Why This High-Tech Cooler At Costco Could Be A Game Changer For Road Trips & Car Camping
If you're going to be traveling in your car for an extended period, whether for a multi-state road trip or camping out under the stars, a major conundrum you need to figure out is how to store your food. Traditional logic dictates that you pack all of your snacks and drinks into a portable cooler and stuff it with ice, but that'll only last for so long before everything gets melty and soggy. If you need proper long-term cool storage, a plastic or foam box simply won't cut it.
If you happen to be visiting your local Costco warehouse to stock up ahead of your trip, you might want to take a look around in the camping gear section, because you may find a solution to this problem: the 83-quart Dual Zone Active Cooler. This heavy-duty product from cooling brand Igloo is less of a cooler, and more of a tiny refrigerator. It draws power from either a traditional AC outlet or your car's DC outlet to provide multi-layered temperature control for your snacks, meals, drinks, or whatever else.
The cooler has two cooling compartments managed via digital controls
Igloo's 83-Quart Dual Zone Active Cooler gets its name from its two separate temperature-control chambers. Using the digital controls on the device's side, you can set these chambers' ambient temperatures to anywhere from 0 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. If you have frozen meals and drinks that just need a mild chill, you can store them separately and keep both at their ideal temperatures. Measured together, the two compartments have a total storage space of 83 quarts, enough space to store 121 12-ounce soda cans.
Rather than storing ice or running off of an internal battery, this cooler is powered by an external electric compressor. That does mean it needs to be plugged in for it to function. However, in addition to a typical AC outlet, you can also plug it into a 12/24V DC outlet, the kind you'd typically find in your car. If you're going to be driving for hours on end in your car anyway, you can put its energy to use keeping your snacks fresh.
If you're worried about it draining too much of your car's battery, the cooler has a 3-stage battery protection system that automatically cuts the power draw if low voltage is detected. This way, the cooler will never drain and kill your car battery. Igloo sells this cooler on its own website for $899.99, though if you specifically buy it at Costco, the price gets knocked down to $699.97, which will save you some gas money.