Pelican retailer in Salt Lake City?

[Kevin B.]

I was checking out the Pelican icechest one of the vendors had at OSRC, and I want one. The Pelican site says the closest retailer is Quickpro in Hyrum, that can't be right can it? There's nobody in the valley that retails Pelican stuff?

 

[sixstringsteve]

One thought... get it from a retailer that has a good return policy. Not because pelican producs are bad, they're not. They're awesome. But just in case you decide your $300-400 could be spent for other things. I convinced myself that I do enough camping to deserve a good cooler. So I bought a Yeti from Cabelas and tried it on my Utah Backcountry Discovery Route trip. It sure is a beefy cooler and it has some awesome features (and the Pelican is supposed to be even better). But in the end, it didn't keep my food any colder than my cheap coleman cooler, and the insulation was so thick that the inside of the cooler was smaller. So I returned it and I realized how my $50 cooler does all I want it to. Not trying to talk you out of it, and I don't mean to be a know-it-all, I'm just glad I was able to return my Yeti because I had hyped it up so much in my mind and it didn't meet those expectations.

Check out this video:

[video=youtube;6-TE4RnqT0U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U[/video]

 

[Kevin B.]

One thought... get it from a retailer that has a good return policy. Not because pelican producs are bad, they're not. They're awesome. But just in case you decide your $300-400 could be spent for other things. I convinced myself that I do enough camping to deserve a good cooler. So I bought a Yeti from Cabelas and tried it on my Utah Backcountry Discovery Route trip. It sure is a beefy cooler and it has some awesome features (and the Pelican is supposed to be even better). But in the end, it didn't keep my food any colder than my cheap coleman cooler, and the insulation was so thick that the inside of the cooler was smaller. So I returned it and I realized how my $50 cooler does all I want it to. Not trying to talk you out of it, and I don't mean to be a know-it-all, I'm just glad I was able to return my Yeti because I had hyped it up so much in my mind and it didn't meet those expectations.

Hmm, I'll check out that video later. You didn't find that you needed less space for ice, making the effective internal size about the same? The big attraction for me is not needing to duck out to civilization every other day for more ice, but if it's too small for more than 2 or 3 days that wouldn't have the desired effect anyway.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Does your current cooler have any limitations?

In my experience, it didn't keep stuff any cooler any longer than my cheap coolers. I can go about 4 days with my cheapie igloo cooler and some dry ice before it all turns to water. The same thing was true for the Yeti. However, I'm hardly ever out for 5 days straight without refuling, and if I refuel I can get more ice. And the Yeti didn't buy me an extra day or two of cold food like I thought it would. If I were regularly gone for more than 5 days at a time, I would get an ARB fridge.

The Yeti was truly a case of good marketing and me being excited enough for gear to try to justify a need that didn't exist. And on top of that, I didn't see any true benefit for keeping my food cold. However, the Yeti is built like a tank and I have no doubt it'd survive a bear encounter. But I've never lost a cooler to a bear so that's another need that didn't exist.

 

[TRD270]

That surprises me on the coleman. I've had a coleman extreme for 6-7 years now. It does pretty well, I've been considering a fridge so I don't have to take up half my cooling space with ice. That being said there are a lot of things to be purchased before that "luxury"

 

[Kevin B.]

I've never had a Coleman or Igloo cooler that lasted me more than two summers or kept ice more than two days, and that's assuming I fill it halfway in the first place. But if the Yeti and Pelican don't keep ice better than the cheapos, I guess they're probably not worth the investment.

I don't need a bear-proof cooler, but I would like one that stands up to a couple hard summers before disintegrating.

 

[Kevin B.]

Check out this video:

[video=youtube;6-TE4RnqT0U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-TE4RnqT0U[/video]

It's interesting that the Coleman could hang. I wonder if 100 degree heat and direct sun would make a difference.

 

[frieed]

ARB Fridge

 

[sixstringsteve]

Kevin, have you tried putting a block of dry ice in the bottom then covering it with ice? That's how I get 5 days worth. The dry ice keeps the other ice from meltin. Plus we don't leave it open and we open it sparingly. Even with dry ice in the yeti we didn't see any improvement.

