You may also want to consider the insulation of the cool box, as this can affect how well it keeps your food and drinks cold. A well insulated cool box will keep your items colder for longer periods of time. On its warming and cooling capabilities, the lowest the fridge can go is 3°C, while the highest is 65°C. It’s worth mentioning the noise the fridge makes too – it doesn’t! It is almost completely silent which can be a godsend when it’s running in your tent and you’re trying to sleep. Outwell have taken particular care with antimicrobial coatings on the EcoCool, and in fact it has been treated with a biocidal glass coating inside – this is a special glass which has bug-killing properties and is a real selling point in our view. Hot to trot? The advantage of a compressor fridge (i.e. like one you would use at home in your kitchen) is the speed, controllability and power of the cooling on offer. With the Eco Deep Extreme, you can lower the internal temperature from 25°C to 0°C in just 19 minutes which is exceptional. As mentioned previously, you can then disconnect the power so that the insulation is put to work and your food can remains frozen for several hours without using any more juice. One other great feature of the cool box is how it manages to protect the car’s battery from completely running out of juice; it stops drawing current if it senses that your car battery is about to go kaput! Handy when you’re wild camping miles from anywhere. Cool box with heater function– a cool box that has settings to chill and warm food How cold is a cooler for camping?

It also features two removable shelves inside so you have plenty of space for anything – from your favorite beer to a good old Cornish pasty! Insulation: Look for a cool box with high-quality insulation that will keep your food and drinks cold for a long period of time. Thermoelectric cool box – these are well insulated coolboxes which use a Peltier cooler (12V or 240V powered usually) and electric fan to drive heat out of the box and keep your food and drink chilled. The best thermoelectric coolboxes can lower the temperature by about 30°C below the ambient temperature which means they can be used all year round in the UK. Downsides are fan noise, but in a tent you’re unlikely to hear it. Compressor fridge – this is like your electric fridge at home which uses circulating refrigerant inside which expands to provide cooling. They are heavier than thermoelectric fridges and also more noisy because the compressor is a mechanical engine in effect. However, they produce exceptional chilling and can have the temperature adjusted accurately using a thermostat.

Specification

Cool box with heater function - Chills to 18-25°C below outside temperature, warms to 50-60°C What’s the best cool box for camping? Mains-powered boxes are more powerful, but 12V in-car electric coolers are ideal for keeping in your motor for road trips and commutes.

We were impressed that it can also heat the contents up to ~65°C. Obviously this isn’t hot enough to actually cook food, but it means you can keep your fish and chips warm if you’re busy – watch out for bacteria though – the heating should just be for short blasts after you’ve actually cooked the food. Think of it as maintaining temperature rather than reheating. Dimensions are reasonably compact at 26.9 (W) x 32.2(D) x 38(H) cm, and we found this an excellent size for a few nights away in our tent. It’s a great option for a mini-break or an afternoon retreat as it is small enough to be easily carried using the ergonomic handle on top. However, it’s probably more of a fridge than a coolbox to take picnicing – just bear this in mind! As you would expect from such a sturdy, quality box, it comes with a five-year warranty. Perfect for camping, festivals, outdoor entertaining or just as an overflow fridge for busy times in the kitchen. If you’re going out in the wilds with a larger group, the similarly sturdy 55l versionmight be worth plumping for instead. We love the fact that it comes with an internal basket, a built-in LED light for viewing your grub at night, and an adjustable thermostatically-controlled temperature system. There is a digital display too which we found legible and easy to use. Cooling AbilityThe EcoCool could also be called the EcoHeat as the cooling action can be switched to heat for temperatures up to 60°C higher than ambient. This is plenty for keeping soup or pies warm whilst you go out for a late night winter walk. This cool box has all year round use! Insulation: From our testing, not all electric cool boxes can reliably keep food and drinks sufficiently chilled if it’s warm outside. This can be due to a puny fan or, more often poor insulation. Quite frankly, few items are as important in a camp environment as having a top-performing electric cool box. From our experience, it is important to carefully examine the features of a particular product to make sure it will match up to the conditions under which you will be using it. Waterproof capabilities: particularly important for cooler bags if you're taking them out and about, but also that the lining is leakproof

