When you shop around for sports fishing gear, you want to make sure you get the best deal and the highest quality possible. With every manufacturer marketing its product as the best new item, it can be tough to tell which product really is better. That’s why it can be smart to look at independent reviews of fishing gear.
For example, “Practical Sailor” tested three brands of ice chests in the 65 to 70-quart range. It found Engel ice chests keep products cold the longest when compared to the Coleman Extreme and the Yeti Tundra coolers.
A portable icebox uses ice to keep an insulated cooler cold. Offshore anglers who don’t have the luxury of owning a boat with an electric freezer can use the ice chest to keep bait, drinks, or food cold. With an Engel ice cooler, like the ENG65, it’s possible to keep things cold for multiple days. For the test, “Practical Sailor” placed a six-pack in the bottom of each cooler and covered the room-temperature drinks in 16 pounds of ice.
At 12 hours and 24 hours testers checked the ice level in the coolers by draining the melted water. The test had two starts times, one in the morning on a day averaging 94 degrees and one at night averaging 77 degrees. After 50 hours, the Engel cooler still had a ½ cup of ice while the other coolers had only melted water. The drinks from the Engel ice cooler had a temperature of 34.5 degrees while the drinks from the other two coolers had temperatures over 60 degrees.
While there may be some factors that would affect the outcome of the trial, “Practical Sailor” felt the test earned Engel’s brand its recommendation for those looking for fishing gear.