Electric Cooler vs. Ice Cooler: I Camped With Anker’s Solix EverFrost 2 and an RTIC Ice Box to See Which Is Better

Preserving drinks and meals chilly whereas tenting could be a problem, particularly in the summertime. Although a portable power station hooked as much as a minifridge may help, it isn’t probably the most power-efficient possibility in contrast with both an electrical cooler or a conventional icebox. I got down to take a look at a “common” icebox-style cooler — particularly, RTIC’s icebox — towards Anker’s new Solix EverFrost 2 to see how it might fare in real-world use towards the best coolers available on the market. To start testing, I picked up two coolers, a shameful variety of cans of soda, a thermometer, and a number of other giant baggage of ice and took my household on a tenting journey.

Here is what I found throughout my testing, about cooler efficiency, longevity, cooling functionality and portability. 

Electrical vs. conventional ice cooler in contrast 

Electrical coolers:

Electrical coolers are mainly small, battery-powered refrigerators. They use a cooling factor to decrease the temperature of their compartments, versus conventional ice. They will maintain ice however the principle attraction is you do not want it to maintain your meals and drinks cool. 

Execs 

• No ice wanted
• No mess/melted ice 
• Constructed-in further options like battery charging

Cons

• They solely final so long as the battery
• Very heavy
• Extraordinarily costly

Who ought to use it: People who find themselves happening longer journeys and wish to preserve meals and drinks chilly and recent will choose an electrical cooler. Electrical coolers could be temperature-controlled. They do not rely solely on ice so if you’d like meals saved at a sure temperature, that is attainable so long as you might have a battery or enter supply. 

Common coolers:

A conventional cooler, or ice chest, is an insulated container whose sole operate is to carry meals, drinks and ice to maintain the whole lot chilly. A lot of the area inside a cooler can be utilized for meals/drink/ice storage. Not like an electrical cooler, no electrical energy is required. 

Execs 

• Lighter than electrical counterparts
• Inexpensive than electrical
• Cools down meals quicker

Cons

• Depends on ice for cooling
• Water from melted ice could be messy
• Open meals containers can contaminate cooler ice/water

Who ought to use it: Individuals who might be off-grid will choose an ice chest as a result of ice is mostly accessible in most locations. You need to be capable of choose it up in nearly any grocery store or fuel station and so long as the cooler is well-insulated, it ought to final for hours, if not days. Electrical energy could be a larger ask when tenting and should require a hefty portable power station or a number of backup batteries.

Anker Solix EverFrost 2 electrical cooler vs. RTIC Extremely Robust QT-45 

Design and options

The 40-liter EverFrost 2 cooler Anker despatched me to check is fairly chunky, though it is fairly a bit smaller than the 58L mannequin that comes with two compartments. With the scale in thoughts, I needed to check it towards a cooler with an identical capability. I landed on the RTIC Ultra-Tough QT-45 cooler as a result of its capability so intently resembles the Anker. When it comes to 12-ounce cans of soda, the RTIC cooler can maintain round 50 cans with ice, whereas the Anker can maintain as much as 60 cans. The RTIC cooler has extra size however barely much less width and depth than the Anker, doubtless due to its 2.8 inches of closed-cell foam insulation. 

Along with … you realize … being a cooler, the Anker Solix EverFrost 2 has a number of further options you will not discover in ice coolers. Notably, the battery on the cooler can be utilized to cost different units if you’ll want to, akin to phones, tablets and handheld gaming consoles. Additionally, the Everfrost has a pop-up deal with/desk you need to use for further desk area if you’re at your picnic or campout. The Anker cooler additionally has an inside gentle for locating what you are on the lookout for at the hours of darkness.

If I am being fully trustworthy, the pop-up deal with appears tremendous flimsy. I used to be nervous about utilizing it to roll the cooler round totally loaded however the image on the web site reveals it getting used that method, so I figured it might be positive. I figured appropriately, a lot to my shock.

I used the single-battery model of the cooler. You may buy extra batteries for $220 and you’ll insert a second one to make the cooler last more. In line with Anker, it might run for 52 hours with one battery and as much as 4.3 days with two batteries. That stated, I needed to guage the cooler in its commonest configuration, so I caught with the default battery. 

Testing the load

To check the load, I used 12 oz cans of soda and put 50 cans in every cooler. Then I added all of the ice the RTIC cooler would deal with. The EverFrost 2 has a dry weight of about 50 kilos, whereas the RTIC cooler checks in at about half of that. Add within the ice, and the coolers checked in at 96.6 kilos for RTIC versus 78.8 kilos for the EverFrost 2. Looking back, I might have guessed that. As a result of I added the identical variety of cans to each coolers, the one variable was the ice itself.

To suit 50 cans into the RTC, I needed to stuff them in a bit, they usually simply barely made it. On its web site, RTIC claims the cooler can deal with 60 cans, so it was somewhat disappointing to see it not stay as much as this. Due to that, I used to be solely capable of handle round 10-12 kilos of ice into the cooler. Take a 25-pound weight differential and subtract the ice weight and there you go. 

