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Who designed kodi coolers12/28/2023 ![]() It doesn't lock shut and the plastic nub hinges are a total joke. I wasn't impressed with the lid on the Igloo Latitude wheeled cooler, for instance. ![]() I also took each cooler's design and features into consideration as I tested and kept an eye out for durability concerns. Steve Conaway/CNET Mobility and durability You can find the graphed data for each of those categories below, as well as our performance data on soft coolers (again, you shouldn't expect a whole lot from coolers like those). That left me with small coolers (less than 40 quarts), midsize coolers (40-59 quarts) and large coolers (60 quarts or more). To help put this data in perspective, I broke down the coolers into separate size categories after peeling soft-sided coolers into their own category. After 48 hours (72 hours for the largest coolers), I had a nifty graph showing me the temperature inside each cooler on a minute-by-minute basis - and the difference from cooler to cooler was striking. In the end, it turned out to be a fruitful test. Oh, and I did all of this in one of our appliance lab's climate-controlled test chambers, and I made sure to let each cooler sit open in the room for several hours beforehand to ensure that they all started at room temperature (about 80 degrees Fahrenheit to emulate a good outdoor summertime temp). Tracking the ambient temperature up above it was much more telling, and it gave us some additional variables to consider. Why elevated? The temperature down in the ice would have been roughly the same in all of the coolers, leaving retention as the only real variable. Specifically, I wanted to track the ambient temperature in each cooler, so I spread the ice in each one I tested beneath an elevated jar of propylene glycol solution (watered-down antifreeze) with a temperature probe in it. (I already have a precise measurement of each cooler's total volume from the earlier described capacity test.) Less ice meant more of a challenge for the coolers, which would hopefully give us a more granular look at how well they perform relative to one another. Instead of a full load of ice in each cooler, I went with an amount of ice equivalent to 10% of each cooler's total volume. To do that, I started with a modified version of the ice retention test. I wanted to get a good sense of performance not just days in, but hours in, before any of the ice had even melted at all. Sure, some coolers would probably keep the ice frozen for a lot longer than others, but using the melting point as your metric seems to disregard everything that comes before. That's all well and good, but I worried that a standard ice retention test on its own wouldn't tell us the whole story. The new, expensive options all hang their hat on this test, with roto-molded coolers specifically designed to ace it (and in doing so, to justify their price tags). ![]() water, isn't as good at keeping drinks cold). The big differentiator that you'll hear a lot about as you shop for a cooler is ice retention - specifically, how long a cooler can keep a full load of ice frozen (melted ice, a.k.a. With Cabela's cooler, that number is approximately 67 cans, which is as strong a result as you'll see before going big with something like an ultra-king-size, 100-quart cooler. Same goes for our 2:1 ice-to-can capacity test, where we calculate how many cans the thing could hold if you packed them in with twice as much ice, by volume. Its actual, measured capacity came in at 76.2 quarts, which is higher than anything else we've tested. Just want the biggest cooler we've tested? You're in luck - that'd be our current top pick, the 80-quart Cabela's Polar Cap Equalizer Cooler. (Bonuses like a cup holder or a bottle opener are important, but the most critical thing a quality cooler does is keep your cold drinks cold.) Here's everything I learned, starting with the coolers I think you should rush out and buy before your next camping trip or big family gathering. With a mass of test data in hand showing us just how well these things perform, I've gone ahead and separated the winners from the also-rans.
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