@AaronLeeJohnson@jnerdy@yakkoTDI okay that made me proper laugh out loud. I only know a small group of people who know that term and they’re all kitchen bitches. Thank you. I needed that.
@AaronLeeJohnson DeWalt and Ryobi sell actual portable refrigerator/freezers, but a pair of batteries only runs it for 24 hours so it’s kind of a gimmick compared to just using ice.
@AaronLeeJohnson@brennyn there are several others that will run on 12V car power or house AC with included adapter. You will find they are quite expensive (used to be $500+ but cheaper ones out now) they weigh a lot due to the cooling mechanism and in the smaller ones, that takes up a big portion of your compartment space. Stay away from the “coolers” that use the Peltier type cooling.
If you remember that there was something like this offered on Kickstarter.A lot of backers got holding the bag & got Nothing for their money. Some one saw that the company was on E-Bay trying to sell them make more money to make more to sent to the backers. It was a Total Flop. that & a few others caused Kickstarter. Indiegogo & others to tighten the Rules if what/ who can offer stuff on the sites, Even offering Tech help to make sure the Project success & the Backers get what they are investing in.
Coolest Cooler? The $13M Kickstarter That Left Backers in the Cold.
@mycya4me I actually got mine. I have one of the big ones (and it DOES actually make margaritas!?!?) and two of the smaller soft-sided ones.
The large one with the blender is fun/unique, but the small ones are amazing; use them all the time, love the magnetic features, and they vastly outperform a YETI I won at a company event.
@acer@mycya4me
Now THAT’S something, a cooler on wheels and it makes margaritas… I wouldn’t have guessed that existed! Do I need to ask for proof/pictures?
@acer So you were one of the very few that got one! the biggest Cluster on Kickstarter. FYI I did not invest in this. But a couple others projects, A 3d printer & an Electronics Kits & lessons. Both I am out $4-500. Sadly now I must limit myself to projects that are $25 or less! That is all I can afford to loose. Unlike MEH (& it other sites)which are actual Retail Online Stores, Kickstarter & Indiegogo ARE NOT a Online Store, only a place that you can invest (& sometime Loose) in a concept of a Project.
@acer@mycya4me
This is the gadget that I didn’t know existed, but now am convinced my life won’t be complete without.
I looked on eBay, and found a few dozen, but none for under $200, (and that was without battery and accessories), so my life will have to continue Coolest Cooler-free.
@Alereon@cinoclav yes, this is not your cheap styrofoam cooler you used to pick up at K-Mart (when they were in business). Good-quality coolers with a lot of effective insulation often go for $200-400 from brands like Yeti and Otter. If you pre-cool them and then pack with some ice, they can stay cool for several days (no active cooling). Intended for long off-grid camping or fishing trips.
@Alereon@cinoclav@pmarin@thechilipepper0 the items should already be cold when you put them in the cooler, takes less ice to keep something cold than cool it and keep it cold
I have one of these and it’s perfect. My least favorite chore camping is digging out soggy containers or crap at the bottom of ice. I used one of these and it lasted 7ish days before topping off and kept my meat and creamer cold. Getting this one for my pops. A bear stole his cooler.
@tylerjgarland reminds me of my bear encounters in Yosemite. Stole my cooking pans due to a package of koolaid someone left inside. Many bear teeth dents but it couldn’t break in. Another encounter one came up to the tent sniffing and I got bear snot on my face (now that was scary). Yet a third people were banging pans to scare one off, we were in the tent, it jumped a guy line and climbed a tree next to the tent. We could see its shadow on the tent roof. Then in Canada (same long summer trip) we were hiking, rounded a corner, saw a mama grizzly and her 2 babies at the stream. We turned around, waited 30 minutes and made a lot of noise going back (they were gone).
@Kidsandliz@tylerjgarland
Wow, those are some cool bear stories! Gotta say… I’m glad that bear snot memory is YOURS and not mine, that’s both scary and GROSS!
