This review is for two similar Coleman Xtreme coolers, which are virtually the same size on the exterior: the 70-quart, 5-day, BLUE cooler and the 56-quart, 6-day, GREEN cooler. By the way, these coolers do not come equipped with a plastic shelf to keep food suspended above the melt water.
First, let me say that Coleman made its reputation years ago with its workhorse, white-gas cook stoves and lanterns. Today Coleman mostly makes products for backyard use and casual family camping. Coleman generally does not make quality products for avid outdoors people operating in rugged or demanding conditions, so you can''t expect too much when purchasing a Coleman product.
That said, I went through Amazon.com to purchase a Green Coleman 6-day cooler because I didn''t want to shell out hundreds of dollars more for a tougher product and because I needed a cooler that would fit comfortably between the gunwales of our canoes. So far, I have used this cooler on two river trips, the first of which lasted seven days in southern Utah during September, 09. The weather was hot, but could have been hotter. Our block ice lasted 6 days, and on the 7th day we had plenty of ice water, so the cooler achieved its 6-day rating.
This was followed with a 4-day trip in October, which wasn''t long enough to test the cooling performance of the cooler, but did reveal the cooler''s low-quality construction. On the second day out, one of the handles came off when its plastic retaining pin fell out. A member of our party had with them a smaller Coleman Xtreme cooler, and both of its hinges were broken off and useless. So, if you plan to use this cooler much, I would suggest taking the preventive measures described below. And then try to be gentle with it.
A few weeks ago I purchased a 70-quart, 5-day Blue cooler at Wal-Mart for $30. At this price I couldn''t pass it up. Apparently the store had a few of these left over from last year, and they were being sold at a deep discount because Wal-Mart is featuring a different Coleman Xtreme product line this year. I haven''t used this cooler yet, but I can describe how the two Xtreme coolers compare physically.
NOTE: See my "customer images" available under the main product photo to see what I am describing here.
On the exterior, the two coolers are indistinguishable except for the colors. Same cheap plastic hardware on both. On the interior, the 6-day green cooler has noticeably thicker walls implying more insulation, and thus 20 percent less volume than the blue 5-day cooler.
Here are the fixes I have adopted in an effort to overcome the flimsy hardware issues. When I got home from the second river trip, I used a screwdriver to pry out the plastic retaining pins on the two handles (two pins each) and glued them back into place with Gorilla glue. This I expect will hold the pins in place for a while. On the newer cooler, I removed the plastic handles altogether and replaced them with rope handles. This type of handle has the advantage of remaining in a fixed position (unlike the original sliding plastic handles) allowing me to run a strap between them to secure the lid in case of a canoe upset.
On the interior of each cooler, I have screwed into place a short nylon strap between the lid and the side wall. The strap is long enough to allow the lid to open beyond 90 degrees and remain in an upright and open position, but the strap is short enough to prevent the lid from extending backward far enough to place excessive strain on the hinges. I am hoping this will keep the hinges from snapping anytime soon.
i bought this cooler in preparation for a 5 day camping trip to sequoia. I needed to store enough food for a family of four hungry campers, and needed it to fit in the bear proof boxes, and didn''t want to be buying ice every day.
i only packed meat, eggs, and cheese items, mayo, mustard, etc. in this cooler, and kept veggies in a smaller, older cooler. I packed it with two one-gallon water jugs frozen, two half-gallon early times whiskey jugs, frozen (these are good because they are flat, flask-shaped jugs), and about four frozen water bottles. Several of the meat items were frozen when packed.
Day one, we traveled across Bakersfield, with the cooler sitting in the bed of my truck exposed to the sun, and the temperature in the sequoia foothills was 108 degrees. When we got to campsite, I was disappointed that the whiskey jug ice block had melted through. The cooler fit nicely inside the bear proof boxes (it fits in sideways as the bear boxes are 33" deep). Temperatures in the days were about 80 degrees with some sun exposure on the brown bear boxes. Day three the veggie cooler needed an additional seven pound bag of ice added. Day four I added an additional seven pound bag of ice into this cooler, thinking that it had been too hot the first day. Day six we drove back home, again through blazing 100 degree desert heat, and when I returned I found that one of the gallon water jugs was still half ice. All the leftover meat items were at a safe cold temperature.
So we got six days out of this cooler and it performed well for our trip.
I didn''t buy from Amazon, but from a local shop, and I noticed of the two they had in stock one of them closed tighter than the other, so I picked the tighter-closing one.
Buy Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme Cooler (Blue) Now
I purchased this cooler to use as a mash tun in my ten gallon brewing system and it works very well. I''ve noticed very little drop in temperature during 60 minute mashes (perhaps just a degree or two) and by adding either a SS hose braid or bazooka screen it lauters very well. If you are a home brewer looking for the perfect size cooler for ten gallon batches of beer which holds mash temps well then this is the cooler for you!
Cheers!
Read Best Reviews of Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme Cooler (Blue) Here
I purchased this large cooler for a 10-day camping trip in the desert heat of Black Rock City. Daytime temperatures soar well over 100 degrees. Kept in the shade, and opened 4-5 times a day, this cooler kept my food icy cold for 5 days just as advertised. By the third day, much of the ice had melted, by the fourth day, most ice was gone, but the melted water was still icy cold, and on the fifth day, the ice was gone and the water was just a little colder than a refrigerator-beverages were refreshingly cold, butter still hard, etc. I was afraid the cooler walls would be super thick, but they seem comparable with my other coolers. I was able to refill the cooler with ice after the fifth day, and it worked as well all over again, getting me through the rest of the trip. I will never buy a regular cooler again. these xtremes are great!
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At $38, this cooler is a steal. We recently received the 70 Xtreme and took it on a three day camping trip to Yosemite. We primarily used ice packs with minimal cubed ice. The temperatures outside were in the mid seventies during the day, probably rising into the nineties within the sun exposed metal bear box. Temperatures fell to approximately 32F at night. Our food remained cool with cubed ice and the ice packs persisting at the end of the trip; I''m quite certain five days would not have been a problem. This is in contrast to our old 16qt Igloo cooler ($20 on Amazon, we paid more) in which all of the ice packs had melted within 24 hours during a Big Sur trip.
As some individuals stated, it''s construction isn''t the best. In particular, the handles feel quite unstable, and a failure if the cooler was fully loaded would not surprise me. It also does not contain shelves, which would be very useful. That said, we didn''t have any problems and, for the price, I don''t really expect a modern marvel of ice chest design.
This cooler functioned well for our needs and is an outstanding deal at the low price.
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My 3 yr old son received this bundle as a present, and we love it! The DVD is really set up with thoughtful insight into the "kid''s mindset," as the DVD is in sections that you can do stand alone/a-la-carte. This is great for my "on the go" son who wont sit for a whole DVD, but will do 10-20 minutes. The Yoga Mat is very high quality, and frankly better than my Yoga mat. Also, my son has about 5 different water bottles but he loves his "Namaste Kid" one and carries it everywhere. I think he''s just attracted to the color, but he loves it! I''m planning on using the DVD as my go-to kid birthday present from here on out!
