Although most of the country is gripped tightly in the dead of winter, it is time to start thinking about your cooler situation. It’s hard to fathom wanting to keep something cold when the weather outside looks like the frozen planet Hoth from Empire Strikes Back but stick with me on this.
The weather will start to warm up and having a good cooler for the upcoming Major League Baseball season and summer concert season will be crucial. An added bonus of living in Southern California, the weather is typically warm year round so testing and reviewing coolers is something we can do all year. Enter the Pelican Elite line of coolers.
We had the opportunity to test and review the Pelican 20QT Elite cooler. It is the smallest of their Elite line of coolers but not every tailgate requires a huge cooler on wheels. (Pelican also makes coolers all the way up to 250QT.) Take a peek into the features and benefits of the Pelican 20QT that we were sent a sample to test and review.
(Disclaimer: We received a sample of the Pelican 20QT Elite Cooler. The fact this sample was provided to us free of charge in no way influenced our opinion of the product nor did it impact our ability to test and review the product fairly and objectively.)
As you can see in the video, the features and benefits list of the Pelican 20QT Elite Cooler is quite impressive. Their attention to detail is unmatched. From the moment we removed it from the box we could tell this was going to be a quality cooler with outstanding ice retention.
The thickness of the walls and lid of the Pelican cooler were thick and well insulated. Without putting any ice and beverages in it, we knew this was going to be a great cooler. Then we took it out for a test run in a real tailgating environment.
On some weekends we take products from our online tailgating gear store, Shop.TailgatingIdeas.com and our newly opened store Spring Break 24-7, to the Orange County Marketplace. It’s an outdoor marketplace where vendors can sell new goods and merchandise you can’t typically find online or at the mall. Being an open air marketplace, it is not climate controlled and having a good cooler to keep your food and beverages cold is a must. We found this to be the perfect location to test the Pelican 20QT Elite in a real tailgating environment.
We loaded the Pelican with a few canned beverages, our lunch for the day and packed it with ice from our freezer. That was at about 4:30 am so we can make it to the registration booth by 5 am. As you can see in the photo, we placed the Pelican cooler in direct sunlight for the entire day. The day we tested it, the temperature was about 78 degrees and peaked at 82 that day. (People in the Midwest and on the East Coast please save your hate mail.) As the sun moved, we moved the cooler to ensure it was in direct sunlight all day. All the while throughout the course of the day we opened and closed the Pelican Cooler removing a cold beverage just like you normally would while out tailgating. By the time the OC Marketplaced closed at 4 pm, the ice retention inside the Pelican was something to behold.
After spending the entire day in direct sunlight, there was very little ice melted. What little ice melted was probably due to the lid being opened and closed and the warm air convection produced the ice melt. Had the cooler been sitting in direct sunlight and not been opened once, I am confident the ice would have barely melted if at all.
Because we like to test tailgating products thoroughly, we brought it out tailgating with us prior to a college baseball game. This time it was not a “simulated” tailgating environment. It was a real tailgating environment complete with going in and grabbing multiple beverages over the course of the tailgate letting cold air escape and warm air into the cooler. Simulated or real, the Pelican 20QT Elite Cooler was a champ and retained ice exquisitely. Had we cut to size and utilized our KoolerCap, we anticipate the ice retention to be even better.
After thoroughly testing the Pelican 20QT Elite Cooler we are going to give it our Tailgating Ideas “Tailgate Approved” stamp. The same quality and attention to detail goes into the smaller coolers as it does with the larger Pelican coolers. If you are looking to replace your trusty old tailgating cooler with a new one, we would recommend the Pelican 80QT Elite Cooler. It has wheels for ease of transport to and from the car or if your tailgating space is not directly behind your vehicle.
If you are in the market for a new cooler or need to upgrade the one you already have, we highly recommend the Elite line of Pelican Coolers. They did not disappoint and we are confident you will be impressed as well.
To learn more about Pelican Coolers or to find a retailer, visit: Pelican.com