With the Coleman Powerchill Thermoelectric cooler, you can take advantage of a 40 degrees drop in internal temperature. Similarly, if you buy the version that can also heat up, you will see around a 40 degree potential increase in internal temperature igloo cooler with wheels as well. This 80-degree overall range is quite impressive and among the higher ranges that we have seen. The lid of the cooler also has four beverage holders to keep things secure. There’s a tiny compartment ideal for limes or other small items.
One of the biggest setbacks to most electric coolers is that when they are not in use, they take up a lot of space. Like conventional soft coolers, the Koolatron D25 can pack up small, which is great for a road trip or off-season storage. Incredibly, it operates as both a cooler and a warmer from as low as 40 degrees to as high igloo electric cooler as 135 degrees. Its soft design is not without creature comforts as it has exterior pockets and cupholders. Electric coolers are electric (duh!), so you need to be close to a power source for them to work. However, we know a few types above that can keep the contents cold for up to a day without power – pretty impressive!
That’s enough space to store the essentials for one to two people for several days. It can keep food at a safe storage temperature in climates as hot as 72 °F. After thoroughly testing these electric coolers side-by-side with our best-in-class ice-filled cooler, we’re fairly disappointed in all of them. When we looked at the temperatures from the two data-log thermometers, it was clear that the insulation and cooling power of these coolers is insufficient for use outside on a hot day. As soon as the sun hit the spot they were sitting at around 10 a.m., the temperature would climb above 50 in a better cooler or all the way up to 70 in a cheaper cooler.
Using the Govee Home Thermometer System, we ran our first test on cooling and efficiency. Assigning each cooler a thermometer, we started each at 71 degrees and turned each to its lowest setting, measuring the time it took to get there. The Govee app provides exportable data, demonstrating both the cooling and insulation properties of each unit, allowing us to build this handy graph. A fantastic option for a road-trip freezer, it performed well in our vehicle space test; it’ll fit just about anywhere. If you need to keep frozen items from melting in a compact space, this is the portable cooler to get. Thermoelectric coolers rely on a chemical process known as the Peltier Effect.
The Gear Team has tested a wide variety of automotive products, parts, accessories, and gear, such as GPS trackers for cars, OBD2 scanners, and electric car chargers. In balance, the Coleman Powerchill offers a good value for your money, with decent performance and relatively large capacity. The only real things to worry about are its higher power draw and louder fan. You can open up this cooler from the right or the left when in upright mode. If you’ve got a very compact space, like in a tiny house, this offers a lot of flexibility in where you put it.
He is the managing editor for UpShift, the official publication of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts. George has owned multiple future-classics before they were collectible, including a 1986 Toyota 4Runner, an XJ Jeep Cherokee and a two-door Chevy Tahoe. Some of their models come with digital LED displays and have a simple push button for switching between hot and cold instead of being required to physically swap out a cord. Asking prices are a bit higher for this compared to some of the other products we have discussed but the superior performance and added mobility more than justify the slight upcharge. For the nice operation range, rather large storage size, and good looks, the asking price is very competitive and a bargain in our book. The Peltier Effect creates a temperature difference from one area to another by transferring heat between two separate electric junctions.