I was about to post this on cali's ice chest thread but didn't want to alter the subject matter.

I haven't used an ice chest since buying the ARB 50qt about 8 years ago. I never had any problems with the ARB but about 6 months ago I decided to take advantage of it's value and sold it on eBay for $550+ shipping cost.

Before selling the ARB I bought an ICECO VL45 for about $450 that included a 5-year compressor warranty. It's hard to justify paying the same or more for a quality ice chest if an electric source is available. The VL45 has both Max/Eco modes and while the Max mode uses less energy than the ARB did, the Eco mode uses 3-4x less power than the ARB's single speed. I tested them side by side for a few days. The nice, thick cover for the VL45 was only another $65. If you buy a VL45 or the larger freezer/fridge VL65 you definitely need the padded cover as the all steel case gets hot in an enclosed vehicle/direct sun. The exterior size is very close to the ARB 50qt and someone made precise interior measurements and said it's about 49qt's.

Details:
tinyurl.com/ybyz56wn

Good find on the new 12v power based cooler. I went ahead and added it to the continuning list of 12v coolers in my cooler document.


Manufacture link:
icecofreezer.com/colle...-vl-series

Not sure why the tinyurl for the amazon link... but here we go directly:
smile.amazon.com/ICECO...07TLL68BG/

That VL45 is the one I’ve been lookin at.