On this specific case, the load at capability — how a lot the cooler weighs when full — is the extra necessary determine. EverFrost 2 with its cooling {hardware} outweighs (by nearly double) the RTIC cooler, even with ice. Once they’re full, a 15 to twenty pound distinction is not that vital, however the EverFrost 2 continues to be nearly 20% heavier. On this case, the ice cooler wins the combat, though the built-in wheels on the EverFrost 2 cooler make it simpler to maneuver round (however to not carry into or out of a car). 

Quick cooling take a look at

We have all been there. You have acquired a celebration beginning later that day and also you forgot to throw the drinks right into a cooler, so now it’s important to hustle. Which is able to settle down your drinks quicker? As a way to take a look at this, I set each coolers out and open to heat to room temperature, or about 70 levels Fahrenheit. Equally, I had a number of circumstances of soda sitting out, additionally warming to room temperature. As soon as each the cooler interiors and soda warmed up, I loaded up each coolers with these 50 soda cans and tossed 10 to 12 kilos of ice into the RTIC cooler. 

Moreover, I opened a can of soda in the midst of the highest layer and backside layer of cans. From there, I used a temperature gun to take readings. The EverFrost 2 cooler has a digital readout of the temperature on the within of the cooler. To measure the RTIC cooler, I measured the temperature of the within wall. I additionally measured the temperature of every can of soda. I did this each quarter-hour for 5 hours and the outcomes are recorded within the chart under:

As you’ll be able to see, though the EverFrost 2 acquired colder quicker, the cans themselves didn’t comply with go well with. In reality, the RTIC ice cooler cooled each the cooler and the cans quicker than the electrical cooler. 

The one concern I had with the RTIC was after about two and a half hours, the water collected on the backside of the cooler overflowed into the underside can, which spoiled the readings a bit. You will discover a sudden downward slope when that occurred at 9 a.m. We’ll deal with that extra in a bit.

Longevity 

One other scenario you would possibly cope with is camping, and in that case, you are not going to be anxious about cooling down your meals and drinks shortly, however how lengthy they’ll keep that method. To check this, I loaded up each coolers with simply 40 cans of soda. I needed to pack in additional ice into the RTIC cooler, and go away room for an inside thermometer to see how lengthy it stayed chilly. I examined this for 2 and a half days, basically a protracted weekend journey.

For this take a look at, I put the Anker cooler into Eco mode and crammed up the RTIC cooler with much more ice. This time, I didn’t open and test the coolers each quarter-hour. I left a number of hours between checks as a result of if you’re tenting, you are not consistently going into the cooler for the whole lot. Additionally, this was a multi-day take a look at, and I prefer to sleep.

Nonetheless, even when opening the ice cooler a number of occasions per day, the ice lasted the whole two and a half days, though it was principally water by the tip of the take a look at. Regardless of that, the ice cooler stayed under 40 levels Fahrenheit the whole time. The EverFrost 2 cooler within the meantime, additionally saved under 43 levels Fahrenheit the whole time (though the cooler was set for 40 levels). The EverFrost 2 cooler sat at 13% battery by the tip of the take a look at interval. So, each coolers carried out their required duties for the long run, which was good to see.

Worth 

The 40-liter Anker Solix EverFrost 2 cooler retails for $899, although as of this writing, it is onsale for $629. There’s additionally a smaller, 23-liter model accessible for $799 full price ($599 on sale) and a a lot bigger, 58-liter version for $1,099 ($759 on sale). By comparability, the 45-quart RTIC cooler I examined prices round one-third that worth, at $300 (at the moment discounted to $239). Sure, you get plenty of bells and whistles within the EverFrost 2 cooler: the bottle opener, the additional desk area, the wheels, the cleaner setup and storage. Nonetheless, one has to surprise if that is definitely worth the worth. Anker is not precisely reinventing the wheel right here. It is only a totally different sort of wheel.

Electrical cooler vs. regular cooler: Which must you purchase? 

The important thing argument in favor of the electrical cooler is the dearth of mess — there isn’t any ice or ice water to cope with for instance. Every thing you’ll want to preserve cool matches contained in the cooler and there isn’t any want to go away room for ice. Plus, regardless of a barely smaller footprint, it truly has extra capability for soda cans — 60 versus the RTIC’s 50, regardless of the corporate claiming in any other case. Every thing you’ll want to get the EverFrost 2 cooler to do its job is self-contained (you do not have to run to the shop to get ice). There’s additionally the mobility provided by the wheels.

The adjustability of the EverFrost 2 cooler can be good. I bear in mind a number of occasions once I would head out tenting and discover that a number of the meals was ruined as a result of the ice was too chilly, or one thing leaked into the water, and also you needed to wholesale exchange the ice. That will not occur right here. If something leaks, it is only a matter of cleansing it out and placing the whole lot again. Plus, you’ll be able to regulate the temperature to be barely above freezing if you do not need the whole lot to be actually ice chilly.

However, the EverFrost 2 is dear and none of these issues actually justify the additional cash in my thoughts. After all, your mileage could differ. However when you’re questioning which cooler I am going to advocate on your subsequent tenting journey, it is the RTIC cooler. Electrification is fairly cool and you’ll’t deny the truth that the EverFrost 2 cooler is useful. However for cooling issues down quick and maintaining them cool, the old-fashioned RTIC cooler works simply in addition to new faculty, and for a 3rd of the value and 20% much less weight.