Customer Reviews

Coleman 54-Quart Steel-Belted Cooler, Stainless-Steel Finish

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

if you asked me last year, i would have given this 5 stars, but since we've been using it on camping trips it has failed miserably.

i used to go camping as a child with my father with the old, bombproof coleman cooler. it was extremely well made & lasted for years. it is someplace in my brother's garage.

the old lid was held down by a metal hook that cinched the lid tight & sealed it well. the "new, improved latch" is a thin cylinder that slides into a spring tentioned plastic groove in the lid. problem is the lid pops open with a tug and even worse if it gets knocked over when full.

the old design has a screw drain plug attached by a chain. the new design has a plastic cork-like stopper that can (and will) get popped open when placed into an suv full of gear (drenching the back of your car during the long trip). what was wrong with the screw drain plug? it stayed in place & never opened... even through the roughest of conditions.

they also removed the built-in bottle opener that used to be in the handle mounts.

i'm now looking on ebay for the old coleman cooler or looking to find metal latches to replace the stupid closure they have on it. i'm also looking at epoxying a guard over the drain plug so that it won't get unexpectedly dislodged.

it looks great, but they really ruined the design with all these "improvement".

After looking forward to receiving a quality cooler, I was very disappointed with the Coleman Steel Belted Chest Cooler (54-Quart). The latch did not function properly in that it was not possible to secure a tight seal. Nevertheless I took the cooler on an outing for a week in which it was kept inside a cabin where the outdoor Tempaerture did not go above 90 degrees and the evening temperature dropped into the high 60's. Everyday the cooler needed a new bag of ice because all the ice would melt in less than a 24-hour period. Coleman has quality control problems as some of the reviews rate this cooler well and others low. If given the option, I would rate this Coleman cooler with a 1/2 star and that is only because of its fine looking appearance.

I had hoped to be buying the same cooler my family had when I was growing up -- nearly indestructible steel. This coleman is made to look like that cooler, but it is just a plastic ice chest with a thin sheet metal skin on the sides and top. I was disappointed, but it is still better than a standard plastic cooler. If you get it on sale (I paid $50) it's worth the money.

I just purchased the 54 quart stainless steel belted chest cooler. The lid latch does not hold the lid down tight and there is no tray in the cooler like the old ones. I am quite disappointed with the product.

In no way does this cooler come close to matching the orignal steel cooler. It did keep ice very well but the durability is poor. The paint scratches off way to easy and the thin skin dents with ease. When loaded the handels felt like they were going fold up and the stops that hold them out stright were not lined up with the handle itself.

Bought this for a quick BBQ I was having. Packed it with about 30 bottles of beer with ice and it had enough room for 20 bubba burger patties on top! Only complaint is that the when fully packed the metal handles on the sides felt like they were gonna rip off - but they didn't so that was good.

love the retro color, and it's totally durable. easy to clean, a little tricky to carry, but it's basically a portable refridge. defintitely a long term investment for those of us who like a cooler on the porch, patio, deck, or outdoors.

This product works like a charm and looks great. It will indeed keep ice for three days, and it's good company on any road trip. However, lugging the thing back and forth between car and hotel is a chore that could have been solved with a pair of small luggage casters. Also, the rubberized draing plugs are merely a pressure-fit; I fear that these may leak one day and then it's bam, ice water all over the back seat.

I purchased this on a whim when it was a Gold Box deal earlier this month. I am satisfied with this purchase. I used it for the first time last weekend on a 3-day camping trip in 90F weather. I used it as a freezer with dry-ice and cubed-ice to keep food and ice (for drinks) frozen. It did that job very well. It kept my food and ice frozen and I returned home with some of both still remaining 3 days later. It even kept ice cream frozen with the dry ice for three days. It performed very well even though sun did shine on the cooler periodically. The insulation is excellent. However, note that the paint does scratch easily, however that is expected, but I made sure to be very gentle and it still scratched. One last item to note, as mentioned by another reviewer, the handles are not as well designed as they could be. They held, however, I constantly worried that they would give under the weight of the fully-loaded cooler. I constantly worried that they would bend the prongs which hold them in place. I think that they would be better designed without these prongs. Overall, if you're looking for a well-insulated cooler, this is the one!

Update 1/18/2010:
After using this cooler for a couple of years, I have found some major drawbacks, as many other reviewers have noted. I would add that the added weight from the steel does not improve the insulation enough to justify carrying this heavy cooler. I think that an injection-molded cooler with thicker insulation is a better bang for the weight. I have found cooler weight to be a big concern when camping at areas far from the road. The latch has now failed and I have also experienced a wet floor from the drain plus coming loose in transit. For this reason, it's a good idea to drain the cooler a little before transporting. This will reduce the amount of any potential spill.

When Coleman designed this cooler, they left off a way to stop the lid from opening past 90-ish degrees. This results in the lid opening about 180 degrees, which stresses the hinges, and breaks the outer stainless layer away from the inner insulation. I have been through two lids, and now the body of the cooler is breaking away the same way. Yes, it does have a 100 year warranty, but I bought expecting the same build quality as my grandfather's that is 60 years old. There is just no comparison.

Coleman also says it will keep ice for 3 days at 100 degrees. This couldn't be further from the truth. It will not hold ice for 24 hours at 85 degrees.

Bottom line: Buy a good Igloo marine cooler, and use the extra $70 to fill it with your beverage of choice.