Steel Cooler: Solid Advantages & Features
It seems that a steel cooler is getting harder and harder to find. What ever happened to the heavy duty coolers that were abundant in the old days, when you may remember having your dad heft them over to the campsite? Well you can still find them, if you look hard enough. These days they have mostly been replaced with plastic coolers, and the big question really is, are they any better?
For those who remember those old steel ice chests, you might also remember how heavy they were. Sure you didn’t have to worry about the falling apart, but there are just as many drawbacks to them. One of the is that they were heavy, even when empty, and had handles that tore into your hands, because they always seemed much smaller and harder to hold. If it got too cold on the outside, there was always that film of condensation, getting everything around it wet. If you made the mistake of putting some where that the sun hit it for too long, watch out, cause the outside would get extremely hot.
Get Hot Deals on Nice Portable Coolers … see reviews, shopping tips & more. Submit Your Name & Email Below to get started…
Then you also had to worry about the extra care that went into dealing with a steel cooler. It seemed that no matter how good you took care of it, it always seemed to develop rust spots, and once the rust ate through the exterior casing, it compromised the level of cooling capacity. One the up side, if you wanted a sturdy cooler that could take a lot of abuse without damage, then steel is the way to go. They did retain cold better than a lot of plastic coolers these days, and you can’t bang around a plastic ice chest around like you could metal. The biggest disadvantage of buying a metal cooler over a plastic one is that they were far more expensive.
There are however many advantages with plastic coolers. Because they are plastic, you can get them in many different sizes and shapes. With plastic coolers, you can even get ones that can collapse down when not in use. They can have large wheels and telescoping handles, which makes it much easier to tote around. Some of them have much larger capacities than the old steel ones, and are even able to have heating and cooling units built into them with controls for both.
Today you can still buy steel coolers, and they are better than ever before. Now they are called steel belted, and are a combination of steel construction, as well as plastic. They are double insulated, have stainless steel locking lids, and easier to carry handles. As usual, the company that manufactures the best steel belted coolers has always been Coleman, and they made them from 1954-1994, and are making them even today.
Available in 54 quart capacity, they are large enough to accommodate most camping trips. You can buy these items through the company starting at $149, and most come with a six year warranty. They are made with rust resistant materials, to protect them against breaking. You can buy directly from Coleman, or go online to see what other retailers may sell them.