Thinking back, I think my cheapie is a $40 igloo brand, not a Coleman. Surprisingly, the Coleman Extremes are supposed to hang with the best coolers in the industry.

 

[frieed]

The best small cooler I ever had was a cooler that hospitals use to transport organs to recipients. 3" thick styrofoam with snug fitting lid. Barely large enough for a 6-pack plus ice, but would keep it for days. Oh, and a little bit morbid...

 

[jentzschman]

One trick is to use a sacrificial bag of ice the night before. This chills the insulation so it is already cold when you leave. If you put ice in the cooler the day of, all the ice goes to waste chilling the insulation.

I have done this and notice about 1-2 days more of ice in the cooler. Combined with the dry ice method, I had ice after 5 days on the Utah backcountry trip. A lot of water, but there was ice still and the water was VERY cold still.

 

[sixstringsteve]

The best small cooler I ever had was a cooler that hospitals use to transport organs to recipients. 3" thick styrofoam with snug fitting lid. Barely large enough for a 6-pack plus ice, but would keep it for days. Oh, and a little bit morbid...

and the apples always taste like blood after the 2nd day.

 

[rockdog]

I bought one of the big white ones from Costco. I can't remember the brand to save me. I bought 1" foam with foil for sheathing exterior walls on homes. Cut it to line the inside with a top. It kept ice for 4 days at lake Powell in 103 degree heat. It didn't melt, we were another story!!!

 

[sixstringsteve]

so the foam was inside the cooler, or you cut the lid open and sandwiched it in between the plastic in the lid?

 

[sixstringsteve]

For the price, this one would be hard to beat (assuming it's the right size for you).

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-50-Quart-Xtreme-Wheeled-Cooler/23374667

 

[rockdog]

so the foam was inside the cooler, or you cut the lid open and sandwiched it in between the plastic in the lid?

I cut pieces and put them inside. Bottom and sides. Then I chalked them all in. Seams, around the top edge. Then cut a hole through the foam on the bottom to the drain. Then cut a lid that fit snug to cover my cooler inside a cooler. It isn't pretty, but I'd bet it is as good as a yeti at a fraction of the cost!

 

[sixstringsteve]

cool! Did the food taste weird? Do you think the chemicals might leech into the cooler? That's a great idea.

 

[rockdog]

cool! Did the food taste weird? Do you think the chemicals might leech into the cooler? That's a great idea.

No the food didn't taste weird. I'm not sure about chemicals leaching out. Hell it could'nt be much worse than all the stuff I sucked in at Geneva in the blast furnace for 13 years!!

 

[solidfrontaxle]

Yeah, there is no way a yeti or pelican is worth the money. You can feel like you're cool cause you have a really really fancy cooler, but what's cooler than being cool? A fridge. And they are only a tiny bit more expensive and way more worth it. Or you could buy two or three or four or five cheaper but just as good (but no expo points) coolers. The best cooler I've ever used is a cheapo white plastic winder dairy cooler someone gave me. Its indestructible (even sitting in the sun all year), and keeps stuff refrigerated for three or four days in the summer sun without dry ice. I keep a little metal wire folding kitchen rack my wife found at Smith's in it to keep the food off the ice and from floating in the icemelt. Reduces the chances of water getting into EVERYTHING.

 

[jentzschman]

Yeah, there is no way a yeti or pelican is worth the money. You can feel like you're cool cause you have a really really fancy cooler, but what's cooler than being cool? A fridge. And they are only a tiny bit more expensive and way more worth it. Or you could buy two or three or four or five cheaper but just as good (but no expo points) coolers. The best cooler I've ever used is a cheapo white plastic winder dairy cooler someone gave me. Its indestructible (even sitting in the sun all year), and keeps stuff refrigerated for three or four days in the summer sun without dry ice. I keep a little metal wire folding kitchen rack my wife found at Smith's in it to keep the food off the ice and from floating in the icemelt. Reduces the chances of water getting into EVERYTHING.

That is a great idea. Now I am going to rig up something like that!