Hi-Gear 20 Litre Electric Cooler Box powered by 12V in-car Socket with Integrated Handle, Portable Electric Cool Box for Camping and Festivals, Camping Equipment, Grey, One Size

Product Information

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. Raise a toast to the cool bag. These cool camping accessories keep food and drink ice-cold whatever the weather is doing outside. Store your beer, burgers or butter in one of these beauties and you’ll be a happy camper.

Electric coolboxes use the 12v power from your car to keep things cool. If you’re heading away for a longer journey, perhaps for anything from a few days to a few weeks, then these devices are perfect for you - and larger capacity electric coolboxes are better suited to longer trips.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 cheapest cool box in our recommendation is the HI-GEAR 20L Cooler. It is another 12V only system which can cool food and drinks to around the 10°C mark. For the money, it’s excellent value and has a few extra little design touches we like. The handle, which can also help keep the lid in position when you need the box open, is super-strong and handy. As for the interior of the Hi-Gear, it isn’t partitioned – however, as a result it can easily be cleaned using water and a small piece of cloth without any fuss.

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.

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. 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.