@Lynnerizer@tylerjgarland It is also a good thing I was 20 years old at the time. Had I been older I would have been more scared as I would have known more about bears than I did with respect to what they could do to people, especially the grizzly encounter.
@Kidsandliz@Lynnerizer@tylerjgarland
A few years ago, a few friends and I checked into a national park that had both black bears and grizzly bears resident. As we checked in, the cheerful park ranger slid each of us a canister of pepper spray and a wrist strap with little bells on it. She remarked that the park was taking proactive measures to prevent adverse encounters between people and bears.
Of course, we were startled and asked for details. She explained “Wearing bells on your wrists or ankles limit the chance of a accidentally startling a bear, and the pepper spray can be used to deter bears who become overly curious. It’s also very important to maintain situational awareness as to what kinds of bears are in your area that day.”
Our anxiety now heightened, we asked how to best tell whether we had black bears or grizzly bears in the area.
“The best way of telling which territory you are in is by examining any bear scat that you come across.
Black bear scat typically contains the skeletal remains of small rodents, and partly digested berries. Grizzly bear scat has little bells in it and smells like pepper.”
I remember in some National Parks (back when they were open) rangers would make sure you never left food out on the campsite or an exposed cooler. They should be locked in your car (though bears can open those too).
Also often no tents or even soft- (fabric-) sided pop-up campers. Only solid metal or fiberglass.
@ircon96@Kidsandliz@Lynnerizer Yeah, and Gatorade bottles aren’t wildly divergent in size! Now I could be wrong about which energy drink those are, I don’t drink them myself.
Edit: no, I see there’s a big G on them, so they ARE Gatorade.
@Kidsandliz the outside dimensions work out to 162 quarts so I have to assume the 45 quarts is interior space. But it probably includes that weird slide out tray. That said given the external dimensions this thing is a beast. It’s bigger than it looks in the pictures.
@brennyn there is a plastic board that slides into a slot. Allows you to use one side with ice so that side is coldest, and other side would be for more gentle cooling like veggies and fruit. And if you pull out the divider, it doubles as a cutting board. It’s a tough plastic material.
I have the larger version of this cooler, and it’s phenomenal. I had bought the original one last year, but it didn’t have wheels. These are rather heavy, and that was the one complaint most of us had. You didn’t want to carry one of these too far. This year Ninja introduced the new models with wheels so I upgraded. Like most rotomolded coolers, the walls are thick, so the inside is decently smaller than the outside dimensions.
The FrostVault tray works very well, keeping food at refrigerator temperatures for several days as long as there is ice in the main compartment. They are completely separated, so no water ever gets into the trays. I literally just returned two days ago from a 4 1/2 day camping trip. I put a 20 pound bag of ice in the cooler Wednesday night to chill it. On Thursday morning I filled it with drinks and put food in the trays and then covered the drinks with another 20 pounds of ice. I still had plenty of ice Monday when I got home. My only complaint about the drawers is there is a divider making it two separate drawers and therefore limiting the size of what you can put in there. I’m sure that’s to help keep things stay cool. I have seen some independent tests and these coolers have performed right up there with Yeti and the other well-known brands for ice retention. I paid about $225 for my 65 quart version. Caught it on sale, used Ninja’s ‘new shopper’ discount, and went through a cash back site for further savings.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I’ll try to check in throughout the day. And if anyone wants to buy a 50 quart version without wheels, I’m selling the one I bought last year.
@cinoclav I have the 45 quart on wheels in blue and it does not have a divider in the drawer. I love mine, went to a music festival and everything was still cold 5 days later and still had ice too. Makes a nice place to sit or a little tabletop if needed.
@cevans125@cinoclav What do you folks think about the weight, especially when full? With its size and weight, 2 people to load in and out of a car/truck?
@cevans125@cinoclav@irenegade yeah I’d say two people (assuming full) or maybe maybe one hulking strong person. If filled with cans or bottles it adds up to a lot. If it’s your healthy kale and broccoli then a bit less. And you should be eating that anyway….
