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Memorial Day has come and gone, and you most likely encountered a cooler at some point during the long weekend. Big or small, it had some form of ice – either the big bag of ice from the convenience store, or reusable ice packs you pulled out of the freezer. What if you didn’t need either of those, and could still keep your food and beverages cold? That’s what the GoSun Chillest Cooler is offering up.
Realistically, the GoSun Chillest Cooler is basically a small refrigerator that happens to be in a wheeled cooler format. Rather than needing to be plugged in, however, it relies on an on-board battery that can power the cooler for up to 10 hours. That’s fine for the backyard, but what about a weekend away? Well, you could certainly plug it in to an AC or DC power source to keep it running, or rely on an external power bank to extend the life.
Where the GoSun Chillest Cooler really looks to separate itself from the pack is with a solar panel. This is something they’ve built as a table that you can attached the cooler, and then position it to get the optimal sun exposure. And you can – in theory – actually use it as a table, though I might be a bit hesitant to do too much on top of it lest you damage the panel somehow. Still, to have that built in and have it up off the ground – rather than wiring a panel in and hoping it doesn’t get knocked off the top of the cooler – is pretty slick.
Aside from that, there are some other handy features that the GoSun Chillest Cooler has in store:
- Waste bin hooks
- Handles and wheels
- Solar Table
- Tie-down mounts
- App-controlled
- 45L capacity
- Interior lights
- Interior battery with 10 hours battery life
- Bottle opener
- Cutting board
- Shade umbrella
- Ultra lightweight and portable
Now, as you might expect, the ability to control two different zones (with temperature ranges from -4°F to 68°F for each) – along with solar charging – is not something that comes cheap. Even at crowdfunding prices, the cooler itself (with it’s battery pack and all) is $599, while adding the solar panel table in bumps the price up to $699. Those are steep prices, and those are about 30$ off of the expected MSRP. So, for me, I think I’ll be sticking with my trusty Coleman Xtreme, some ice packs, and a few $2 bags of ice to keep my stuff cold while I’m camping. Tech is great, but this feels like a bit of overkill to me. And if that battery isn’t getting adequately charged from the solar panel, you’d better be ready to cook a lot of food all at once. But, maybe that’s just me. I mean, the campaign is fully funded, and it’s not closing out until early April, so perhaps I’m just missing something. You can check out all the details over at the campaign page.
