Sometimes products just plain make sense.
For decades, campers have lugged chests full of ice and/or frigid water from home to camp to keep their food and beverages chilled. All the while, the campers themselves sweated in the heat of a summer camp.
IcyBreeze lets campers enjoy that inner chill even when not sipping on a cold brew.
The IcyBreeze series of coolers offer a unique air conditioning system that runs air through the chest and out a directed vent atop of the cooler, letting campers revel in the cool air.
We latched onto an IcyBreeze Ultimate to test the full range of options provided by the brand, and we couldn’t be more impressed. The Ultimate boasts 38 quarts of cold storage – easily enough room for 3-4 days of meals and beverages for two campers.  The cooler cabinet is well insulated and keeps ice for up to a week, though that time diminishes as you use the air conditioning (A/C) function.
The A/C works by pulling external air into the cooler cabinet, cooling it with water within that cabinet – there is a minimum required water level to maintain within the box. When the cooler is loaded with ice, food, and cans, the out-flowing air is downright frigid, so operating the fan on low is no trouble. The Ultimate also features a misting option that expels a gentle mist of water out along with the cold air to further the cooling action.
The air conditioning blower is powered by a 12-volt DC power cord (connected to your car or a portable battery power block). The unit can also be powered by an optional rechargeable 12-volt battery pack. We chose this route for backcountry camps, and it worked for nearly 5 hours on a single charge when running the fan on low.
The IcyBreeze could drop our tent temperatures down by 10 or more degrees before we headed for bed. That was much appreciated down some hot August nights. But what we really loved about the IcyBreeze was its ability to keep our SUV cabin cool when we had to leave the dog inside for a brief spell.
Blasting the IcyBreeze inside the Ford Explorer with the windows partially open and the moonroof wide open made the interior refreshingly cool. This allowed us to jump out and fish some steep-banked sections of wild rivers where it would be unsafe to take a dog. Mabel actually enjoyed the cold mist for the 30-45 minutes we were away and refused to leave the cold cabin when we came back up out of the canyon.
In addition to the Ultimate, IcyBreeze offers a V2 Pro ($299.99) and Platinum Pro ($399.99) version of the cooler. These boast many similar features, but not as durable or efficient – only the Ultimate features dense roto-molded insulation, for instance, and stout all-terrain wheels.
The IcyBreeze Ultimate sells for $499.99. Â Buy Now.
