Koolatron Kool Wheeler

Thermoelectric function works fine - good as a previously owned Coleman: but has several shortcomings: (1)the cheap latch, (2) very small plastic wheels that aren't easily pulled over curbs and are embarasingly noisy when pulled over most hard surfaces (vs larger rubber wheels which would have eliminated both issues, (3) the re-designed right side handle from the previously two part extendable (shown on Amazon and other sites) to a single longer handle that is also used to unhandily prop the lid open, (4) related to #3 are very thin plastic straps used to limit the lid opening to less than 90 degrees (propped open by the handle) instead of larger ones that would allow the lid to open past 90 degrees and rest in the open position retained by larger straps. I think the market would pay another $5-10 for these convenience features.

I purchased this product recently to take on a 4500 mile road trip. My car has two 12V accessory outlets which are fused with a single 15A fuse. I was planning to run the GPS unit from one and the Koolatron from the other. The first problem surfaced when I discovered that the 12V plug would not stay plugged in to the outlet; the spring clips on the side were set back about 1/4" relative to those on the GPS 12V plug; this forced the plug out of the outlet. When I held the plug in, it then blew the fuse twice. Koolatron seems willing to work with me on the plug size issue- they claim they use industry standard, but they do recommend using a cigarette lighter outlet (more power). Nothing in the Koolatron literature indicated that it drew above 5A, so the fuse issue is still a question. Since we could not cool during the road travel, we religiously took the cooler into the hotel room and cooled overnight using the AC adapter. This worked very well, just a little noisy unless we could keep it in the bathroom and close the door. The big problem I noticed is that the insulation capacity must not be very high, since during the day (when we couldn't run off 12V) the inside of the cooler warmed up significantly. I suspect the problem is that the cooling fan port is a direct inlet to the interior, making heat exchange with the external environment easy and faster than a normal cooler. The lid design, handles, and wheels are very functional. Hopefully I'll get my two issues solved and then be able to use this as intended.

It is very noisy.
Takes long time to cool down.
And it is overprised.
I will need to return it.