"MaxCold" coolers - 5 days of ice?

[alidayvn]

Does anyone have any experience with the Igloo MaxCold coolers? They claim to be able to keep ice for 5 days. Considering picking one up in Reno and shipping it back as luggage after..

..if the claim holds up, it could be pretty nice out there. Anyone with first hand substantiation of the ice claim?
Savannah wrote:

[Canoe]

Well, keeps ice for how many days:
- in what temperatures?
- sitting in the sun?
- opened how many times?
- what's the temperature of the items you're adding to the cooler?

Cooler performance seems to depend on:

• how much insulation (as in, thickness & quality)
• some don't insulate the lid
  - hack is to drill holes and inject spray foam
  - DAP has a white latex rattle can (water cleanup) that's a lot easier to use than the yellow polyurethane based foams
• how good is the seal on the lid, and is it held closed adequately

Coolers on the playa:

• raised up from the ground, so it's further away from the dust, which includes bacteria and migratory water-foul droppings, among other things...
  - required for food service camps
  - don't leave it sitting open, both for heat and the above
• isolated from the ground (raised, insulation) also takes it away from sun-baked ground
  - some sit their cooler on a thick piece of rigid foam insulation
  - if raised, that further insulates the bottom of the cooler
• keep it in the shade - don't let the sun bake it
• they get baked sitting in tents or in a car, but you may not have a shaded area to stash it
• something sitting on the lid to hold it tightly closed
• cheap coolers may be improved by adding a thin strip of weather stripping to seal better
• old-school on the playa was to throw a heavy blanket, comforter, sleeping bag, etc., over a cooler to further insulate it from the hot playa air (works - I did this in Africa to prevent film from baking)
• more common now seems to be to wrap it in Reflectix or a space/emergency-blanket, to shield it from radiated heat
  - some spray the outside with a spray paint that has aluminum pigment for some radiant barrier benefit; not as good as a "proper" shiny-coated radiant barrier
• all of: isolated from ground, extra insulation, radiant barrier & good seal - for the win!
• some people build an insulated box to keep their cooler in
• keep the ice in zip-lock bags
  - melting ice doesn't get your food wet
  - nor gets contaminated by the playa-dust/soil, and holds it in place in the cooler
  - the melted water is then potable, for drinks, cooking or use in a swamp-cooler
• keep food in zip-lock bags
  - protected from the playa dust that will blow in when you open the lid, or falls off of you
  - you don't want that dust's bacteria sitting growing in your food

Google eplaya for more coolers on playa suggestions.

I shipped a cooler home once. From UPS at Keystone. Very expensive.

[Token]

If you have a specific need to keep something frozen for 5 days, and don’t open the cooler daily, yes, it works.

If it’s your daily use cooler that gets opened allot, then it’s just like any other cooler.

Getting a block of ice every other day isn’t that big a deal.

I’d skip the hassle of shipping it. It will get banged up by the luggage throwers.