@ekw I was going to put it up on Marketplace for $125. Used it three times. But yeah… shipping would be astronomical. Unless you’re lucky enough to live anywhere in the Philly area for personal delivery.
@cevans125@irenegade I’m able to lift my 65 qt model by myself with 40 lbs of ice, drinks, and food in it. That being said, I’m also reasonably big and strong. It’s listed at 40.5 lbs empty, so I’m probably heaving about 100 lbs into my vehicle. Pretty obvious why I upgraded to the model with wheels.
Haha, came here hoping that someone would refer to the Coolest Cooler! I also received mine and it still can make a marg. Also got a soft side when they went on their selloff and it is a great cooler as well.
I remember when I backed it and they started to talk about all the technological upgrades they were going to install, like a complete redesign of the Coolest Speaker(I have two, both outstanding portable speakers) and thinking to myself “Um, how they gonna do all that and still get everyone a cooler?” Turns out I wasnt far off the mark on that one.
@mehvid1 Tailgate parking lot squab usually isn’t as good as free range. Though perhaps the sharpness of the IPA makes them more palatable. I feel his pain.
@mehcuda67 same re: feeling the pain. I mean, I’ve never had squab, but I’ve had escargot, so I don’t judge. I definitely wouldn’t want it undercooked and it’s apparently easy to overcook, so….
Specs
Product: Ninja FrostVault 45qt Wheeled Cooler with Freezer Pack Divider & Cutting Board
Model: FB245AOB
Condition: New
What’s Included?
Warranty
90 days
Estimated Delivery
Monday, Oct 27 - Wednesday, Oct 29
45 qt? How many people is that?
@yakkoTDI 2. I think.
@AaronLeeJohnson @yakkoTDI meh, maybe 3 if you brunoise
@AaronLeeJohnson @jnerdy @yakkoTDI
Well heck, if you’re going to brunoise you might as well just puree it and use it as a tureen.
Lol 
@AaronLeeJohnson @jnerdy @yakkoTDI okay that made me proper laugh out loud. I only know a small group of people who know that term and they’re all kitchen bitches. Thank you. I needed that.
@AaronLeeJohnson @jnerdy @Lynnerizer @yakkoTDI you’re gonna need to simmer dem bones for the gelatin if you’re making a terrine or aspic.
@AaronLeeJohnson @jnerdy @yakkoTDI
@sillyheathen
Terrine or aspic… Ew gross, do people really like that kind of thing?
I want this but not for 179 dollars. I kind of want the container that cools or warms. Not maintains the temperature, changes it.
@AaronLeeJohnson that’s called a fridge, sir
@AaronLeeJohnson DeWalt and Ryobi sell actual portable refrigerator/freezers, but a pair of batteries only runs it for 24 hours so it’s kind of a gimmick compared to just using ice.
@AaronLeeJohnson @brennyn there are several others that will run on 12V car power or house AC with included adapter. You will find they are quite expensive (used to be $500+ but cheaper ones out now) they weigh a lot due to the cooling mechanism and in the smaller ones, that takes up a big portion of your compartment space. Stay away from the “coolers” that use the Peltier type cooling.
Not sure about this; may I put my order on ice for a while?
@phendrick I would put it in the FrostVault. Don’t want the invoice getting wet.
Good write-up (they’ve been pretty good recently. AI?), but I ain’t payin no $180 for a dadblamed cooler.
/image dadblamed
If you remember that there was something like this offered on Kickstarter.A lot of backers got holding the bag & got Nothing for their money. Some one saw that the company was on E-Bay trying to sell them make more money to make more to sent to the backers. It was a Total Flop. that & a few others caused Kickstarter. Indiegogo & others to tighten the Rules if what/ who can offer stuff on the sites, Even offering Tech help to make sure the Project success & the Backers get what they are investing in.
Coolest Cooler? The $13M Kickstarter That Left Backers in the Cold.
@mycya4me I actually got mine. I have one of the big ones (and it DOES actually make margaritas!?!?) and two of the smaller soft-sided ones.
