Koolatron P20 Review

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Category: Kitchen
Brand: Koolatron
Model: P20
Availability: Online/In-Store
List Price : ~~N/A~~
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Koolatron P20 Customer reviews

Koolatron P20 Review by Retired and traveling, "Da_Pix" (Rochester, NY)

We bought the Koolatron Kooler a year ago and find it very useful to keep food and drinks cool while traveling.

To use this effectively both the cooler and the items to be placed in it should be cool to begin with. The empty unit will cool about 10 degrees an hour to about 40 degrees lower than the ambient temperature around it, and maintain it's pre-cooled contents at that temperature as long as it powered on. Warm items placed in a warm cooler take much longer to cool, (the manual says up to 12 hours or longer).

We purchased the optional AC power adapter, so the night before we leave on a trip we plug the unit in and pre-cool it. The morning we are leaving we load it with a few soda and water bottles that have been cooled in the refrigerator. We also put in 2-4 plastic food containers that have been chilled in the refrigerator. One or more of those we fill with ice. The more space that is filled with cool/cold items the better the cooling process for everything else (less infiltration of warm air every time the unit is opened, less warm air to cool).

On our trip we then have cool soda and water to drink, and ice to use with the soda in a cup kept in the cup holder. If we add a room temperature soda or bottle of water the presence of the other cool/cold items filling the rest of the unit together with the action of the unit will cool that within an hour or two.

The plastic boxes are mostly for use with "doggie bag" contents from restaurant meals. Assuming an ambient temperature around the unit of 75 degrees, if the other contents were already cooled to the 35 degree temperature produced by the 40 degree cooling capacity of the unit, a room temperature container of food will be below 45-50 degrees within a couple of hours . We usually have dinner left overs for lunch the next day, certainly within two days.

The unit fits nicely in our sedan behind the drivers seat (assuming there is no passenger in the back seat that needs that leg room) and is easily reached from the front passenger seat over the console between the bucket seats.

At night we take the unit into our motel room and plug it in with the optional AC power adapter. The unit cannot be left plugged in to the cigarette lighter in the car for more than 4 hours or it will run the car battery down.

There is an optional battery saver adapter that will shut off the unit if it overtaxes the car battery. (Buying that is the reason I have returned to this item on Amazon a year later.) That will allow us to leave the unit plugged in when we leave the car for an indeterminant period of time that could be more than 3-4 hours. But after 4 hours or so the unit will shut off to protect the car battery and the contents will start to warm. So, if it is in a warm place we still can't be gone much longer than 4-5 hours if we want to keep food edible.

Finally, I keep an ordinary indoor/outdoor thermometer in the unit so that I can tell what the temperature in the unit is and am comfortable that food has not been subjected to temperatures that would make it unsafe to eat. (I think the manufacturer should build that in to the unit.)

Koolatron P20 Review by C. D. FILKER (CORVALLIS, OR USA)

We purchased this unit for a road trip from Oregon to S. Calif. We wanted to be able to buy sandwiches, snacks and bottled water in the morning and eat on the road, or keep things cold overnight. This fridge worked great, we used it every day of our three week trip, and could take it into the hotel to keep our bottled water and snacks cold at night. We also purchased the additional AC power cord. The unit is small, lightweight, and the noise is minimal for a fridge. The only down side is that it doesn't cycle on and off like a regular fridge so things at the bottom and toward the compresser would freeze overnight. We just put the water there, no problem. Would highly recommend this unit! We have used it several times since the purchase.

Koolatron P20 Review by H. Moore

We bought this for our family road trips. We got to use it TWICE! The two times we used it, it was great and kept everything inside cool. The third time we went to use it, it was completely dead. We bought all the recommended adaptors and followed the instructions that came with it. Though it worked great two times, it's definately too expensive to only use twice then have to trash. We were very disappointed and are still looking for a good RELIABLE cooler.

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