Evacool vs Techni Ice esky

[viking5.5]

I have done a bit of searching on this and other forums about what is the best esky and for my purpose it seems to come down to Evacool fibreglass or Techni ice poly (or maybe tropical but I'm not sure they would be any better for the extra price).

Does anyone have any first hand experience comparing these two brands. I want to buy the best insulation possible for extended stays on the boat but I cant find anyone that has compared these two eskies directly. I know evacools are lot more exspensive so I want to know if they are any better holding the ice.

[Mossy247]

Techni-Ice are an awesome esky and usually shipped pretty quick. Any problems and their customer service is excellent. I have the 80 litre, 40 litre and a little lunch box carry thing. Came as a deal out of Bush N Beach. And the pricing was pretty good to compared. I would go in the white colour, then yellow then blue... if they are in the sun the blue seems to hold the heat more than the others.
my 2 cents.

[GBC]

Check evakool's website. They also do poly eskies, but rate the fibreglass ones as better ice holders, hence the price premium. I've never seen a poly esky that will hold better than glass.

[sporty1]

My Techni keeps ice frozen in my boat in full sun for more than 2days. Look on flea bay as they are even cheaper there than on the direct website. I also agree if you want ice frozed for an extended perios (3 days or more )then fiberglass is probably best. I have 3 big techni eskys and they are great

Murray

[chisel]

I have a couple of tropicals which are very good.
I'm sure an evakool fibreglass would be great - they have thinner walls so use up less space in the boat/car/whatever for the same internal space. But I don't think they handle knocks as well as the poly ones, and are more expensive.

[Kdog]

if they are in the sun the blue seems to hold the heat more than the others.

Hold the heat???? Mossy, come on mate, they haven't being able to hold the heat for the last 6 years....gunna be 7 years shortly.
Cheers
Kerrod

[Stonkered]

Don't know anything about the Techni.

Using my Evakools I regularly throw out the remainder of home made ice blocks (made from 2L ice cream containers) after 6-7 days camping. I do start with a very high ice-to-drinks ratio though. I just can't drink beer if it's not ice cold....

[viking5.5]

Thanks for all your responses guys. You have all confirmed my thoughts that fibreglass is the way to go if you want the best possible insulation.

I also found a comparison between fibreglass downunder ice boxes and evakool (plus tropical and others), I didn't think there would be any difference but it looks like the downunder has a slightly thicker insulation when you compare inside & outside dimensions. Summary of the comparison evakool 3.7 days for ice to melt downunder took 4.1 days. Really is splitting hairs but I thought it was interesting. I've tried to post the link below, not sure if it will work.

http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and...e/results.aspx

[chisel]

That's an interesting comparison by choice - thanks for posting.
I'm a little surprised the icemate ones (by evakool) are a bit worse than the opposition. It's also interesting that the fibreglass ones really are significantly better than the plastic ones, especially the downunder.

[Steve B]

I have evercool fibreglass, techni ice plastic, some other cheap chilli something plastic.....

None get uses anymore, now that i have found the Waeco cool-ice eskies...best value for money I have found. Only critisism is the pull down strap on the smaller eskies dies after a fair bit of use,...$1.50 to fix though. Hold ice brilliantly, light enough, strong enough and just do the job well. A lot of mates have them and also rate them highly. Cost is around 1/2 way between cheap ebay plastic ones, and fibreglass ones from what I can gather.

Cheers Steve

As a distant second pick would be the evacool fibre glass...when I need that size.

[GBC]

That's an interesting comparison by choice - thanks for posting.
I'm a little surprised the icemate ones (by evakool) are a bit worse than the opposition. It's also interesting that the fibreglass ones really are significantly better than the plastic ones, especially the downunder.

Not defending evakool, but they have a range of poly eskies the same as the opposition poly ones as well (extreme - the green ones) - choice were deliberately looking for different types of eskies I'd think.

Choice would appear to disagree with you Steve B about the cool-ice's holding ability in relation to fibreglass?

[Steve B]

Not defending evakool, but they have a range of poly eskies the same as the opposition poly ones as well (extreme - the green ones) - choice were deliberately looking for different types of eskies I'd think.

Choice would appear to disagree with you Steve B about the cool-ice's holding ability in relation to fibreglass?

GBC, Yeah they probably do. I dunno why, I must have a dud fibreglass one, oh and mine was Downunder not evakool sorry. Ever since it was new, it never seemed to hold ice well. I have had mates with similar eskies, packed the same, same ice, beer etc....and theirs smashed mine for ice holding. I should have took it back..but I thought it was gunna be hard to argue for warranty on 'opinion' only. I have found my cool-ice eskys have been awesome.

Cheers Steve

[Just_chips]

Simple rules to keep your ice longer in any type of esky.

- Always 'prime' your esky: i.e. get the inside of the esky cooled prior to use by using some sacrificial party ice to cool the air and the esky walls overnight prior to it's main use.

- Fill your esky as much as possible: Air in your esky is the enemy, the air is warmer than your ice, thus melting it. I have even used towels towels to fill the air gaps at times.

- Pull out the bung: All eskies come with a bung, I've lost count of the number of times that I've grabbed a beer out of an tepid slurry created by the melted ice. This water is obviuosly warmer than your ice and will speed up the melting process, pull the bung, tilt the esky and drain out any melted run off, the remaining ice will then take longer to melt. A tray to lift your ice off the base will also help with this (wire cake tray or similar..)

- Reduce the amount of times that you open the esky: The outside air temp is warmer than inside and each time you open the lid it lets the warm air in and the cool air escape.

- Keep your esky out of the heat if possible: Always keep your esky out of direct sun to have it work to its maximum potential. We have even gone to the extremes of burying our main esky at times and ensuring it is shaded at all stages of the day......

- Pack your esky with cold products: If you chill stuff before loading your esky then it won't melt your ice as fast as it cools down. Not always practical, but very important especially when the initial packing is done at home.

Finally fibreglass is superior to polly.

Kev

[GBC]

GBC, Yeah they probably do. I dunno why, I must have a dud fibreglass one, oh and mine was Downunder not evakool sorry. Ever since it was new, it never seemed to hold ice well. I have had mates with similar eskies, packed the same, same ice, beer etc....and theirs smashed mine for ice holding. I should have took it back..but I thought it was gunna be hard to argue for warranty on 'opinion' only. I have found my cool-ice eskys have been awesome.

Cheers Steve

Buggers might have left the insulation out of yours mate.....

[WalrusLike]

Just Chips, I agree with your points except for leaving the bung open.

I could be wrong but I think there are two reasons it's wrong. Firstly because the cold air inside will exchange with the hot air outside in a slow but inevitable process through the bunghole.

Secondly and more importantly, I think that the slurry represents a 'thermal mass' that resists heating... Ie the warm air that comes in and also the esky walls, are bleeding heat into the esky contents, but if there is a slurry in there then the temperature rise is spread across more mass and hence is a lower rise.

Also the cold air that's in there is exchanged to some extent with the outside air by opening the lid. But if instead some of that airspace is occupied by water slurry them it doesnt get exchanged.... less cold is lost.

That's my two cents... I could be wrong.