Coleman Stirling Cooler/Fridge for $299

[JtotheP]

I guess Coleman is giving up on their Stirling coolers and having a closeout sale. $299 while they last is my understanding.

It ain't quite an Engel. But it ain't quite $695 either.

I bought one 4 days ago and I don't love it but I gotta say I do like it, I like it quite a bit.

It's got 5 modes. 3 fridge modes and 2 freezer modes.

According to the manual:

"Cool-1" Approx 50 degrees
"Cool-2" Approx 43 degrees
"Cool-3" Approx 37 degrees
"Freeze-1" Approx 19 degrees
"Freeze-2" Approx 0 degrees

My fridge thermometer is showing a few degrees higher than what's claimed. My only complaint here is that I wish there was a 33 degree mode, like for when you add a few warm cans at once and you'd like to enjoy a cold coke in an hour or two (it seems a little lame somehow at chilling stuff that isn't prechilled, not enough air circulation maybe). But then again, if it kicked butt in that way it probably couldn't stake it's claim to being at least as efficient as an Engel. I haven't had it long enough yet to report what juice it uses except to say it's very efficient.

A couple of negatives worth mentioning are that the freaking thing is HUGE on the outside and only claims 26 qts capacity. Another somewhat negative is the noise. Cool-1 and 2 are just about silent. On cool-3 it emits a somewhat annoying low pitched hum. The 2 freeze modes get kind of loud. The first couple of days I left it on Cool-3 during the day and turned it down a notch when I wanted to sleep. Then a day or two ago I happened to lay something on the cooler and Cool-3 suddenly sounded almost as quiet as Cool-2. lol The plastic case doesn't feel like it's vibrating in such a way that it would create tons of noise and I'm sure I wasn't blocking any vent holes. Oh well, I'll just add it to my list of as-yet unsolved mysteries.

I like it.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ers-12685.html to get some technical info about amps used etc.



http://www.coleman.com/coleman/campcoleman/default.asp for a list of locations.

[Rev.Vassago]

I've seen those. They actually do work, and will freeze stuff. They aren't very big though.

[JtotheP]

Just thought I'd report back now that it's been a few weeks.

This fridge is a bargain imho. A bungee cord solves the noise problem (it turns out that the outer shell (designed no doubt to insulate the fridge) is the culprit). A rather long bungee cord wrapped around the fridge soothes the noisy beast and makes it behave.

The power consumption is everything I hoped for. I routinely shut the truck off at night and in the morning the dashboard ampmeter shows 12.6 +/- volts. It's like I don't have a fridge running off the batteries. This coming weekend I'm going to leave the fridge running with the truck closed up just for the hell of it. I'll try to remember to post the ampmeter reading (after approx 55 hrs in what should be 90+ heat).

I don't check the fridge temp very often so I can't report how steady it is or how it responds to let's say direct sunlight. Forgetaboutit is my approach. And yet milk always tastes good right up until the expiration date and I don't worry about lunchmeat, yogurt etc anymore. If I remember to give something the 'sniff' test that's ok, if not, that's ok too.

A dial thermostat instead of push buttons would have been a better design but this fridge is a keeper. I just hope it lasts.

[matcat]

I had one of those coleman plug in coolers from walmart for $79, and that damn thing would freeze stuff over night. Descent capacity.

[matcat]

Woop, double post.