Durability: Look for a cool box that is made of high-quality materials and is built to last. Look for features such as reinforced corners, sturdy hinges, and a robust lid seal. The Outdoor Revolution cooler range all provide similar performance. The only difference is the sizes on offer. For the 45 litre, the main attributes are:The EcoCool offers two cooling modes with a cooling delta of up to 25°C below the outdoors temperature on the MAX setting operation. This means that even on a scorching day, you can still get temperatures close to freezing. Although at Camping Secrets we always try to offer value-for-money recommendations on gear, the truth is that sometimes it’s worth buying from a reputable manufacturer – we’ve found that this is especially true for powered items. You may pay slightly more than the cheapest Chinese imports (which can often be built in the same factory!), but you get peace of mind that the company will stand behind their product. Cooling is by the thermoelectric effect and again is a little limited. It will get you to around 10°C in our experience on a standard UK spring day (i.e. not too hot outside). Vonshef actually suggest 12°C as the minimum temperature which is way off from where we would prefer to be – around 5-6°C. Still, it can definitely chill and is great for cooling drinks in this respect, when you don’t have to be completely ice cold. Capacity: If you’re only planning to use your cool box for fridge overflow in the kitchen, cellar or garden, you can afford to invest in a 50-litre-plus whopper. But bear in mind that cool boxes, like fridges, work best when they’re full. A 47-litre cool box is big enough for well over 80 regular cans of drink.

The ECO Deep Extreme has several different capacity options in the range. The coolers start at a ‘car-friendly’ 26 litre capacity up to our favourite in the range shown above – the 45 litre giant which has its own carry handle and wheels to help move it around. We’ll concentrate on that one for this review. Outwell is a case in point. They make some of our favourite pieces of outdoor equipment and have a strong pedigree of providing reliable gear and great customer service. The Outwell ECOCool 35L Cool Box is a case in point for a thermoelectric cool box which can operate on both 240V hookup and 12V battery power and provide a substantial amount of cooling power. We think 20 – 30 litres is the sweet spot for a camping trip away for one to four people. It can store just enough stuff to keep you all going for a few days, and the fewer of you there are, the longer you can last between reloading! Electric coolers are miniature fridges. They actively cool your food rather than simply maintaining low temperature, and they keep food chilled for many days. Despite being a decent-sized cool box (storage volume measures 63 x 51 x 42cm), the Eco Deep is portable enough to move around when required. Weight is a fairly hefty 17kg, but the presence of a decent folding handle and wheels makes transport simple and efficient.An electric cool box is a portable refrigeration unit that can be powered by electricity from a car or boat cigarette lighter or mains power. They are a good choice for people who need to keep food and drinks cold while on the go, such as on camping trips, picnics, or long car journeys. They are also useful for people who don't have access to a refrigerator in a particular location, such as at a beach house or vacation home. Electric cool boxes are also more environmentally friendly than traditional coolers that use ice, as they don't require the constant replenishment of ice and don't add to landfills. What size cool box do I need for my camping trip? Each box was run at maximum power for two hours. We logged temperatures at the start and finish, and compared both with the ambient level. We also rated practicality, ease of use, cooling control, plus wheels, cable storage, heat and mains options. Practicality was tested by loading them with a selection of picnic gear: sandwich boxes, 1.5-litre drinks bottles, 330ml cans and the like. We balanced all against the box capacity and online prices. Verdict Freeze or chill items before you place them in the cool box. The ice won’t need to work so hard to keep things cold so will last longer. The best cool box for camping will depend on your specific needs and preferences. Some factors to consider when choosing a cool box include: