Coolers at Sam's Wholesale

[crusin'minnie]

I just bought a cooler/warmer at Sam's for 59.96. It looks just like an ice chest but you can turn it up on one end and it turns into a mini frig.

It has a car adapter and a wall plug. It is supposed to keep food either cold or warm. I have a giant suitcase at home and I am hoping that it will fit inside, since it will be a pain to deal with without wheels.

Has anyone tried one of these? Your thoughts & comments please!

 

[CarolA]

Are you flying to Disney? I don't know how much one of these things ways, but make sure you aren't over the weight limit if you are. I would also tell the gate agent WHAT you are checking so they can note it.

 

[Poohnatic]

I bought one last year for 85.00. We drive, and it paid for itself the first trip. We had snacks for the kids the way down ( I have two yogurt fiends, but one particular brand only!). First night on Fl shore, visiting mom, we had an efficiency, but the next 6 nights at WDW it got put to good use. I also use it in my store all Christmas season so my employees could have cold sodas w/o fighting the lines in the food court.

We have now used it for two Fl trips, total of 13 nights at WDW--still cheaper than their refrigerator @ 10.00 a night.

Be aware that running it continuously will ice up the motor. At some point after 4 days, get a bunch of ice, put a garbage bag in your sink and then fill it with the contents of the cooler and cover with ice. It usually takes about an hour to defrost the cooler.
They aren't too heavy when empty, just really bulky. I'd say about 7 or 8 pounds.

Enjoy it. I'm very happy with the one we got.

Suzanne

 

[TIdoublegaER]

We were extremely disappointed with ours. We bought one last year and it blew the fuses in the plug-ins in our van and was useless in the car. Since we are DVC members, we don't need it for the room. We spent $80 for the cooler and then like$30 for the adapter to plug into the wall. Total waste of money for us.

 

[Muushka]

We bought our plug-in refrig about 4 years ago. Best 80 dollars we ever spent. We have had absolutly no problem with it icing up or fuse problems. We bought it before we had DVC, but we still travel with it and use it at USF hotels.

I wonder if the brand of the cooler has anything to do with the problems some have had?

 

[jmminarik]

Our anecdotal experience:

We also have one of the cooler/warmers. Don't recall which brand but we got it at wallyworld a few years ago. It came with a wall adapter and ran something like $60.00 Doesn't matter what the orientation of the chest is set to be...the positioning of the plug determines if it cools or if it warms.

We've used it extensively for our road trips to the World and elsewhere and its worked well for us. We've used it to keep lunchmeats cool for on-the-road meals as well as a nice rotation of caffeinated soda and it is big enough that we can even store the large bottles of Fiji that wifey-poo insists I buy. If we stop for the night, we just plug it into the wall socket in the room so we don't have to muck around with ice.

We've also used it as a supplement to the main fridge in a 2BR villa...when you feed 13 people from one fridge, that fridge can get kinda full. The only caveat is to make sure the kids know that it's not closed until it thunks closed. Hmm...maybe the kids not closing it all the way was the reason it didn't ice up.

We also use it for our Sam's club shopping trips. We just put all of the cold food in it and don't have to worry about it going bad, especially in the sticky humid Philly summers. As an added bonus, we can just carry the cooler in the house...no mucking about with carrying every item individually.

Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[PhillyDisnynut]

hey these sound great! how big are they?
actually looking for some type of fridge for my son for college and didnt know if this would work.? thanks !!

 

[TIdoublegaER]

Ours is a Coleman, which is a respectable brand. It is possible that ours has some type of defect in the AC adapter. When plugged into the wall, it works great, but that's not really the reason we bought it. We wanted to avoid buying ice, draining coolers, etc while in the car.

I am glad to hear that so many have had success with theirs. Maybe I'll try to see what the heck is wrong with ours!

 

[Tigger1]

I bought mine at walmart also. It came with an adaptor. It kept a temperature about 35 degrees coolers than the temperature outside the cooler. It also needed plenty of time to reach this temprature. I did not use mine alot the first year. The second year my friend borrowed it to take to Destin. He brought many fresh sea fish caught on his trip. They packed the cooler with ice also. The cooler no longer works.

I was never to impressed with the cooler as it never was cold enough. (90 outside ment 50 inside cooler). We camp part of our trip and stay in villas the other part with full refridgeration.

I might try one of those keep ice cold for 5 day coolers.

Thanks Tigger

 

[Muushka]

Originally posted by PhillyDisnynut
hey these sound great! how big are they?
actually looking for some type of fridge for my son for college and didnt know if this would work.? thanks !!

I probably would not use it in the "forever" mode in place of a regular refrig. It is good for keeping things "cool", but I would not store (for example) raw chicken in it unless I was going to cook it real soon.

They are about the size of a regular ice chest, but the walls are thicker. Mine is about 3 ft wide by 2 foot, give or take.

 

[Poohnatic]

Originally posted by TIdoublegaER
Ours is a Coleman, which is a respectable brand. It is possible that ours has some type of defect in the AC adapter. When plugged into the wall, it works great, but that's not really the reason we bought it. We wanted to avoid buying ice, draining coolers, etc while in the car.

I am glad to hear that so many have had success with theirs. Maybe I'll try to see what the heck is wrong with ours!

I've got a Coleman, too. a 1.5 cubic foot that came with the adaptor.

How about contacting Coleman and telling them your experience? I've had a lot of success with other major brand mfrs when I've had problems with their products. The best way to get results with any is to say "Your reputation is that you have quality products" and then tell them what happened to it. I wouldn't be too surprised if you get a new adaptor. I also make sure to snail mail complaints. This way, you aren't accidentally deleted.

Only thing I'd ever heard wrong about a cooler (before the adaptor problem) was that bell services inadvertenty plugged in a cooler they had moved to the 'heat' setting! The resort replaced the food for that person, though! To combat that, we tied a knot after plugging in the cooler the proper way.

Another thing that is stated in the instructions (for the Coleman, anyway) is to NOT put any ice in them. We tend to buy our stuff already refrigerated so that the cooler didn't have to work as hard. The only exception was the soda, which we iced down a bit, then put it in the cooler.

My DH was not so sure it was worth the expense, but after that first trip, he jumped on the bandwagon. He delivers mail, and he is excited that he can take it in his Jeep during the summer this year (newer vehicle with a lighter socket for the adaptor!)

Suzanne