five (5) day cooler

[ltrcrr]

Has anyone ever used a "5" day cooler and do they work as advertised.
Thanks...

[sully349]

I have 2 Coleman Extreme 5 day coolers and love them. How long the ice last in them depends on weather, are they in direct sunlight, how often they are opened etc.... During summer on the average I get about 3 days on the one we use often. The other I use as a deep freeze and 10lbs of dry ice will keep for everything frozen for 5 to 7 days.

[rccs]

I have one of the original Extreme coolers and it works very well except it does not have very much space inside with the thicker walls. I also have a Igloo ultra cold 50 which I bought at Sam's Club for half the price and it also does a very good job and is much larger inside, this is the one we use the most. If I needed another one I would not hesitate to buy another Igloo one.

[sacrawf]

I use both a Coleman Extreme cooler and a regualr Igloo Wheelie cooler. Food is kept in the camper refrigerator, but the coolers are maintained for beverages, fishing bait, and bulky foods like fresh sweetcorn. You can tell a great difference between the two coolers, and I would certainly only buy the Extreme coolers in the future.  The duration of the ice varies with temperature outside and the temperature of the beverages or food when put in the cooler; you can't count on the five days.

[paxsman]

I agree the 5-day coolers work very well.  Like everyone has said it depends on outside air temp, direct sun ect.  I will sometimes take a 5-day cooler and pack it full of ice and make it our ice bin for the other coolers.  My only complaint is you will give up storage room for insulation (So Buy The Big One).  I have an older Gott cooler that is twice the size and holds ice almost as well as the 5-day cooler.

[Daddie_Tom]

I have one of the original classic Colemans with the thick walls. That is the best cooler I have ever owned. I have not seen another in years though.. I also bought one of the dorm fridges to use on longer trips and that thing has paid for itself not having to keep buying ice at $2-$3 a bag..  We usually just use the camper fridge to get started and once we arrive at camp,we set up, get the dorm fridge going then run into town for the rest of our groceries. We plan our meals fairly close  so we usually just bring home beverages and  items in the camper fridge.

[PM3579]

The extrem's are good coolers but you still must do the cooler shuffle, ie,  chase the shade, to get the most out of it. We try to replentish the sodas in the morning after they have sat out over night and mother nature has prechilled them for us. I'm a big fan of reflectix and have seen some posts on making sleeves for coolers and cutting apiece to fit inside on top of food. I'll be trying that this spring. :usflag:

[cjpoppin]

The extrem's are good coolers but you still must do the cooler shuffle, ie,  chase the shade, to get the most out of it. We try to replentish the sodas in the morning after they have sat out over night and mother nature has prechilled them for us. I'm a big fan of reflectix and have seen some posts on making sleeves for coolers and cutting apiece to fit inside on top of food. I'll be trying that this spring. :usflag:

We made the reflectix sleeve for our cooler when we still had our pup and it really does help the ice last longer.  However we still had to follow the shade or make shade by covering our extra table with a tarp w/sleeping bag opened up over the tarp and putting the cooler with sleeve under table.  This method worked the best for us.

[mike4947]

Some thoughts:
While both Igloo and Coleman originally just made new smaller inserts for their "stock sized" coolers to get the thicker walls, newer versions have new larger outsides so you still have the "original volume" inside.
It also pays to really check out coolers with just a "5 day label" as many discount houses just add the tag to their regular coolers.
Bob, over at PopUpGizmo's makes cooler covers for those of us without talent or just lazy...LOL

[cjpoppin]

Some thoughts:
While both Igloo and Coleman originally just made new smaller inserts for their "stock sized" coolers to get the thicker walls, newer versions have new larger outsides so you still have the "original volume" inside.
It also pays to really check out coolers with just a "5 day label" as many discount houses just add the tag to their regular coolers.
Bob, over at PopUpGizmo's makes cooler covers for those of us without talent or just lazy...LOL

This is a very good price for the cover........It cost us way more $$ for a role of Reflectix but we used the extra for inserts to go between the screen and fabric in the bunk-ends (solar covers on top ) to help keep it warmer/cooler and this really worked well.  Plus the kids sleep in longer due to it being darker.......

[AZsix]

We also have the Xtreme and love it. We do use block ice in it and we have actually used the same block of ice on two separate trips. At the end of the first trip it was about 1/4 of the size it started out as but we throw it in the freezer when we get home and it will last into the 2nd day of the next trip.

[Camping Coxes]

We bought an Xtreme cooler when they first came out.  We used it on a 7 day trip to Lake Tahoe in the summer.  It was in a metal bear box the whole time, and as the week was ending, we realized we never put more ice into it.  My meats were still frozen.  We were impressed.
 
You have to remember these coolers aren't made to be opened and shut a million times a day.  It's basically for cold storage.  Letting all the cold air out everytime you open it kind of defeats the purpose.  You want to put your stuff in already cold so the ice isn't working to cool down your stuff, just working to keep it cold.  I have a vacuum sealer and I use that for my meats and I think that helps to keep them frozen because there's no air around it.  Basically my frozen chicken/steak/burgers acts as an additional ice block in there to keep everything cold.
 
We usually use the Xtreme for the storage of the foods, and another regular cooler with an easier opening lid for the drinks and snacks that will be foraged through all weekend.

[coach]

a wet towel draped over the cooler helps - evaporative cooling.

Shade is better than using a cover, All weather Space Brand blankets are about $12 and would have more than one use!

[SheBantam]

I've put frozen food only in the 5 day cooler with a former milk bottle that I filled with water and froze.  Because everything was Frozen in that cooler and openings and closings were limited, it held for a week in 90+ temps.

[Bluedog225]

Has anyone compared a plain solid styrofoam cooler with a 5 day cooler.  From my highschool days, those plain coolers always seemed to work better.  Of course, things have come a long way since then but seems to me they are pure insulation.  A good lightweight "fridge" for a pop up.