"MaxCold" coolers - 5 days of ice?

[junglesmacks]

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?

[mazatta]

Not with that specific brand, but I have a "5 day" cooler made by Coleman and like it. At a festival earlier this summer, I used frozen water bottles intermingled with my beer and added one bag of ice on the first day. After 3 days, I had half a bag of ice leftover and the remaining beer was still ice cold. I wouldn't expect as good of performance in the desert, but mine seems to be pretty well insulated and I'm happy with the purchase.

As with any cooler, minimize the amount of time it's left open, raise it off the ground and keep it out of direct sunlight.

[BetaBox]

We have two: one for ice and one for dry ice. Since we go in and out of the cooler(you know...actually using it), it lasts about three days. The dry ice lasts about 4-5 days. ymmv depending on your usage patters and precautions done to keep the cooler as cold and insulated as possible. Sometimes the corners of the cold max coolers are thin, but the center is an inch or two thick. Id like to meet the designer of that cooler

[The Bee]

Are you asking about the Igloo brand specifically? No experience there, but I imagine the construction is similar for all heavy-duty 5-7 day coolers. I have two Coleman extreme coolers. I keep frozen gallon jugs of water in one and open it once a day to take out a frozen jug to put into the daily use cooler. At the end of 5 days, the jugs are still at least partially frozen. At the end of 7 days, they are still cold, but no longer frozen. If I open the frozen-jug cooler more frequently (eg, because I also keep vodka in there ) then the performance is not optimal, but still satisfactory.

NB: I keep my coolers in the shade, raised off the playa, and wrapped with reflectix bubble wrap.

[Lassen Forge]

I use my 7 day for DI. Keep it off the playa, wrapped, and in the shade. Holds its fill of DI from Preopen Thurs to Burn Night, maybe longer. WELL worth it, plus you can store all kinds of stuff in it.

[trilobyte]

The advanced 5-day/7-day coolers are awesome (we've got a MaxCold in our arsenal of coolers). They definitely last much longer than traditional/basic coolers, and 5 days in normal environments, but not quite so long on the playa. If you can get the cooler up off the ground, keep it in the shade, and keep from going into it that often, you should easily be able to get 4 days. I'm told blankets can also help, but we haven't yet put that one to the test.

[Drawingablank]

Some reviews and tests comparing various extreme coolers:

http://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/173763-did-cooler-test-kinda-coleman-vs-igloo.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U

That youtube video is pretty interesting as they went to 8 days in the testing and rated the coleman extreme as "best bang for the buck". Although several of the coolers tested outperformed it, they were much pricier. Looked like the Igloo came in last.

[junglesmacks]

The boating forum one looks like it's just for normal coolers though, not the extreme type..

Some reviews and tests comparing various extreme coolers:

http://www.thehulltruth.com/dockside-chat/173763-did-cooler-test-kinda-coleman-vs-igloo.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U

That youtube video is pretty interesting as they went to 8 days in the testing and rated the coleman extreme as "best bang for the buck". Although several of the coolers tested outperformed it, they were much pricier.

[Drawingablank]

The boating forum one looks like it's just for normal coolers though, not the extreme type..

Actually the marine elite is a 5 day cooler as is the coleman extreme.

From the opening line of that post - " I recently posted a thread about the new 72 qt Elite Marine Igloo cooler I bought at Worst marine to replace the 70qt Extreme Coleman that the UV rays were starting to beat up.... "

[Bexx]

I have two of the igloo max cold 40qts. We took one of them last year ( the other one I've borrowed from my Dad this year ) and we really like them. The one we used last year, we used as our fridge. It kept our food at fridge temp the entire time - with a little bit of dry ice and frozen plastic bottles we used as ice. This year we plan on one being a fridge, and one being a freezer. - then we've just got a regular one for beers and ice.

[FIGJAM]

Here's a good comparison test.

http://www.boatersworld.com/static/bwarticles/product/best-icechest.html

[Maizie]

We have a seven day igloo cooler. We were putting a layer of blocks of ice along the bottom of the cooler, and keeping it in the shade, but not elevated. We also weren't particularly careful about keeping the door shut . . . since our camp was mostly first-timers, there was a lot of "Ummmm . . . I dunno what I want to eat . . . . um . . . . maybe an apple. . . . or maybe a banana . . . does anybody else want to eat?"

The ice was lasting about three days before we had to replace it, and even then, we weren't replacing all four or five of the blocks -- we were just dumping two more blocks in it, and calling it a day.

I think for 2012 we'll raise the cooler up off the ground, and pack it smarter so that we're not spending so much time with the lid open looking at it.

[FIGJAM]

Put a food map on top of the cooler so you know where things are.

