We're thinking of purchasing this product for our Idaho/Wyoming/South Dakota trip. Since we'll be on the road alot and don't want to worry about getting to the destinations in time for dinner, we thought a cooler with actual cooling capabilities may help and we wanted to get a soft sided one so we can easily pack it away in our luggage. Have any of you used this or something similar? What are your opinions about buying one?

Thanks in advance. I value your opinions.

http://tiny.cc/ZFsHB

anyone?

ttt

Maria, your link took me to a tiny picture of something, and a large commercial of Puritan Pride, my favorite herbal provider

Please double-check the URL.

Hmmm. I just clicked on it and got the tiny url site and then the link to the actual one. Oi. Anyway, sorry about that. I'll just post the entire link from amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Koolatron-D24-...0651163&sr=8-1

Nope. Haven't used one. I have bought good sized coolers at a local store at my destination for <$20, used it for a couple of weeks, then donated to family or someplace else.

With ice from hotels, or when needed a $1 bag of ice it's always worked great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner items just as you suggest.

I like a normal old-fashioned cooler with ice for a road trip myself.

I see the Koolatrons get surprisingly good reviews, when used properly. The secret seems to be cooling it down properly before putting food in it, and getting the AC adapter so you can take it in your room in the evening.

That said, I think I'd stay away from the soft-sided one. I'm sure it's got thick, insulated sides, and the cooling unit in the base. I strongly doubt it would pack very well in luggage.

well, there didn't seem to be alot of people who have tried it here in fodors so we decided to test it out and return it if it doesn't meet standards - since we have some time to do so. We did get the adapter too. We were thinking of using blue ice to help it out to begin with but since not all the places we're staying has a fridge, we would help it out intermittently. Will report back on the experiment. ;-)

We've used a regular cooler with blue ice on lots of road trips. Every motel/hotel was willing to freeze the blue ice overnight for us, so it didn't matter whether our room had a frig.

I have a Koolatron hard-sided cooler, and it works OK. The unit will only decrease the temperature by a set amount (something like 30 degrees F), so it is not so good in very hot situations. As noted above, if you cool the interior down first, it will work much better.

Yep, I plan to use the blue ice also.

abram, you just asked the front desk? We;ll try that too!