The large one with the blender is fun/unique, but the small ones are amazing; use them all the time, love the magnetic features, and they vastly outperform a YETI I won at a company event.
@acer @mycya4me
I wouldn’t have guessed that existed! Do I need to ask for proof/pictures? 
Now THAT’S something, a cooler on wheels and it makes margaritas…
@Lynnerizer @mycya4me here you go! fresh pics!
https://imgur.com/a/PXNA4Bi
@acer @Lynnerizer @mycya4me Now that’s amazing - it really CAN make a Margarita, just as you said!
@acer @Kyeh @mycya4me
Thanks for the visual acer…
YES, that’s amazing!
AND it’s got a speaker too! It’s a party just waiting to happen!
@acer @Kyeh @Lynnerizer @mycya4me it’s the final boss of Meh.com battery pack+speaker+margherita maker in a normally non-electronic product?!?!
@acer So you were one of the very few that got one! the biggest Cluster on Kickstarter. FYI I did not invest in this. But a couple others projects, A 3d printer & an Electronics Kits & lessons. Both I am out $4-500. Sadly now I must limit myself to projects that are $25 or less! That is all I can afford to loose. Unlike MEH (& it other sites)which are actual Retail Online Stores, Kickstarter & Indiegogo ARE NOT a Online Store, only a place that you can invest (& sometime Loose) in a concept of a Project.
@mycya4me I’m convinced it was because I went with the “Margarita Green” instead of the Orange that everyone else wanted; only reason I got mine!
@acer @mycya4me
This is the gadget that I didn’t know existed, but now am convinced my life won’t be complete without.
I looked on eBay, and found a few dozen, but none for under $200, (and that was without battery and accessories), so my life will have to continue Coolest Cooler-free.
Thank you for sharing the info and pics though!
This seems like a terrible deal, for the price it should be an actual actively cooled fridge/freezer, not an overpriced cooler!
@Alereon Have you priced other rotomolded coolers? This is actually a very good deal. I have the larger version of this and it’s phenomenal.
@Alereon @cinoclav yes, this is not your cheap styrofoam cooler you used to pick up at K-Mart (when they were in business). Good-quality coolers with a lot of effective insulation often go for $200-400 from brands like Yeti and Otter. If you pre-cool them and then pack with some ice, they can stay cool for several days (no active cooling). Intended for long off-grid camping or fishing trips.
@Alereon @cinoclav @pmarin
How do you precool them? Load it with sacrificial ice, then dump and load for the long haul?
@Alereon @cinoclav @pmarin @thechilipepper0 the items should already be cold when you put them in the cooler, takes less ice to keep something cold than cool it and keep it cold
@Alereon @cinoclav @thechilipepper0 yes, “sacrificial ice!” Let’s see what the AI thinks.
/showme sacrificial ice
What’s the deal with over engineered coolers?
@DVDBZN They are going for the engineers, of course.
I have one of these and it’s perfect. My least favorite chore camping is digging out soggy containers or crap at the bottom of ice. I used one of these and it lasted 7ish days before topping off and kept my meat and creamer cold. Getting this one for my pops. A bear stole his cooler.
@tylerjgarland gotta be bear aware! I sadly still remember the whole ordeal we had to orate to the tourons in Yosemite.
@sillyheathen @tylerjgarland Is dis da guy? Probably goin’ to a tailgate.
@sillyheathen @tylerjgarland
Lol
@Lynnerizer @sillyheathen @tylerjgarland I know for sure raccoons understand “cooler” and know all the tricks to opening them.
@tylerjgarland reminds me of my bear encounters in Yosemite. Stole my cooking pans due to a package of koolaid someone left inside. Many bear teeth dents but it couldn’t break in. Another encounter one came up to the tent sniffing and I got bear snot on my face (now that was scary). Yet a third people were banging pans to scare one off, we were in the tent, it jumped a guy line and climbed a tree next to the tent. We could see its shadow on the tent roof. Then in Canada (same long summer trip) we were hiking, rounded a corner, saw a mama grizzly and her 2 babies at the stream. We turned around, waited 30 minutes and made a lot of noise going back (they were gone).
