Six Reasons to Get an Electric Cooler: Review of the Anker EverFrost Portable Cooler

Thinking about Buying a Solar Powered Electric Cooler? Here is why you might need one.

by Leon Pantenburg

I bought an Anker EverFrost Portable Cooler with Solar for personal use in 2024. At the time of publication, there was no advertising or affiliate relationship between Survival Common Sense and Anker. This is strictly my opinion and nobody had any input in this post.

“We already have several excellent coolers, and can buy a hell of a lot of ice for $700,” I explained to my wife, “so why do we need to spend that much for a solar-powered cooler?” Initially, the investment didn’t make sense to me, and I was very lukewarm to the idea.

We had several coolers, ranging in quality from el cheapo blue light specials to top-of-the-line products. Our  Patriot™ 50 Quart cooler works really well and it holds ice for several days. If we need more cool storage, we have the Orion™ 65 Quart cooler. Besides, I pointed out to Ms Common Sense, every gas station, grocery outlet, convenience store and motel sells ice.

So why did I give in? First, there is no saying “no” to her when she gets an idea. At the time, we were planning an early summer hiking trip to Sedona, Arizona (not the best timing in the world, but you go when you can!)  In that planning, we came up with one of those long-time-married-couple compromises – she shopped and we bought the Anker EverFrost Portable Cooler 40™ with 299Wh Battery.

Anker EverFrost Portable Cooler 40 w/Solar Review

We left Mississippi in June with the Anker EverFrost Cooler in the back of our Ford F150 pickup with the Bakflip™ bed cover, covered with blankets and a tarp. Frozen food was placed at the cooler’s bottom, with less cold food layered up, and condiments/cheese/produce as the top layer. We never opened the lid unless we were getting something out, and kept the cooler fully-packed. It had the best possible testing environment, in extreme heat inside an enclosed black truck bed traveling across the southwest in June.

We kept track of the cooler’s power usage through its handy phone app where you can monitor it constantly. After using the Anker EverFrost Cooler last summer, I did a 180-degree flip in thinking and realized my wife was right – it was a great idea!

Application: Cross Country Travel

During our trip, we stopped for light lunches out of the cooler, checked the battery load, and by the end of day-two we had 75% power left, requiring us to juice it up for a couple of hours. It’s easy to plug the cooler into any number of outlet options on its built-in Anker battery with inputs for 110 3-prong, USB, C-link, and 12 Volt. We juiced the cooler a bit every day along the trip and arrived at our rural destination with plenty of pre-packed food.

The wheels and handle make the cooler easy to roll out of the truck onto the tailgate for a picnic. It’s not that heavy to lift out of the truck and roll across the pavement, gravel, or grass.

After Arizona, we fled the southwest heat through California on our way to Bend, Oregon. Over the next two days, the Anker Cooler stayed cold with no additional charge. By the time we arrived in Bend, with a quarter of the cooler filled with food, it was at 40% battery. Job done!

Application: 3 Days Off Grid in Extreme Heat

We also used the cooler off grid at a three-day music festival in July in heat over 100-degrees. We kept the cooler covered with blankets and a tarp under a canopy in the shade. On day two at 80% battery, we plugged in the Anker Solix P400 Portable Solar Panel. It worked like a dream and powered right up under hot, bright blue skies. By the morning of day-three, we began to see the vulnerabilities of off-grid living in extreme heat.

Our food was getting low and we were in and out of it quite a bit. Morning breakfast and big dinners, lunches and afternoon iced coffee with cream (yeah, I know – but the wife needs a treat and some respite at a bluegrass festival).

The Anker Solix P400 Solar Panel was working hard but couldn’t keep up with the combination of heat and access, with low food. On day three, it was losing more power than we could juice it. We left the festival at 30% battery.

My Take on the Anker Solar Powered EverFrost Portable Cooler 40

I am an old dog but I learned new tricks with this solar powered Anker Cooler.

1. Having an electric cooler is more convenient than you think with a battery that lasts off-grid with no extra work for at least two full days. The built-in Anker battery pack will go forever on shore power or continual back up power banks. It’s a really slick option for travel, festivals, tailgating events, kid activities.
2. You need to pack food strategically with a plan. For longer trips, add some frozen foods to the bottom and layer your meals based on first-in, last-out. Remember that it’s not a refrigerator and doesn’t offer even temps throughout the cooler when you’re in and out of it. Pack your vulnerable foods in the middle or bottom.
3. For off-grid activities in the heat, our cooler using solar power kept everything perfectly cool up to three full days and worked well beyond my expectations.
4. Solar is a whole other level of management needing serious sunshine to increase battery storage while the cooler is being operated. Over a few days in extreme heat, with less cold food packed in, the cooler may not keep up. You may have better luck than we did for the long haul, but I wouldn’t have counted on a solar powered cooler after day four in that heat.
5. Not having to buy ice daily at a music festival is a downright luxury. No soggy food floating in ice water, no griping by the wife to drain the cooler, and no stopping the fun to stand in line at the mercantile to pay $4 for a bag of ice.
6. The wheels roll easily on a variety of dirt, gravel, and pavement. If you move the cooler in and out of the vehicle, these wheels will be a big help.
7. The folding handle is sturdy and makes hauling the filled cooler easy.
8. The cooler’s flat top is a great surface for making sandwiches or preparing food, and sitting.
9. The Anker Cooler is also a charging bank with outlets for your phone and laptop. Now that’s cool for a cooler.

