Modular Otterbox ice chest claims 14 day ice

[lugueto]

Handles are an inconvenience, no doubt. Packing a vehicle with perfectly square objects is much easier, even if you dont bring the kitchen sink.

However, if the performance is as good as they claim, they'd be totally worth the inconvenience (and the money).

I'm keen to see real world tests and reviews.

 

[slowtwitch]

You can pack anything in a vehicle. What about a raft or canoe? It seems like more of a fluff product aimed at car campers.. the modular thing is gimmicky.

 

[Hilldweller]

I have my Ozark Trails cooler on a drawer; the handles on this stick out too much.

Like the cutting board ---- but again, it's on the side and wouldn't work in my trailer.
Like the divider.
Don't like the price. $350. They're gunning for YETI, not Rtic or Ozark Trails.
http://www.otterbox.com/en-us/venture-45/cooler/otr56-cooler-45.html

 

[fjmario]

14 Days? Without opening the cooler right?
I wouldnt expect the ice to stay solid after a few days of exploring

 

[Hilldweller]

14 Days? Without opening the cooler right?
I wouldnt expect the ice to stay solid after a few days of exploring

It says 14 days in the office without opening "at room temperature".
Room temperature = 72 degrees? 70? 68? 50?
Not very scientific....


It's about time Overland Journal (that's you Scott, Chris, Flounder, Graham, etc) did a real side by side by side controlled shoot-out.
Get an Otter, a YETI, a Pelican, an Ozark Trails, an Rtic, and whatever else is popping up. I think I could hook Graham up with a good IR meter.
Similar sized coolers, 24 cans of Old Chub beer (Oskar Blues Brewery; yum), 20 pounds of ice. Pre-chill each cooler for a specific amount of time with 10 pounds of ice. Open each cooler for the same amount of time, remove a can of beer. Let the best cooler win.

I find it hard to believe that Ozark Trails and Rtic wouldn't come out as the "Value Award" winners.

 

[Roger M.]

Does anybody actually need, or use an ice box cooler and depend on it holding ice for 14 days?
For even 7 days for that matter?

It would seem to me, based on reading O.J. and this forum, that most folks who undertake overland travel beyond 3 or 4 days use an Engel or ARB 12V fridge.

I use a Yeti 45, but I know I'm only good for a maximum of about 4 days, both in terms of ice melt, and overall food and drink capacity of the cooler along with the ice to cool it.

The downside to a lot of the ice box tests online and elsewhere is that the testers are prone to filling the ice box full of ice for their test, which is certainly one way of testing a cooler, but doesn't reflect the fact that for the overlander, a more realistic test would be to fill the ice box with 4 or 5 days worth of FOOD and drink, and THEN fill the rest of the box with ice.

I suspect the "ice-life" numbers would drop precipitously in such a real-life test.

Paying big bucks for a super-cooler in order to get more than 4 or 5 days worth of "cool" with ice seems to offer a rapidly diminishing set of returns, as there reaches a point (5 days?) where a 12V fridge becomes the only realistic option.

(the above references overland travel, the kind where your location precludes you from popping into a gas station for a bag of ice, it also presumes that you've got a power solution for your 12V fridge, either by day long driving, solar, or something else).

 

[jk6661]

The problem is that a 12v fridge and power solution will easily top $1K, far more than any cooler I've ever seen. So if you can get a cooler that keeps your food acceptably cold for, say, a week, then cost becomes a consideration.

 

[Roger M.]

Ice box coolers that can hold ice for a week+, AND can hold enough food for two or three people for a week+ can get up around $500.00 (Yeti 110).

Add to that the constant need for $5.00+ bags of ice, and suddenly an ice box cooler may not be the inexpensive alternate to a 12V fridge that it first seems to be.

Combined with the fact that an ice box cooler seems just not able to support two or three people who are off-grid for more than 5 days, a 12V fridge starts looking like the only solution that will work.

BTW, you can pick up a stainless steel, compressor based Whynter fridge for around $480.00, so the money part of the equation isn't really an overriding factor.
https://www.amazon.com/Whynter-FM-4...0d-20&linkId=5859b9436bd0cf3dc07bac83c06f3bd7

And if you're driving for 5-8 hours each day, your power solution is just your house battery, perhaps augmented with a 100W hard solar panel, easily picked up for around $125.00.

 

[FJOE]

Does anybody actually need, or use an ice box cooler and depend on it holding ice for 14 days?
For even 7 days for that matter?

Yes. Why not a fridge? Portability and power (for me at least). Not all of us are living out of our vehicles!

 

[DaveInDenver]

Does anybody actually need, or use an ice box cooler and depend on it holding ice for 14 days?

Groups running the Colorado through the Grand Canyon would like to keep things cold for a long time without power.

 

[Roger M.]

Groups running the Colorado through the Grand Canyon would like to keep things cold for a long time without power.

I was asking more as the question relates to vehicle dependent overlanding.

Interesting aside though now that rafting has been brought up, some of the higher end outfitters servicing the Colorado will take your cooler over a week prior to the start of your trip, and will actually freeze three layers of ice directly into your cooler such that the ice is attached to the inside of the cooler as part of the inner "floor".

You'd need a large deep freeze, but it would be an interesting thing to try for those overlanding with ice box coolers.

 

[lugueto]

Does anybody actually need, or use an ice box cooler and depend on it holding ice for 14 days?
For even 7 days for that matter?

I do, regularly.

When fishing and camping, we go on trips from 4-10 days at a time. Ice is VITAL. However, we don't depend on a single cooler to do so. Each vehicle brings 1 cooler and a freezer or two coolers. So we have 4-8 coolers on any given trip. We use a single one until that one melts, the others remain closed with their seams taped. IF this cooler can remain for upwards of a week sealed, this would be good to use as the last one in the lineup.

We use a combination of fridges and coolers for a few reasons. There's things you need to keep frozen until you consume, things you can't freeze. You need to freeze part of the fish, if you wanted to take it home and you need to keep the fish you will consume during the trip cool. You wouldn't want a 1000$ fridge to be stinky, or the rest of your food. There's also drink/beer duty.

I can see the utility of one of these high performance coolers, this one claims the longest time. Still haven't justified the price, though. I still use Coleman Extreme units..

 

[Utah KJ]

I will say that Otterbox makes the best equipment in every segment they operate in. I used to work with them on getting into stores while I worked at AT&T and I've never seen a failure that was it related to usage issue.

Now with that said, they have a lot of competition in this segment currently and are a little late to the game.

I'm excited to see how they fair against the competition. Would love to get my hands on one of these once they are out as hopefully they will be competitive in the pricing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Agreed. Except when I have to take my phone case apart all the time to clean out all the dust that accumulates despite their dust-proof/water-proof seal.

 

[02rangeredge]

is it just me or does "modular" just mean comes with the accessories you can get from most of the other guys? there's nothing new to them

 

[dlo13]

Honestly, I think the modular design is nice.
It may be gimmicky, but its always nice when everything fits nice and tight in its place.

Personally, I will hold out and wait for the monoprice coolers to be back in stock.