice in the cooler, however. We put the cup of ice right next to the fan. We also put a cup of soda with ice in it on the opposite side of the cooler from the fan. The next morning most of this ice was melted, but the drink was still cold. We have yet to try whole solid food kept in it. But from the ice experiment, I am pretty certain that any food left in the cooler in the state in which we used it, would have been perfectly fine. It is small enough to transport easily - as well as very light. Yet it is big enough to hold plenty that two or three people may need. Absolutely excellent for drinks. I also plan on using it for groceries. When outside temps are over 100. Highly recommended.Note: The DC cord was plenty long enough to keep the cooler in the back and plugged into the front of the vehicle. Also, the AC adapter, as well, has a good length to the cord. The unit did not stay on when the vehicle wasn't running. From some other reviews, it sounded like it did stay on - it did not. This unit does not have a "handle" per se. I like the feature that it has indented hand grabs on the side instead. Having an actual handle would be annoying and obtrusive to opening the top cover. We have tested the heating feature, but have not actually used it. Will update review when we have actually used the heating feature.
D. Cushman
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2012
Construction seems to be good. Latch and door work well. They advertise that it will maintain an internal temperature of 40-45 degrees below the ambient temperature. Regarding the one I received, that's not even close. I just returned from a 3-week-long "field test" -- a trip to visit friends in AZ and NM during early spring (high temps from 50-85). The ambient temps in my van ranged from 40 to 80, and the Koolatron didn't come close to maintaining a temperature 40 degrees cooler inside. I initially loaded the cooler with chilled items from my refrigerator, and after the first 2-3 days, the sodas and milk were not chilled. I nearly depleted a battery charge trying to keep things cool when I wasn't driving.I'm not pleased and would not recommend it to anyone for cooling. I haven't tried the heating function, since that's not why I bought a cooler. I plan to return it.