I've got mostly colman "extreme" coolers and they do the job just fine, though their hinges tend to be a week point.

Hammer wrote:

Hammer wrote:
use block ice instead of crushed ice as much as possible, and regularly drain the water.


This part I disagree with. The main thing that matters is the weight of the ice. 20 pounds of cubes or crushed will have the same cooling capability as 20 pounds of block, but with the added benefit of being able to push around and take up volume around foods instead of just a lump at the top.

Similarly, draining the water is unnecessary and likely counter-productive.

Crushed ice will fill voids and that's valuable, but there's more to it than that… There’s a direct trade off between how cold you can keep something and how long you can keep it cold with a given quantity of ice. If your objective is to keep things reasonably cool for a long time, block ice and draining water pay big dividends.

Yes, twenty pounds of crushed ice has the same cooling energy as 20 pounds of cubed ice, just like twenty pounds of wood shavings has the same energy as a twenty pound log. The question is at what rate the ice or the wood gives up its energy.

A twenty pound log will burn in a stove much longer than twenty pounds of wood shavings because while the net amount of energy released is the same, the rate at which it’s released is not. Ice is no different.

Crushed ice has many times the surface area of block ice, so it releases its energy to the surrounding environment much faster. It brings the contents of the cooler to a lower temperature more quickly than block ice, but it does so at the expense of longevity.

Crushed ice gives you 33 degree beer for 12 hours where as the same weight of block ice gives you 45 degree beer for three days…for illustrative purposes only of course.

Draining water from the cooler seems counterproductive because it releases thermal ballast, but it is extremely important if you want your ice to last as long as possible. The reason is that the water acts as a conduit that transfers the cooling energy of the ice to the walls of the cooler, where it is transferred to the atmosphere. If the cooler walls were a perfect insulator it wouldn’t matter as much, but they’re not…not even close.

Now that can of Schlitz sitting in melted ice water is going to be colder than a can of Schlitz sitting a foot away from a dry block of ice…once again it comes down to how cold do you want it verses how long do you want it to stay cold.

Thanks Hammer for providing the science for what Ive always known. Crushed ice for an overnighter, block ice for the whole weekend and always drain the water or it will zap your ice. The solid ice in milk jugs may be the best option for no water in the bottom of the cooler and ready to drink when you want a slug… only the water will encompass the ice until you do...

For anybody considering a higher end cooler, I recommend the Canyon Cooler. Way cheaper than Yeti and comparable, if not better, performance.

I've used mine as checked baggage to and from the Caribbean a few times and it is holding up very well.

AOCoolers.com

Have several and they are collapsible, easy to pack, easy to carry the small ones, and keep stuff cold for a loooooong time.
Everyone I've turned onto them has been super stoked. Great coolers!!

Have a few Yetis but can't for the life of me figure out why they can't make them lighter.

Oh and block ice is the only way to go for long trips. No comparison to cubed.....none!

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Hammer wrote:Crushed ice will fill voids and that's valuable, but there's more to it than that… There’s a direct trade off between how cold you can keep something and how long you can keep it cold with a given quantity of ice. If your objective is to keep things reasonably cool for a long time, block ice and draining water pay big dividends.

That's fair. I want my food not to spoil and my drinks to be very cold. So crushed ice achieves those goals better. I don't have much interest in a 45 degree beer nor trying to keep a cooler cold for a week without resupply.

In real life though, what I want to do is fly to a glacier fed lake and have a couple whiskey's chilled with 10,000 year old ice. Which cooler is best for that?

Hammer wrote:Draining water from the cooler seems counterproductive because it releases thermal ballast, but it is extremely important if you want your ice to last as long as possible. The reason is that the water acts as a conduit that transfers the cooling energy of the ice to the walls of the cooler, where it is transferred to the atmosphere. If the cooler walls were a perfect insulator it wouldn’t matter as much, but they’re not…not even close.

Well, on this one you're on your own. The link I previously attached had the science. Igloo, Coleman and Yeti all recommend not draining.

Coleman extreme works great holds ice for days. Cheapest place to purchase it is Walmart

Short trips I use my Yeti Hopper soft side. Thing is amazing!