Then you can choose what you want before opening the cooler and keep the open time to a minimum.

[Maizie]

Put a food map on top of the cooler so you know where things are.

Then you can choose what you want before opening the cooler and keep the open time to a minimum.

Best. Idea. Ever.

We will definitely do this next year, thanks for the suggestion! (Anything to justify breaking out the crayons.)

[Drawingablank]

We started with 5 cases of beer and a bunch of blocks in our 5 day coleman and it held up for several days even with frequent opening. Our biggest problem after that was adding 2 or 3 cases of warm beer daily as it would make short work of the ice blocks.

Adding the beer at dawn may have helped a bit since that would be when the beer was least warm, but it still played hell with the ice situation.

[mazatta]

My Coleman had ice (purchased in Reno) from Tuesday to Saturday and the water/beer was still ice cold when we rolled out Sunday afternoon. The cooler stayed inside our tent trailer, which probably helped quite a bit.

[ibdave]

having room for a extra cooler, we use the cooler water to chill watermelons or pre chill the next days cans of goodness.
I bring 6-8 melons and hand them out. I 1st cut the melons off the rind and place on serving tray, then I have a camp burgin stand out on the street and make burners happy...I them take the melons rinds and dry them on the greywater evap to keep from smelling all week. They dry out fast.

keep the ice chest clean and use the melted ice water for showers later.

[Sail Man]

We have a igloo maxcold and a coleman extreme and using crushed ice the coleman easily kicked the igloo's ass. Both were elevated off of the playa and kept in shade. We would put the same amount of bags in each and when we replace ev 3 days the igloo was all melted and we had half of the ice left in the coleman.

[PurplMyst]

Our cold food items go in a propane fridge in the trailer. However, we have the MaxCold cooler that is used strictly for beverages. Extra beverages are stored in the shade & when we take a cold one out of the cooler, we put a non-chilled one in to replace it at the same time. Our cooler sits on the ground in the shade & is covered by one of the reflective "bubble wrap" car windshield covers. We leave home with 2 frozen one gallon water jugs and 2 bags of crushed ice in the cooler. We keep the crushed ice in ziplocs to keep the melt together for other uses. Last year we were on-Playa from 8am Wed through early Monday morning & we we re-upped on crushed ice twice; mostly due to consumption in our tasty blended beverages. The frozen jugs fully melted by about midday Sunday & we did take some crushed ice home.

[voiceinthedarkness]

I'm planning on three coolers - deep freeze (Open once daily in the early morning, transfer frozen goods to other coolers), low-use (Open only for specific meals), and the in-and-out - chilling beer/wine/juice, crushed ice for mixed beverages, fruit cups or other daily use items. Freeze as much bottled water (Both gallon and quart) ahead of time (Same for prepared foods), fill any spare space with ziploc bags full of crushed ice (Replenished during trip out and via Arctica).

However, I'm also considering a 3-way portable refrigerator, such as the Dometic RC4000 - 120VAC for the overnight stay, 120VAC/12VDC during the drive out, then 12VDC/LP during the event. Propane coolers are common in RV's - has anyone used a separate portable propane cooler on the playa? If so, how have they worked, and do you have a recommended make/model? This has the potential of replacing one of the coolers if performance measures up. I can always stick with a simpler 120VAC/12VDC unit running off the truck's inverter, but would value insight.

Also, Arctica sells ice; I've heard it's a bit expensive (More a matter of opinion, I think, but being new to Burning Man, I can't say) - what does a bag of crushed ice cost, approximately?

[The CO]

WE use a 3 cooler setup: Beginning of the week, regular ice, for arrival through Wed. End of week, dry ice and regular ice, does not even get opened until Thursday (& usually still has original ice on sunday). Dry Cooler, specialty setup for veggies and bread products.

Elevating helps a great deal. We keep ours in the trailer/shade structure, so it's off the ground and in the coolest enviorn in camp. Wet burlap with your clean cooler water, and cover the coolers with it. Cheap, and more effective than a blanket.

[AntiM]

I did the three cooler thing. Couldn't train my campmates to stay the hell out of the other two coolers. They rummaged, even if we hid the deep freeze cooler.

We also no longer let certain people camp with us, which partially solved our cooler problems. We tried dry ice, it carbonated our cream puffs. So now we do a food cooler, but chilled foods, nothing frozen anymore. Too much work for little return; but it is a very much an individual choice. A dry cooler, and a drinks cooler. Also an igloo water cooler which provides iced drinking water. We also carry a small car cooler for the drive, and a cooler on the back of our four wheeled bike. It hides in a wooden treasure chest. I have an insulated lunch box for medicines in the tent.

