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Compressor fridge – this is like your electric fridge at home which uses circulating refrigerant inside which expands to provide cooling. They are heavier than thermoelectric fridges and also more noisy because the compressor is a mechanical engine in effect. However, they produce exceptional chilling and can have the temperature adjusted accurately using a thermostat. If you are undecided on the type and size of cool box you should buy, don’t rush as you do not want to waste your money. Thermoelectric cool boxes will not freeze food. Food will gradually defrost. However, it can remain frozen for 3-4 days, depending on the following factors. Cooling is by the thermoelectric effect and again is a little limited. It will get you to around 10°C in our experience on a standard UK spring day (i.e. not too hot outside). Vonshef actually suggest 12°C as the minimum temperature which is way off from where we would prefer to be – around 5-6°C. Still, it can definitely chill and is great for cooling drinks in this respect, when you don’t have to be completely ice cold.
If you are away for an extended time, consider using two cool boxes to keep food frozen for longer. It will provide you with the space to divide food and drink, which will help keep food frozen longer. They do not have to be thermoelectric; one can be a passive cool box. There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Hi-Gear 28-Litre 12V 240V Cooler. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for. In our opinion, no electric cooler combines greater simplicity, affordability, and efficiency than the Outdoor Revolution Eco Deep Extreme. This is a full-on compressor-based fridge which also has a separate freezer section which can keep ice cream frozen! Yes it’s an expensive cool box, but really delivers the goods in our view.A 20 litre capacity is not going to set the world on fire if you’re planning a long trip, but it’s ample for a night or two away. Hi-Gear make cheap, dependable equipment and we were impressed with the quality of plastic used on this cooler. It looks more expensive than it is! Deciding whether an electrical or passive cool box is suitable for your holiday is important. Above all considering your budget and capacity. Nobody wants to interrupt their holiday by having to go to the shops daily or throwing food away and wasting money. If you are camping for long periods in high temperatures, having an electrical cool box will help keep food and drinks cold. As well as prolong the length of time food will remain frozen. However, if you often camp without an electrical hook-up, an electrical cool box is not worth buying. Ideal for a family of 4 plus, as there is plenty of room for dividing drinks and food. If the cool box is not connected to power, it will remain cool for several hours, which is excellent if you cannot charge it whilst travelling. It has a speedy cooling system when first plugged in, so it is unnecessary to start cooling the night before. We think 20 – 30 litres is the sweet spot for a camping trip away for one to four people. It can store just enough stuff to keep you all going for a few days, and the fewer of you there are, the longer you can last between reloading!
When buying Plug-In, the quality of the product is going to be one of the factors that you really scrutinise before you commit to buying. It has a hot, cold, eco and max setting like other cool boxes and LED light so you can see at a glance what setting you are on. However, you would expect to have thermostatic control for the price, which it does not. It is a power-thirsty coolbox, so I would not recommend connecting to a car charger. Only use it when you have a connection to a mains power supply.
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We’re really pleased to have scored Hi-Gear 45-Litre 12V 240V Cooler so highly, givimg it 8.3 out of 10, making it well above the average for all Plug-In. We love the fact that it comes with an internal basket, a built-in LED light for viewing your grub at night, and an adjustable thermostatically-controlled temperature system. There is a digital display too which we found legible and easy to use. Cooling Ability The cheapest cool box in our recommendation is the HI-GEAR 20L Cooler. It is another 12V only system which can cool food and drinks to around the 10°C mark. For the money, it’s excellent value and has a few extra little design touches we like. Electric coolboxes use the 12v power from your car to keep things cool. If you’re heading away for a longer journey, perhaps for anything from a few days to a few weeks, then these devices are perfect for you - and larger capacity electric coolboxes are better suited to longer trips.
There are however some methods that you can use to determine a product’s quality without needing to physically have it. The warm setting will increase the warmth inside a cool box, matching temperatures outside. Due to a cool box being an enclosed airproof container, the temperature will be higher than the outside on a warm day. The fan will reverse, drawing the warm air from the outside via another vent. Are electrical cool boxes worth buying? That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of key factors for Hi-Gear 28-Litre 12V 240V Cooler below, to help you choose if it’s the right product for you and your budget. The most common used cool box in the UK is thermoelectrical due to the low outside ambient temperatures and cost. Do thermoelectric cool boxes keep food frozen? It has two divider sections to divide your drinks: frozen and fresh food. So using them will reduce the effectiveness of using your food to maintain the coolness inside.
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The ECO Deep Extreme has several different capacity options in the range. The coolers start at a ‘car-friendly’ 26 litre capacity up to our favourite in the range shown above – the 45 litre giant which has its own carry handle and wheels to help move it around. We’ll concentrate on that one for this review. It has both power supply leads—one for easily charging in a cigarette lighter and stored for transport in the rear passenger footwell. The inside power lead is about 1m long, so you need to plan where your electrical mains adaptor is in your tent.
A removable gridded divider in the middle slides into the grooves on either side. It is solid and will remain in place. However, I often remove it to store more food and keep it cold. The cold setting will keep food frozen for up to 3 days, but not entirely. However, this depends on how often the lid is left open and the outside temperatures. There is no drainage plug for water collection in the base. It seems to collect more water, but it’s not a major issue. The significant part is the LED light that will glow red if you power via your in-car charger. This will notify you that your car battery is running low and you must disconnect. Your cables’, switch controls and storage facilities are hidden at the rear of the cool box. Here you can choose either the max or eco setting, which controls the temperature and the energy consumption. Max will keep your food cool between 18 – 25°C below the ambient temperature. However, the eco setting will reduce energy consumption but not keep food cool. There are also standard hot/cold settings.
The cable storage compartment is a reasonable size, so there is no struggle to close the cable cover. Which I always find annoying with other cool boxes. Although at Camping Secrets we always try to offer value-for-money recommendations on gear, the truth is that sometimes it’s worth buying from a reputable manufacturer – we’ve found that this is especially true for powered items. You may pay slightly more than the cheapest Chinese imports (which can often be built in the same factory!), but you get peace of mind that the company will stand behind their product. Insulation: From our testing, not all electric cool boxes can reliably keep food and drinks sufficiently chilled if it’s warm outside. This can be due to a puny fan or, more often poor insulation.
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