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From Yeti website: http://yeticoolers.com/pages/maximizing-ice-retention/

They say leave the water in. And, at least some of their coolers have indeed been tested with grizzly bears, and are considered "Bear Proof" by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Research Team.

MTV

been doing two weeks at Johnson creek ever summer since 1998... I have an AO soft cooler and a marine hard side cooler. I pack the hard cooler with 20 lbs crushed and food when leaving home for the trip... it's enough for beer and two nights dinner .. I pack the ao soft cooler with all my clothes and underwear and shit... all that gets laid out in the tent after set up... then a trip to mccall for Ice and food and more beer.. it's here that i switch to block for the hard cooler and the ao cooler gets crushed and keeps the drinks and a few other items cold for about 4 days... check out AO coolers on line... I do the same with the ao cooler when headed to hawaii for our time share on the big island... it's my carry on with all my clothes and becomes our day cooler....I've found Marine coolers sold at West Marine or any boating supply store keep Ice longer than the sporting goods store brands... thought about the yeti coolers but I couldn't lift one, .lol.... so with my M4 pretty much loaded a 50 lb empty cooler isn't an option...

MTV

""considered "Bear Proof" by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Research Team.""

Are they the ones who count the bells and whistles?

Sorry, couldn't pass it up.

iceman wrote:I pack the ao soft cooler with all my clothes and underwear and shit...

Note to self; if I ever encounter iceman at Johnson Creek and he offers me a beer or any other food/beverage item that may have been in his cooler, politely decline.

Another vote for Coleman Extreme - I took mine to High Sierra FlyIn this last year - I froze half my drinking water in plastic bottles thinking I would use it as ice and drink it as it melted - I had to take them out of the cooler on the 3rd day cause they were not melting down and I was getting thirsty. Great cooler at a decent price.

wannabe wrote:MTV

""considered "Bear Proof" by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Research Team.""

Are they the ones who count the bells and whistles?

Sorry, couldn't pass it up.

Very funny..... Actually, though, if you observe the way they actually test this stuff, it'd make you a believer. There is an outfit in West Yellowstone that keeps grizzly bears that have been deemed a little too friendly with humans, and they also take in cubs to raise whose mothers were killed, etc. Believe me, for land managers who come up with orphaned bear cubs, it is REALLY tough to find a zoo or other place to send them.

Anyway, one of the things this outfit does to help pay the bills is test stuff as to whether it's bear proof. In the case of a cooler or food storage container, they put some really nice smelling food inside, and put a couple of their adult Grizzlies in the enclosure with it, and let them go at it. These are not "gentle" attempts to open, say a cooler. If the bear/s haven't succeeded in getting into the container/cooler after an hour or so of dedicated effort, the item is deemed "bear proof". It's a pretty amazing process....bears can be very subtle, right up to the point where they aren't. Then things get pretty violent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocMur2MW5eU

MTV

The Coleman Extreme. Coleman seems to hold ice better than anything I have used.

The cooler in this picture (under my surfboard) has been beaten beyond belief. It's been in Australia and Hawaii for at least 5 years. I can't say enough good about Coleman products (and they are at WalMart, Bunnings, QLD).

I've had a Coleman steel cooler for years, but I finally succumbed to the siren call of Yeti 3 years ago, bought a Yeti 35, and I've never been sorry. Well, not quite. I had measured the Yeti and the baggage door on my airplane, and although close, it looked like no problems. Then on my first trip in the airplane, with the Yeti all full of food and ice, I attempted to load it, and it wouldn't fit. However, I learned that if I turn the Yeti on its back, it'll slip in. Then I turn it back upright, so that if there's any melting, it won't seep through the top gasket.

Heavy, yeah, but it holds the coolth better than anything I've previously owned, and I've owned quite a number of lesser coolers including that old Coleman. And as the bear video shows, it's almost indestructible, which is another major failing of many lesser coolers. So it's OK if someone wants to sit or stand on it, with no fear of cracking or denting it.

The price is daunting, but it's sort of like the rule about oats. Marilyn thought I was crazy to spend that kind of money on a cooler, but since then we've taken many car trips in addition to my airplane trips, and she's changed her mind, at least on the value of the cooler. Still thinks I'm crazy, but for other reasons.