I sewed quilted fabric cooler cozies way back in 2001, we are still using them.

[junglesmacks]

Also, Arctica sells ice; I've heard it's a bit expensive (More a matter of opinion, I think, but being new to Burning Man, I can't say) - what does a bag of crushed ice cost, approximately?

I've only bought it once and as a gift.. I always go cooler-less.. but I think it's like $4/bag or 5 for $15? Someone correct me if I'm wrong?

[voiceinthedarkness]

Coolers elevated and in the shade, already planned. Evaporative cooling (That is, water-soaked burlap), hadn't considered it for other than personal use but a very good thought, many thanks. I also hadn't considered a dry cooler for vegetables and bread products, another fine idea. I read in another thread that putting bread and tortillas in a paper bag helps keep them fresh - does this work or is it an old wive's tale? I've never much worried about the quality of field rations, only the quantity. Perhpas it's time to change the point of view.

Meals will be planned and packaged ahead of time, to minimize the need for grazing, with plenty of non-perishable and portable items stored separately.

Access control shouldn't be a problem, as there will only be two of us in camp, coolers will be secured any time we're away, and my daughter and I both understand self-discipline. Usually.

Cooler cozies. Hmmm. Unfortunately for me, creative crafting falls into the same category as brain surgery - not my forte. They sound cool, though (If you'll pardon the pun).

[Rice]

Put a food map on top of the cooler so you know where things are.

Then you can choose what you want before opening the cooler and keep the open time to a minimum.

Best. Idea. Ever.

We will definitely do this next year, thanks for the suggestion! (Anything to justify breaking out the crayons.)

You should never need an excuse to use crayons

[junglesmacks]

You should never need an excuse to use crayons

My feelings exactly.


I fucking love crayons. No, really.

[BBadger]

I read in another thread that putting bread and tortillas in a paper bag helps keep them fresh - does this work or is it an old wive's tale?

A paper bag prevents condensation, while also helping prevent drying out, provided it's sealed. It'll also depend on the bread. Plain ol' bread from the store is sold in plastic bags because it's meant to be eaten in a short timeframe. Something with a better crust you'd probably want stored in paper.

We stored our tortillas in plastic bags when we used them, and they were fine. They were pre-cooked, however, and already sealed.

I've never much worried about the quality of field rations, only the quantity. Perhpas it's time to change the point of view.

When you're at the store it's easy to say "oh I can live a week on Ramen or some other cheap food" and justify that because you're paying the jacked-up prices at Reno or something. However, on the playa, I always kick myself for not bringing something I thought I might enjoy but opted not to, or not enough of something someone else suggested, but I shot down. Bring tasty drinks, bring tasty food. Go through the effort of making nice meals. Even trade off kitchen duties so you can't just opt to not make a proper meal. Moral of the story: it's your one week vacation, make it one!

Meals will be planned and packaged ahead of time, to minimize the need for grazing, with plenty of non-perishable and portable items stored separately.

Access control shouldn't be a problem, as there will only be two of us in camp, coolers will be secured any time we're away, and my daughter and I both understand self-discipline. Usually.

Good to have a plan an protocol for where and when you grab food. It will save you ice. Still, don't make it an exercise in diminishing returns. If you feel like having a drink, well, have a drink. If your food access habits force you to buy ice, buy ice. You're there for a week, and only a week, make it the best week!

Cooler cozies. Hmmm. Unfortunately for me, creative crafting falls into the same category as brain surgery - not my forte. They sound cool, though (If you'll pardon the pun).

Throw a blanket over the cooler or some welcome mats. They work fine.

At the same time, if your cooler is so cheap that blankets have a noticeable effect on the longevity of your ice, maybe it's time to invest in a proven, better cooler. Maybe even pack some shit cooler in sealed styrofoam.

[theCryptofishist]

Because this is eplaya, there's going to be difference of opinion.
Like this one:

You should never need an excuse to use crayons

Ahhh! Not cranyons! the color saturation is horrible! I want something softer with more pigment!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled cooler thread.

[Rice]

Because this is eplaya, there's going to be difference of opinion.
Like this one:

You should never need an excuse to use crayons

Ahhh! Not cranyons! the color saturation is horrible! I want something softer with more pigment!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled cooler thread.

Crayons, pencil-crayons, markers, paint, pens, blood - whatever . Just embrace your inner-kid - draw stuff

I have the extreme 7 day cooler and it seemed to retain ice for about 3 days. But my two camp mates seemed to graze through the cooler on a bi-hourly basis

[FIGJAM]

Last year ice was $3 a bag or 6 for $15.

Nuts make great snacks.

Plan tortilla chips, bean dip, and salsa= instant tostadas.