@Kidsandliz @tylerjgarland
Wow, those are some cool bear stories! Gotta say… I’m glad that bear snot memory is YOURS and not mine, that’s both scary and GROSS!
@Lynnerizer @tylerjgarland It is also a good thing I was 20 years old at the time. Had I been older I would have been more scared as I would have known more about bears than I did with respect to what they could do to people, especially the grizzly encounter.
@Kidsandliz @tylerjgarland
Right!
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @tylerjgarland
A few years ago, a few friends and I checked into a national park that had both black bears and grizzly bears resident. As we checked in, the cheerful park ranger slid each of us a canister of pepper spray and a wrist strap with little bells on it. She remarked that the park was taking proactive measures to prevent adverse encounters between people and bears.
Of course, we were startled and asked for details. She explained “Wearing bells on your wrists or ankles limit the chance of a accidentally startling a bear, and the pepper spray can be used to deter bears who become overly curious. It’s also very important to maintain situational awareness as to what kinds of bears are in your area that day.”
Our anxiety now heightened, we asked how to best tell whether we had black bears or grizzly bears in the area.
“The best way of telling which territory you are in is by examining any bear scat that you come across.
Black bear scat typically contains the skeletal remains of small rodents, and partly digested berries. Grizzly bear scat has little bells in it and smells like pepper.”
@Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer @mehcuda67 @tylerjgarland yes, a classic bear joke. Also probably true.
I remember in some National Parks (back when they were open) rangers would make sure you never left food out on the campsite or an exposed cooler. They should be locked in your car (though bears can open those too).
Also often no tents or even soft- (fabric-) sided pop-up campers. Only solid metal or fiberglass.
@Kidsandliz @mehcuda67 @tylerjgarland
…and here I was hanging on to every word waiting to see what you’re going to say next! 
Lol
I am presuming the dimensions given are the outside dimensions? Are the inside dimensions findable anywhere?
@Kidsandliz Apparently not. Amazon has more pics and I screenshot a still from a user’s video review:
So about 4 Gatorade bottles tall and 4 wide??
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh
Who needs a banana when you’ve got Gatorade…?!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @Lynnerizer
@ircon96 @Kidsandliz @Lynnerizer Yeah, and Gatorade bottles aren’t wildly divergent in size! Now I could be wrong about which energy drink those are, I don’t drink them myself.
Edit: no, I see there’s a big G on them, so they ARE Gatorade.
@Kidsandliz the outside dimensions work out to 162 quarts so I have to assume the 45 quarts is interior space. But it probably includes that weird slide out tray. That said given the external dimensions this thing is a beast. It’s bigger than it looks in the pictures.
@jandrese @Kidsandliz that’s because it actually has a very thick insulation layer (good).
@Kyeh So about 6" less in all dimensions. Thanks,
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh Those are different models. Look how wide the lid is after the logo compared to the smaller one.
@Kidsandliz @lichen Oh, you’re right, duh - but the walls are probably the same thickness.
If only I had spare $180 lying around. Price is a little too steep for me. I like the concept though.
What is “Freezer Pack Divider & Cutting Board” referring to? This just looks like a cooler.
@brennyn there is a plastic board that slides into a slot. Allows you to use one side with ice so that side is coldest, and other side would be for more gentle cooling like veggies and fruit. And if you pull out the divider, it doubles as a cutting board. It’s a tough plastic material.
@brennyn the other “good” brands sell the divider/board separately for about $20.
@pmarin Thanks, couldn’t find a pic here or on other sites. I almost thought they were saying you could cut stuff up on the lid…
@brennyn
I’m virtually certain you could, but also convinced it’s a bad idea!
