Is the benefit of plugging the cool box into the car overshadowed by the increased weight and compromised space?

Is it really all about insulation and tactical ice placement?

Who has had both and which do you prefer.

ta.

I’ve managed to break mine so have been researching a replacement. My experience is that they don’t keep them especially cool so anything from fridge needs to be put in there pronto. Also worthwhile adding ice blocks.

This may or may not be useful but was considering a larger one, read some reviews on one particular model that stated water had collected at the bottom.

Yes, they do take up space and they’re heavy to carry. Can I ask why you’re thinking of one?

Edit: am referring to electric ones.

The plug in ones are not that much heavier or less spacious than a normal coolbox, but they spank your battery, drawing a constant 3 to 5 amps. Good for trips, not so good for more than a few hours when stationary.

We used to plug ours in when driving and then rely on ice packs on site. However, I think it got through three cigar plugs (melting due to overheating) and its hard to find decent replacement plugs that can cope with the current. Think I would spent the extra on a quality cool box with better insulation.

Never used the plug in kind, but have been very happy with our cool box (Coleman Extreme). We normally freeze a couple of 1.5 litre water bottles to start off with and then after a couple of days feed it a bag of ice every day or so. Keeps things fridge cold. If you’re going to get one go big as the insulation is roughly the same thickness so you get much more usable space in the larger boxes.

I have a Coleman extreme. It’s really really good.
I read that it helps to put the whole thing in the fridge if possible to chill the voids in the insulation so we do that. With everything chilled from the fridge, a couple of ice packs and a bag of loose ice on top, it keeps around 2deg for 3 or 4 days. After that it is just a case of renewing the ice packs or topping up the loose ice and draining off the melted water.

Certainly recommended.

the power draw is so severe they are not much use IMHO unless used whilst the engine is running

I wud use freezer packs and a cool box personally

then again i dont have meat and stuff to protect

I have a Halfords plug in cool box and it is brilliant. Put a couple of bottles of beer in mine which was warm from sitting in a tent, drove for 3 hours with the box plugged in and the beer was cold enough for condensation on the bottles. No ice packs or anything. Really impressed.

Aldi one here. Has 12v & 240v leads. Usually get it running overnight on 240v to get it cold before plugging it in the car. TBH, a frozen 2lt bottle of water changed every day keeps stuff just as cold.

A plug-in cool box is still a cool box and works just as well as a non-powered one when not plugged in. We have an Outwell one that we take camping. With a bit of judicious charging whilst driving it seems to work out pretty well. On sites, it’s a bit of a toss-up between paying to stick freezer blocks in the campsite fridge at whatever rate they charge or just getting a hook-up.

“freeze a couple of 1.5 litre water bottles” yes last lost longer than ice blocks.