The Anker EverFrost Cooler 40 acted just like what it is: an electric refrigerator and I’m never going back.

Specs for the Anker EverFrost Portable Cooler 40

• Long-Lasting 299Wh Battery-Powered Cooler
• 0% Ice, 100% Storage
• 100W Solar Input (One of Four Ways to Charge)
• -4℉ – 68℉ (-20 – 20°C) Cooling Range
• EasyTow™ Suitcase Design
• Efficient Cooling System
• Smart App Control
• 43L of capacity
• up to 42H of cooling (variable dependent on temps, packed food, and access frequency)

 

Six Reasons a Solar-Powered Cooler May Be a Good Idea

Let’s assume you’re in a survival situation similar to the storms and floods in North Carolina, and forced out of your home. The power grid is down, the roads are impassable, and any help will be delayed. Why would a solar electric cooler be important?

Solar coolers keep medications cool: Warm beer may be unpalatable, but it’s hardly life-threatening. But what happens if someone in your group is diabetic and needs to keep his/her insulin cool? What about other life-saving medications that have to be kept at a controlled temperature? This may be the best argument for including an electric cooler in your survival gear.

Solar coolers are a good investment: Go price a Yeti, Orca, or RTIC, which have a striking distance of $700, and you still have to buy ice. Many buying the up-end brands are spending a fortune on a glorified ice chest with bragging rights, but will eventually need its water drained and more ice.

Solar coolers don’t need ice: Ice can be expensive or unavailable. During a disaster, you may not find any ice anywhere. During the pacific northwest heat dome of 2021, we were camped near Sisters, Oregon and using a relatively inexpensive cooler. We saw record high temperatures in the mountains of 108 degrees which made ice a scarce commodity in town, a 30-minute drive from camp. An eight-pound bag of ice was selling for $4.50. We were going through 2 bags every day and I had to find it!

Do the math. I spent $3-something on a gallon of gas, and my truck gets about 23 miles per gallon. Eight pounds of ice ended up costing about $8 a bag.

                                                       For more survival information, check out my book “Bushcraft Basics.”

Solar coolers don’t need the power grid: Ice-making machines require power and water. With no power, the ice-maker won’t work. And if there is no potable water available, there is nothing to freeze. In a summer heat disaster (like Hurricane Katrina) you have no power, and no ice. Think about those meds that must stay cool. One caution on this: for solar power, you need sun. And in extreme heat a solar powered cooler may not keep up with the level of refrigeration you really need for safe foods. 

Solar powered coolers preserve refrigerated foods longer: The most common way to get salmonella is from undercooked food or improper food prep. This includes eating uncooked or undercooked meat, poultry, seafood or eggs. Even fruits and vegetables can grow yucky stuff in warm weather. Milk goes bad when it warms up. A cheap cooler can’t keep the food cold enough and is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

Symptoms from salmonella are diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps, usually beginning six hours to six days after infection and last four to seven days. The last thing you want during a disaster is to be sick.

A good solar powered cooler will come with an app to show how much power is being generated by the sun, and what temperature the cooler is experiencing.

Solar powered coolers keeps charging with the sun: As long as the sun shines, the 299 WH battery can be charged. An added benefit is that the 299 WH has USB ports, which makes it a power bank. The EverFrost batteries could fully charge all your phones and gadgets for adventures ahead.

But there is this:

Spendy: A cooler that can cost upwards of $900 is an investment that requires some thought. If you must keep medications cool during a potential disaster, buying an electric cooler is a no-brainer. If you only have a couple of one-day tailgating parties a year, maybe it’s not for you. But, if you’re a soccer traveling family doing many travel trips all season, maybe it’s the right decision.

Bulky: The Anker may not fit in the trunk or backend of your vehicle. Do some measuring before investing.

Heavy: This is not a lightweight, portable cooler. It weighs 53 pounds empty, so the best idea is to load the cooler after it is in the trunk. You are not going to haul the Anker it down to the beach easily.

Needs Power: The cooler needs power, pure and simple. Either shore power, car power, generator, backup banks, or off-grid solar. Otherwise, get an ice chest.

Overkill? Do you need a refrigerated solar powered cooler of this quality most of the time?

Tailgating at a football game, picnicking, day trip canoeing on a sunny day, or hauling home venison from deer camp don’t require much. You can take a cheaper cooler, ice down the contents, and toss the leftover, melted ice when you’re done for the day.

Or you can do all those things with an electric fridge. It’s your choice.

But but for long-term survival during a disaster, the Anker could be a lifesaver. It’s like a spare tire; you normally don’t need one at all. But when you do, you need that tire badly.

We like our Anker, and we will continue to make good use of it.

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