Plug in coolers?

[areno79]

DH and I are driving to WDW from NH (a 25 hour drive!), and were thinking of buying one of those coolers that you can plug into the car and into a regular outlet. This way, stuff keeps cold on the road, and we've got a way to keep drinks cold in the room. We're staying at a Value, and figure it'll also be cheaper to buy a cooler instead of throwing away $60 ($10 a night) to rent a fridge at the hotel.
My question is, does anyone have these, and do they really work? Also, any that you'd recommend? We don't need a huge one, but enough to keep a quart of milk in so the kids can have cereal in the morning. TIA!

 

[sunkissed212]

BF and I bought one for our drive down from Michigan last year. It worked but just like with a cooler, it's best to put items 'into' it already cold. It doesn't do so well at making things cold but it does keep them cold quite nicely. We got ours at WalMart for about $50 or so and were able to put several bottles of water and soda in it for the trip down.

FYI-we stayed at POR and requested a fridge. We weren't charged for it and as far as I know, most of the hotels are putting them in rooms for no extra charge now.

 

[hdecker]

We have one and it stays in the van all the time. It's great for travelling and keeps everything refrigerator temperature. It works well for those summer time trips to SAMS too. Not sure what brand ours is but we got it at Walmart for about 70.00. It also has a heat mode, never used that though. Yes, definately worth the investment.

 

[calie_j]

We have one but haven't used it in awhile. One thing to keep in mind is if you shut off the car you're also shutting off power to the cooler so if you're stopping for the night or taking a long break during your drive you'll want to plug it in in your hotel room or be careful that what you have in it doesn't get warm.

Calie

 

[Kaybee]

We have a coleman electric cooler that we bought at Target for our sailboat.
It works great. Keeps things very cold. We use it for long sailing trips when we need extra refridgeration. It has a cigarette plug in adaptor and a regular plug in the wall adapter. We have used ours for years and never had any problems with it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We love ours. The directions actually say to put items in cold for better efficiency. You cannot put ICE into the coolers...but you can put in frozen ice blocks (like the blue ones). We have a frozen 2 litre bottle of seltzer water (we don't drink soda--otherwise we would have just filled an empty bottle with water). The larger blocks of ice like this will last longer--we have kept items cold for 5+ days (haven't had trips longer, yet).

With the block of ice--you can keep things cool in the cooler for a long time with the car off--our van still runs power to the plugs when turned off and we know that we can keep it plugged in for 1 or 2 hours without draining the battery.

 

[Martha7]

We have one that we brought along on one of our trips to US/IOA. It worked pretty well, but while we were in the parks one day, the housekeeper unplugged it, (presumably to plug in her vacuum), so when we came back, our drinks were a tad warm! I also made sure to keep it on a tile floor, since I found that there could be some condensation around it. The one we have is a silver-colored model from the Sharper Image. (It also does the heating thing, but we've never tried that feature out). Actually, I really preferred bringing a cooler, and having one of my teenage boys replenish the ice inside twice a day. It kept the milk, water and soft drinks much colder, although things were drippy when you took them out!

 

[mapmakerj]

We have one but haven't used it in awhile. One thing to keep in mind is if you shut off the car you're also shutting off power to the cooler so if you're stopping for the night or taking a long break during your drive you'll want to plug it in in your hotel room or be careful that what you have in it doesn't get warm.

Calie

That is not the case with all vehicle manufacturers. Our Dodge Stratus and Chevy Venture's power outlets are always "hot" so when we stopped to do sightseeing on our way to Disney (Dec 04') the cooler stayed on when the car was off. Be sure to check your outlets before leaving. However, it will drain the battery if left plugged into the car all night.

 

[Swimnoid]

We have the Coleman electric cooler and have used it with great success over several years. It has definitley paid for itself.

 

[R4racing]

We have one of the large ones and it has gone on numerous hotel stays with us. Works great to have in the van and then in the room. We did have to get the adaptor to plug it into the wall seperate. The other day when we were in Target I noticed they had the type we have on clearance. Not sure of the price though, just noticed the red sticker on it.