One thing I've done is to make a partition, so that ice stays on one side. That makes it handier. Yeti sells partitions, but they're Yeti-priced, and they won't fit along with the basket in the 35, so I made mine with a $5 piece of Lexan.

On which to use, crushed or blocks, I agree that blocks cool longer, but they're a lot less convenient, and not as easy to find as crushed ice. I disagree about draining the water, so I only drain it when I'm about to add more ice. I pre-cool my cooler overnight with "sacrifice ice", then load it with cold or frozen food and drink, then load on as much crushed ice as it will take. That's good for about 5 days, and I've been able to stretch it longer.

Examples: Last year at OSH, with the usual hot days, I left here on Friday morning and left OSH late Monday, stayed overnight at GRI, and was home on Tuesday early afternoon, a total of 10 1/2 days. I bought ice at OSH twice for the Yeti, on Wednesday and Sunday. My more common camping trips are about 4 days long, and I always bring home ice.

The weight is the other daunting thing besides the price, but if the airplane can handle it, so can I. A larger Yeti than the 35 would be difficult to haul very far and wouldn't leave a lot of room in the baggage compartment. My camping excursions are just me and pupdog and supplies, so it's not a horrible issue in my airplane.

Cary

We've replaced half of a garage full of hard sided coolers of all various shapes, brands, types, and sizes, with two; both Yetis. We first began using them on unassisted river trips of 7 to 10 days duration. These trips were always cooler problematic prior to Yetis. Each boat is assigned meals for the trip. Cooler issues could literally cost a person boat loads of friends when the last cooler was opened to an unpleasant discovery. It was always a crap shoot. Even coolers that were pre-frozen with their contents in walk in freezers and seam sealed with duct tape, and never opened until the last could could perish after 7 days in the heat, not to mention 10. Yetis stand a much better chance of making it and we rarely have to worry about loosing meals anymore.

We have two sizes, a 125 qt for raft or truck camping trips and a 45 for the plane. We like to eat well when when camping and take along a good menu so stop by to us see us, we usually have enough left over for visitors.



There are tricks to using Yetis, or any coolers; some of those were mentioned above. We pre-cool or freeze everything including the cooler. There is a lot of thermal mass in the cooler so pre-cooling ahead of time helps a lot. We also minimize opening the hard sided cooler to one or two times per day. Having fed a soft sided cooler in the mornings for multiple use access during the day. For extended trips we use dry ice. It works very well to freeze the contents of the cooler so it is a little hard on beer.

Yes, they are expensive and paying that much for a cooler is crazy unless you have a need for them, then they are well worth it. We enjoy ours and have no regrets. It is also nice to lock it up at night and not have to worry about trying to hang a cooler from a tree, etc. so bears won't get in. We still hang our dry goods, but that is much easier to deal with. To each their own, we went through all kinds of other coolers over the years, and there is nothing wrong with those for most uses. I will say it would be hard for us to go back, however.

If you would all switch to red box wine you DON'T NEED NO STINKING COOLER!!! We have done well with a soft side and frozen meat/food/beer for 3 day trips. 4th day is for old school backpack food and wine. If it is just me I usually don't bother with a cooler, just fall back on the old ways when I carried everything on my back. I must say it is nice to have a cold one or eight after a long days flight.
DENNY

note to Whee.....I fart in your general direction....

iceman wrote:note to Whee.....I fart in your general direction....

Haaah! You're old too iceman! What's eeh gonna do, nibble your bum??

Anyway, It's starting to look like the old buy once, cry once parable regarding the Yeti. Still not sold but more open to the possibility of going that direction. Cold beer, mmmmmm.

Thanks for the recommendations.

Rich

The Coleman ice chests from Walmart have worked well for me, and I have a couple It seems like I'm always using. I also have a yeti hopper 30 that I really like. Yes, it is expensive but it does a really good job of keeping things cold for a very long time.. especially out in the desert. It's not a rigid ice chest so it's a little easier to pack in the plane at times. I do end up taking it along with one of the Colemans I have on most trips, I tend to bring a lot of stuff with me, like booze, and some food ha ha.

Ben