I have the larger version of this cooler, and it’s phenomenal. I had bought the original one last year, but it didn’t have wheels. These are rather heavy, and that was the one complaint most of us had. You didn’t want to carry one of these too far. This year Ninja introduced the new models with wheels so I upgraded. Like most rotomolded coolers, the walls are thick, so the inside is decently smaller than the outside dimensions.
The FrostVault tray works very well, keeping food at refrigerator temperatures for several days as long as there is ice in the main compartment. They are completely separated, so no water ever gets into the trays. I literally just returned two days ago from a 4 1/2 day camping trip. I put a 20 pound bag of ice in the cooler Wednesday night to chill it. On Thursday morning I filled it with drinks and put food in the trays and then covered the drinks with another 20 pounds of ice. I still had plenty of ice Monday when I got home. My only complaint about the drawers is there is a divider making it two separate drawers and therefore limiting the size of what you can put in there. I’m sure that’s to help keep things stay cool. I have seen some independent tests and these coolers have performed right up there with Yeti and the other well-known brands for ice retention. I paid about $225 for my 65 quart version. Caught it on sale, used Ninja’s ‘new shopper’ discount, and went through a cash back site for further savings.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I’ll try to check in throughout the day. And if anyone wants to buy a 50 quart version without wheels, I’m selling the one I bought last year.
@cinoclav What is weird is looking at photos on Amazon some have the divider in the drawer and some do not.
@cinoclav what do you want for the wheel-less 50qt?
though the shipping cost would probably be . . . large
@cinoclav I have the 45 quart on wheels in blue and it does not have a divider in the drawer. I love mine, went to a music festival and everything was still cold 5 days later and still had ice too. Makes a nice place to sit or a little tabletop if needed.
@cevans125 @cinoclav What do you folks think about the weight, especially when full? With its size and weight, 2 people to load in and out of a car/truck?
@cevans125 @cinoclav @irenegade yeah I’d say two people (assuming full) or maybe maybe one hulking strong person. If filled with cans or bottles it adds up to a lot. If it’s your healthy kale and broccoli then a bit less. And you should be eating that anyway….
@Kidsandliz The larger model has the split drawer. This smaller one does not.
@ekw I was going to put it up on Marketplace for $125. Used it three times. But yeah… shipping would be astronomical. Unless you’re lucky enough to live anywhere in the Philly area for personal delivery.
@cevans125 @irenegade I’m able to lift my 65 qt model by myself with 40 lbs of ice, drinks, and food in it. That being said, I’m also reasonably big and strong. It’s listed at 40.5 lbs empty, so I’m probably heaving about 100 lbs into my vehicle. Pretty obvious why I upgraded to the model with wheels.
I just want to see what the inside looks like without ice
@jasonjm Probably not as cool.
@jasonjm
Haha, came here hoping that someone would refer to the Coolest Cooler! I also received mine and it still can make a marg. Also got a soft side when they went on their selloff and it is a great cooler as well.
I remember when I backed it and they started to talk about all the technological upgrades they were going to install, like a complete redesign of the Coolest Speaker(I have two, both outstanding portable speakers) and thinking to myself “Um, how they gonna do all that and still get everyone a cooler?” Turns out I wasnt far off the mark on that one.
Re: diary entry #2: what’s so bad about IPAs and squab?
@mehvid1 Tailgate parking lot squab usually isn’t as good as free range. Though perhaps the sharpness of the IPA makes them more palatable. I feel his pain.
@mehcuda67 same re: feeling the pain. I mean, I’ve never had squab, but I’ve had escargot, so I don’t judge. I definitely wouldn’t want it undercooked and it’s apparently easy to overcook, so….
How long could it keep warm (for brisket resting) after putting hot water in it?
@hunter7411 I would say at least overnight and probably much longer. Let me know if you need someone to snuggle with your brisket to keep it cozy.
Thank goodness the wheels are puncture resistant. I have so many flat tires on my wheeled coolers.
That cooler is pretty awesome.
POPSOCKETS! ROAD ROCKETS! SONNY CROCKETT! AWESOME!
Is the cutting board in the room with us?