Koolatron Compact Kooler

by Koolatron

Product Features

• Designed to fit behind a car, truck, or van seat
• Cooling system plugs into your vehicle's 12-volt cigarette lighter
• Keeps contents 40 degrees F cooler than outside temperature
• Foldaway handle swings out for carrying
• Weighs 9 pounds and carries 23 12-ounce soft drinks

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 17 x 8.9 inches ; 5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 9.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00009PGNS
• Item model number: P20
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,482 in Appliances (See Top 100 in Appliances)
  • #29 in Sports & Outdoors > Outdoor Recreation > Camping & Hiking > Camp Kitchen > Coolers

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Coolers are usually large and unwieldy, which is why Koolatron developed the Compact Kooler, specially designed to fit in the snug spaces behind the seats of many cars, trucks, and vans. Like many of Koolatron's coolers, this unit features a 12-volt cooling system that plugs into a car's cigarette lighter. The cooler's motor blows cold air over your food and beverages, keeping them 40 degrees F cooler than the outside temperature. The cooler also doubles as a warmer, if you'd rather keep the contents toasty. Outside of the car or truck, the cooler is still versatile, with a swinging, foldaway handle for easy portage and a latchless lid that opens with one hand. Other handy features include a convenient cord wrap and a unique storage spot for the unplugged cigarette lighter. Despite the unit's compact size and weight (only 9 pounds), it can still hold up to 23 12-ounce soft drinks. --Rivers Janssen

Product Description

Tall, slim, sleek design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

217 of 218 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful to keep drinks and food cool while traveling, January 6, 2007

By 

Retired and traveling, "Da_Pix" (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Koolatron Compact Kooler (Kitchen)

We bought the Koolatron Kooler a year ago and find it very useful to keep food and drinks cool while traveling.

To use this effectively both the cooler and the items to be placed in it should be cool to begin with. The empty unit will cool about 10 degrees an hour to about 40 degrees lower than the ambient temperature around it, and maintain it's pre-cooled contents at that temperature as long as it powered on. Warm items placed in a warm cooler take much longer to cool, (the manual says up to 12 hours or longer).

We purchased the optional AC power adapter, so the night before we leave on a trip we plug the unit in and pre-cool it. The morning we are leaving we load it with a few soda and water bottles that have been cooled in the refrigerator. We also put in 2-4 plastic food containers that have been chilled in the refrigerator. One or more of those we fill with ice. The more space that is filled with cool/cold items the better the cooling process for everything else (less infiltration of warm air every time the unit is opened, less warm air to cool).

On our trip we then have cool soda and water to drink, and ice to use with the soda in a cup kept in the cup holder. If we add a room temperature soda or bottle of water the presence of the other cool/cold items filling the rest of the unit together with the action of the unit will cool that within an hour or two.

The plastic boxes are mostly for use with "doggie bag" contents from restaurant meals. Assuming an ambient temperature around the unit of 75 degrees, if the other contents were already cooled to the 35 degree temperature produced by the 40 degree cooling capacity of the unit, a room temperature container of food will be below 45-50 degrees within a couple of hours . We usually have dinner left overs for lunch the next day, certainly within two days.

The unit fits nicely in our sedan behind the drivers seat (assuming there is no passenger in the back seat that needs that leg room) and is easily reached from the front passenger seat over the console between the bucket seats.

At night we take the unit into our motel room and plug it in with the optional AC power adapter. The unit cannot be left plugged in to the cigarette lighter in the car for more than 4 hours or it will run the car battery down.

There is an optional battery saver adapter that will shut off the unit if it overtaxes the car battery. (Buying that is the reason I have returned to this item on Amazon a year later.) That will allow us to leave the unit plugged in when we leave the car for an indeterminant period of time that could be more than 3-4 hours. But after 4 hours or so the unit will shut off to protect the car battery and the contents will start to warm. So, if it is in a warm place we still can't be gone much longer than 4-5 hours if we want to keep food edible.

Finally, I keep an ordinary indoor/outdoor thermometer in the unit so that I can tell what the temperature in the unit is and am comfortable that food has not been subjected to temperatures that would make it unsafe to eat. (I think the manufacturer should build that in to the unit.)

74 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, A DC-Powered Cooler/Warmer That Works!, July 10, 2007

By 

R. Stevens (Phila., PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Koolatron Compact Kooler (Kitchen)

After going through a bad experience with trying to buy and then (in some cases) buying first a Vector, then a RubberMaid, then a Wagan Tech, and now a Koolatron, I can tell you that it's a relief to find a well-designed, well-built DC-powered cooler/warmer that actually works! Our Canadian neighbors to the north have done a great job with this unit.

