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Geography Nerd
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PostTue Aug 14, 2018 4:56 pm 
I recently picked up a KONG cooler. Similar rotomolded construction methods as Yeti/RTIC/Engel etc. I liked KONG since they're made here in WA (Ridgefield) and I got a good deal on the 70. Anecdotally I've been happy with it so far, I'm guessing it would stack up similar to similar manufacturers. https://www.kongcoolers.com/

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Randito
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PostTue Aug 14, 2018 8:10 pm 
For car camping in the PNW -- I find a basic Coleman cooler sufficient. I fill PET bottles ( 1 and 2 liter ) with water and stick them in the freezer in advance and use those for ice. No mess from melt water. For 3 week trip on the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon we rented coolers along with the rafts, rocket boxes, etc and other canyon specific gear. Those coolers had super thick insulation and were picked up from the rental outfitter fresh out of walk-in freezer with foot thick layer of ice frozen in the bottom of the cooler. We still had cold beer at the take out. If your goal is to "out glamp" and impress -- forget about anything using ice. Get a 12 volt cooler Heck this one has a fridge side and a freezer side -- so you can enjoy ice cream while car camping. http://a.co/hSEeoq4

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DIYSteve
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PostWed Aug 15, 2018 9:08 am 
RandyHiker wrote:
If your goal is to "out glamp" and impress -- forget about anything using ice. Get a 12 volt cooler Heck this one has a fridge side and a freezer side -- so you can enjoy ice cream while car camping. http://a.co/hSEeoq4
5.5A max draw. Get that sucker cold on 120V shore power before your trip and do some calculations before relying on a car (starting) battery for more than a few hours. And pack jumper cables. The small (65L) high efficiency refrigerator in our camper draws 3.5A max. We cool it down @ max cold setting with 120V shore power for at least 24 hours before each trip. On longer trips, where 120V power is not available and we're parked for more than a couple days* we are careful to open door as little as possible and we back it up with a small Yeti cooler. * If you have a relatively high output alternator, it's okay to run 12V compressor units at max setting while driving at highway speed, but turn down setting when arriving at camp or before, lest you're at risk for unduly drawing down cabin battery. Good to hear the Coleman Xtreme works for some people. It didn't work for us. It's fine for shorter trips, but >3-4 day performance is not comparable to a good rotomolded cooler.

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Randito
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PostWed Aug 15, 2018 9:41 am 
DIYSteve wrote:
5.5A max draw. Get that sucker cold on 120V shore power before your trip and do some calculations before relying on a car (starting) battery for more than a few hours. And pack jumper cables.
Yeah, you'll probably want to spring for a LiFePo4 battery and a couple hundred watts worth of solar panels when your goal is impress other "glampers".

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DIYSteve
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PostWed Aug 15, 2018 10:00 am 
RandyHiker wrote:
Yeah, you'll probably want to spring for a LiFePo4 battery and a couple hundred watts worth of solar panels when your goal is impress other "glampers".
If "you" is me, you got that wrong. If we were glampers, we'd have a diesel pusher class A. Two $100 flooded lead-acid 100 Ah deep cycle batteries (12V wired parallel) work just fine for us. Our camper is wired for solar, although we have not yet bought panels. We have a tiny super quiet Honda eu1000i gen for backup. We occasionally use it to bump batteries, usually when camped for a few days in winter, e.g., ski area parking lot. (Furnace fan is the biggest drain.) To prolong battery life, I seldom let the batteries drain below 50% capacity.

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Randito
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PostWed Aug 15, 2018 10:08 am 
DIYSteve wrote:
If we were glampers, we'd have a diesel pusher class A.
Or a restored and polished Airstream or "Canned Ham" trailer.

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DIYSteve
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PostWed Aug 15, 2018 1:34 pm 
RandyHiker wrote:
Or a restored and polished Airstream or "Canned Ham" trailer.
That's called vintage camping or camping with a retro travel trailer. Glamping often involves well-equipped yurts or wall tents.

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Randito
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PostThu Aug 16, 2018 12:23 am 
DIYSteve wrote:
RandyHiker wrote:
Or a restored and polished Airstream or "Canned Ham" trailer.
That's called vintage camping or camping with a retro travel trailer. Glamping often involves well-equipped yurts or wall tents.
H'mm , I've never been too focused on the latest social trends. I've interpreted "glamping" as camping using very expensive gear with an emphasis on style.

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Schenk
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PostWed Aug 22, 2018 9:39 am 
Does anyone have an opinion on the RTIC Coolers? They claim ice retention for 10 days and are priced competitively against other roto-molded "super coolers". I am looking at the 45 for car camping: https://www.rticcoolers.com/shop/coolers/roto-molded/RTIC-45-Tan

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DIYSteve
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PostWed Aug 22, 2018 12:38 pm 
Schenk wrote:
Does anyone have an opinion on the RTIC Coolers?
No personal experience, although I've seen them and heard good things about them. To my eye they look a bit rougher than others, e.g., lid seal. But the price is right compared to some other rotomolded coolers. Go for it. There are varying test results: Some declaring RTIC a bit better, some declaring Yeti better, some declaring it a virtual tie. The range of results suggests to me that the tests are not well controlled. 10 days is pushing it in hot summer months and would require very careful use, e.g., shading, big ice blocks, big ice/content ratio, opening seldom and briefly, pre-cooling cooler and contents, eliminating dead air inside cooler, covering with wet towel, etc. Rotomolded coolers are great, but performance ranges quite a bit per use and care.

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Schroder
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PostWed Aug 22, 2018 1:20 pm 
I'm very pleased with my Engel after 2 years of use. It's also IGBC bear certified.

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Schenk
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PostWed Aug 22, 2018 1:31 pm 
DIYSteve wrote:
10 days is pushing it in hot summer months
I think they may employ literary "license" when it comes to the 10 day claim. They don't say how they tested that claim, but they do say it will hold 40lbs of ice. If you use block ice then it is not unbelievable that after 10 days there is still be some ice left. That they are on par with what are considered to be the best coolers out there is good enough to put them on the "want" list.

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DIYSteve
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PostThu Aug 23, 2018 8:06 am 
Schenk wrote:
They don't say how they tested that claim, but they do say it will hold 40lbs of ice. If you use block ice then it is not unbelievable that after 10 days there is still be some ice left.
Sure, if you fill it with 40 lb. block of ice, but then there's no room for food. An actual real world test would be more useful.

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Schenk
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PostThu Aug 23, 2018 10:38 am 
^ Indeed...obfuscation of some relevant facts is an unfortunate part of the Retail environment. I had a tin can that held ice for 3 years. Now that is a very good claim for a cooler! (of course, it was buried in the bottom of the freezer hahahaha)

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PostSun Aug 26, 2018 9:11 pm 
Schroder wrote:
I'm tired of ice in my cooler disappearing after a couple of days so I'm looking for something better than my cheap Coleman. Does anyone have experience with the pricier models like Yeti, Orca, Pelican and Engel? I see some of them are bear certified but they're all in the $300-400 range.
I did a raft trip down the CO River (Grand Canyon) in May for ten days. The guides spoke highly of the ice retention ability of their Yeti coolers, fwiw. They have some help from the river (the coolers were low in the big J-rig's storage space, against the river basically) but they did have to deal with heat and it was only May.

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