No Ice, Ice, Baby!
Written: Jan 17 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to use, easier to carry, collapsible.
Cons: Doesn't work as well with loose ice as a conventional hard-sided cooler, puncturable.
The Bottom Line: I definitely recommend if you're seeking an easy to pack, easy to use cooler vacation use.
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| Trawma's Full Review: Cabela's Soft Sided Coolers (48 Can Cooler) |
Four years ago, I stumbled across—er, I showed myself to be an absolute genius by picking up Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler while suitcase shopping for a family vacation to California. Okay, okay, I wasn’t being a genius, I was being a ditz—I couldn’t find the luggage section, I was in a hurry, and I needed something that would work as carry-on. This is what I found.
I have to say, my husband looked a bit askance at my purchase—after all, Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler isn’t carry-on, it’s a collapsible, soft-sided cooler. Right?
Sort of.
I mean, it is a soft-sided, collapsible cooler. However, it’s also a perfect solution for folks who are doing a combination air/rental car vacation and need a cooler for the car section of the trip. See? See how my sad stupidity could be mistaken for genius? For the plane, we packed the cooler with changes of clothes and various necessities of the “oh, heck, they lost our checked luggage!” variety. Once at the hotel, we popped in frozen water bottles (purchased locally, then frozen in the motel freezer) to act as cold packs, and voila! We had a marvelous, easily portable, efficient cooler for the car and motel room!
Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler comes in at approximately 20 inches by 12 inches by 9 inches. I say “approximately” because the poor cooler now lives in New Jersey, so I cannot measure it. However, I remember slipping it into the “will it fit?” box for carry-on measurements at the Delta ticket counter, and the cooler came in a little below the limit for length and height, and at the limit for width.
Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler comes in nylon of a light blue, grey, and dark blue pattern that is easy to clean with a damp cloth or sponge. In addition to the large main compartment, there are netted compartments on the outside, plus a zippered compartment on the side. This made the cooler ideal for soccer practices and games (hubby is coach), as the necessary paperwork stays in the side mesh compartment, BandAids, antibiotic cream, and antibacterial wipes in the zippered compartment, and super-cold water bottles in the cooler for the kids (and the coach!).
Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler has two sets of carry straps—a small set of hand straps that Velcro shut together over the lid, and a long, adjustable shoulder strap in grey that attaches at the ends. While I wouldn’t call this thing easy to carry when fully loaded, I will say that it is a lot easier to carry than a like-sized hard-sided cooler.
According to the manufacturer, Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler has a “Therma-Flect® reflective barrier lid and Superfoam™ insulation in the body to keep things cool inside.” That’s what THEY say. Now, what do I say? This cooler, while terrifically convenient, less cumbersome, and more easily packed into the trunk of the car (due to the soft sides), is NOT as effective or efficient as the heavy-duty hard-sided coolers when it comes to keeping ice frozen. In fact, I really don’t recommend using loose ice in this cooler, as there is no built-in drain, and the cooler winds up having to be up-ended to be drained. Instead, I recommend the use of reusable ice packs or, as we do, frozen solid bottles of whatever bottled water you prefer.
The seamless interior liner in Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler is removable and easy to wash. It claims to be "100% leak-proof," and this may well be true, but it’s also easily punctured, and once you’ve poked a hole in this puppy, all bets are off on the leakage front. Because of this, I strongly recommend that no sharp, pokey, rigid things be packed in here, at least not against the sides or bottom. Ours sprung a leak on our last vacation, and we left a gigantic puddle of water on the motel room floor as a result (we had no fridge at that motel, so we were using loose ice). Normally, I wouldn’t suggest disposing of this cooler merely because of a hole—loose ice can be put in Ziplock bags, which would solve the leaking problem. In fact, we only left our cooler in New Jersey because, even folded down and shoved into a suitcase, we were OUT of room, luggage-wise.
And that brings me to another vacation bonus when it comes to traveling with Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler--it is collapsible, it can be flattened, scrunched up, and crammed into a suitcase for flights if you don’t wish to use it as carry-on. I found this a wonderful bonus, and it certainly makes this cooler a lot more attractive to the traveler than a conventional hard-sided cooler.
In all, I was very happy with Cabela’s 48 Can Soft Sided Cooler--we got a few good years out of it, and probably would have gotten a few more (leak notwithstanding) had we not been pressed for space in our luggage. It’s a marvelously versatile cooler that, while not perfect, does the job pretty well. Plus, if you use it, you’ll become a genius.
Really.
***Note***
The product pictured is Cabela’s 54 Can Wheeled Soft Sided Cooler.
Recommended:
Yes
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