I worried about its 17" height and depth, but once it was decided that it was going to live behind the passenger's front seat, those concerns became non-issues. In fact, its height is a benefit as long as it doesn't interfere with the seat back when you lift the lid, as you can reach right in from the driver's seat and get a can or a sandwich without much effort if you pack it well.

I also worried about all the ads that portrayed it as being only a cooler. But after having so much trouble with other companies' cooler/warmers, I decided to forget warming and bought the Koolatron without it (or so I thought). So when the unit arrived--in its original box, no less--I was pleased and surprised to see that it warms too! Excellent combination, since I have consumer-issue MRE's that I can now warm in it while I use my clumsier (and larger) Igloo Cool-Mate unit to cool other things down. And when I'm not doing that (like when the world ends or Limerick blows up), I can use it in the car as a cooler as I originally planned--an ideal situation.

If you need cooling in the car--or in an emergency situation (such as a power outage)--for medicines or for food, don't hesitate to buy this unit. In my opinion, it's by far the best one out there for its size and price, and I've seen or tried almost all of them.

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Koolatron Compact Kooler P 20, June 29, 2007

By 

L. Gilbertson "L. Gilbertson" (Appleton, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Koolatron Compact Kooler (Kitchen)

I ordered, as a package, both the P20 Cooler, along with the Koolatron Muti-Purpose Adapter 110VAC to 12VDC, March 10, 1907 I checked to see both item were in stock, both were.

The Cooler arrived promptly on March 16, 2007. However, the 110VAC Adapter was back-ordered. With the Adapter on back-order, there was no way to check the Cooler's function. There was no way to pre-cool the unit, since the recommended time was about 12 hours, and it is not to be powered by vehicle battery for longer than 4 hours without the engine running. Furthermore there was no way to keep the contents cool at night while in the motel room, unless one wanted to let the engine run all night. So for the first 2 months the Cooler was useless!

The Adapter finally arrived on May 10, 2007, a full two months after the original order was placed. (This slow delivery is the reason for the 4-stars.) With the Adapter it was finally possible to test out the unit.

The unit was completely empty, outside air temp. was about 80 degrees. I was impressed by the cool-down time; a little over an hour to reach 40 degrees. Certainly the unit was not pre-cooled enough to fill with food, but the fact that it reached 40 degrees so quickly was encouraging. The adapter is somewhat cumbersome, but is easy enough to use and connect.

I have used the unit on several trips and have found it quite adequate, provided items are cold when they are introduced to it. Warm items take forever to cool down; twelve hours is not usually long enough. While the product may be cool-er it certainly is not cold. Extra frozen ice packs and/or freezer containers filled with frozen water help a great deal. They add extra cold air to the inside of the unit while frozen. Even thawed, they are still maintained at about 40 degrees. They fill up empty space within the unit, a REAL Killer: Each time the unit opens any empty space fills with warm air. This unit, being a top-loader, is a little better than others that are front-loaders. Since cold air tends to sink, more cold air stays in the unit when opened. Front-loaders spill ALL their cold air as soon as the door opens.

The unit is well constructed, and seems to perform quite well within its design capabilities. A few things to remember:
1. The unit is a COLD PRESERVER, NOT a REFRIGERATOR. Put it in cold it will come out warmer but still cold. Put in warm? Well, let's hope it is canned when you put it in.
2. The unit is a small heat-pump, (removing heat from the air to cool the inside of the unit) and it will do just that no matter what the outside air temp. is. This unit cools to 40 degree below the outside air temp. and if it is 32 degrees outside, it will cool to 40 degree BELOW that.
There is no thermostatic control, while it is plugged in, it is cooling.
The unit is insulated, but not real well, so it does no better job keeping cold out, than it does keeping it in. Water still freezes at 32 degrees, F. Transporting the filled unit in a trunk or other unheated space, in cold weather, is not the best idea. If you do, a least unplug it! If you are transporting medication which must be refrigerated, but not frozen, keep the unit in a heated area, so the unit can cool properly.
3. A small indoor/outdoor thermometer is a great idea. They are reasonable in price. They allow you to monitor both inside and outside temp. without opening the lid. Small units can be mounted outside on the top or side with double-stick tape, with the outdoor sensor inside. Ideally this would have been installed by the manufacturer, but it is a simple fix.