As we start heading for summer and the mercury starts to rise, so does the demand for cold beverages. This always presented a challenge for me in the RV for several reasons: 1. I don’t like using up my valuable refrigerator space with cans and bottles; and 2. I try to minimize the number of times I get in and out of the refrigerator when its hot. Because if you were raised anything like me — my mother ingrained in me “Don’t stand there with the refrigerator door open!”
I started loading up an ice chest with our beverages for the day, but the daily trips for ice were a hassle, not to mention that depending on where we were, it wasn’t always readily available. Then I tried using blue ice packs or frozen water bottles for cooling, but they just didn’t keep things cold enough for me.
Then a friend introduced me to the idea of a 12v portable cooler, and I don’t know how I ever lived without one. It frees up space in my RV refrigerator not only for drinks but those times when I buy too much at the grocery store. And with the 12v accessory (cigarette lighter) plug, we can take it with us in the car for our day trips.
There are a wide variety of brands, options, sizes and prices for 12v portable cooler/refrigerators. Here are a few things to consider when deciding which one will work best for you.
- Size: Don’t get carried away with size. You want something that is small enough that even if you fill it up, you can still lift it and/or easily move it around. You also need to make sure that you can store it in a convenient location where you won’t be tripping over it, and are able to safely secure it while traveling.
- Power Options: Make sure that you find one that either comes standard with an AC adapter or has an available upgrade option so you can plug it into your 110vAC outlets.
- Cooling temperatures: The less expensive units, referred to as12v coolers, are just on or off and typically rated to cool to 40 degrees below the external (ambient) temperature. What this means is that you may need to monitor it a bit to make sure it doesn’t freeze up, or on the flip side, if you are using it in really hot temperatures, it may not keep things cold enough. The alternative is the higher end portable refrigerators or refrigerator freezers that have a thermostat so they can maintain a constant temperature. Although the refrigerator freezers are more expensive, they are also designed to hold up better to constant use.
- Customer reviews: One of the great things about the Internet is the ability to research products without leaving my lawn chair. My advice is that you do a little research before making a purchase. Visit a shopping site like Amazon.com or find a website that carries a variety of styles and brands and posts customer reviews. Read what people like you are saying about a particular model to help you make the right decision.
Cheers!
