If you’ve ever gone on a road trip, you know what it’s like having to load up the cooler with ice and food. You know how that ice melts and gets the food all wet and sometimes the inside of your car all wet. It’s a giant pain in the butt to fill a cooler with ice, not to mention the ice takes up valuable space. The IceCo iFreezer Go20 wants to alleviate some of those problems by eliminating the ice and using the power in your car.
The IceCo iFreezer Go20 is a portable cooler and ice chest that you never have to fill with ice. It seems like a great idea and the company sent one over to us to check out. Read on for the full review of theIceCo iFreezer Go20 portable cooler and freezer.
It is important to note that we received a prototype of this device so not everything has been finalized and the company should have issues ironed out before production units arrive to customers.
Specifications
The IceCo iFreezer Go20 has the following features and specifications:
- Fridge and Freezer at the same time
- 0℉-50℉ Precise Temperature Control
- Portable and lightweight at 23.8 lbs
- Internal LED lighting
- Plug and go
- 12-month warranty
- 20L capacity
- Touch Controls
- Dimensions: 22.4 x 12.6 x 12.4 inches (570 x 320 x 315 mm)
What’s In The Box
- IceCo iFreezer Go20
- Power cable
- Car adapter
Design
The design of the iFreezer Go20 is simple yet elegant. While it looks like a normal cooler, the materials used and the lines of its design give it a lovely appealing look. The whole unit weighs just under 24 lbs, which is certainly heavier than an empty cooler but it’s not bad, especially when you consider the weight of a regular cooler with ice added.
The materials used feel like a very high-quality plastic with a nice clear coat over the top. The right quarter of the unit houses the compressor unit which is where the bulk of the weight comes from. The rest of the unit is open for food storage and comes with a partition that allows you to split the temperature between the two sides — more on that later.
There are nice deep handles on either side making this very comfortable to carry. The side with the compressor unit has plenty of holes for ventilation of the compressor. It’s important to note that you’ll probably want to leave some space to allow air to flow to the unit. So cramming this into a tight space while running it is probably a bad idea.
The top of the iFreezer Go20 has the touch control panel and LED lights. There are 2 panels to control the left and right side of the cooler. If you have the partition in you can control them separately. If you don’t have the partition in, you will only be able to have one temperature setting.
Over on the left side of the cooler, you have the power port as well as a fuse for the cooling unit. The fuse looks like a common car type fuse that can be replaced easily if it goes out. There is nothing on the back or bottom of the unit.
Overall, the design is appealing and eye-catching. It’s modern looking and is built well with good quality materials. It’s a little hefty at 23.8 lbs but considering other coolers can reach those weights after ice is added, it’s a moot point.
Ease of Use
Using the iFreezer Go20 is very simple and setup is next to nothing. Just plug in the unit, you can plug it directly into the car’s 12V accessory port or you can use the included wall adapter. We have a regular household wall outlet in our van so we used that for power.
Once it’s plugged in, you just have to decide if you want to split the inside into a freezer and cooler side or use the whole unit at one temperature. If you want to split it, just insert the partition in the grooves located on the inside. If you don’t want to split it, then leave the partition out.
Once you have that set you can press the power button on top and then set your temperature controls to where you want them. It takes about 15-20 minutes for the cooler to start cooling down. I would let the unit get to temperature before adding food.
Basically, that is it. You can adjust the temperature on the go if you think one side is too cold or not cold enough. But you do have to keep it plugged in for it to work. IceCo does sell a 62,400mAh external battery you can add on to your purchase if you want the cooler to work without having to use the car power.
The app is basically the same deal, it will control your temperature via your smartphone so you don’t have to mess with it if you’re in the front of the car and it’s in the back. We cover the app more in the next section, spoiler, it didn’t work for us due to our unit being a prototype and the app being in development.
Overall, this is a very simple unit to operate. No one should have issues with this at all.
App/Software
As we mentioned before, the IceCo iFreezer Go20 sent to us is a prototype version and the company did give us a link to the app to test it out. Unfortunately, the app was not working at the time of our testing.
You are supposed to be able to open the app, turn on Bluetooth, and allow the app to locate the Go20. You are then supposed to pair to the Go20 but our version of the app never located the freezer at all. I can only guess that either the Go20 review unit I have doesn’t have Bluetooth active or the app is still not complete.
The app was very slow and not very responsive to touch. It was pretty much useless to us. After contacting the company, we’ve decided not to score this section due to the unit being a prototype and the app being under development.
Honestly, you don’t really need the app to control any of the things on this unit. Sometimes adding apps to devices is more of a gimmick than it is useful.
Performance
As far as performance goes, the iFreezer Go20 does what it says it does. It cools down to refrigerator type temperatures and also keeps your frozen things frozen. You will need to keep the car running in order for it to function properly, or you can purchase the optional battery. I didn’t see any issue turning the car off for a few minutes, the cooler seemed to hold its temp as long as it wasn’t being opened when it was off.
I also think it would be fine for quick picnics, I think there’s plenty of residual cooling to keep your food cool until your done. If you plan on removing the unit from its power source for more than a few hours, I’d say you might want to get that external battery.
As for capacity, it’s 20 litres. At first, it looks small but you have to realize that you won’t be putting any ice in this cooler, so there is extra room because of that. We were able to fit sandwich fixings, juice boxes, water bottles, deli sides, and yogurts without a problem. The capacity does shrink a bit when you split the cooler into a freezer side and cooler side. The freezer side is slightly smaller than the cooler side. We honestly used this mostly for cooler type foods and rarely used the freezing side.
I will say that I felt that it was a bit small for a family of six. This would suit a family of four or less best. That’s not to say it’s not doable, just that you may need to supplement with another cooler or cooler bag for other items. We have four growing kids and they tend to eat and graze so we found the Go20 useful for putting all of our cold items and using a picnic bag or basket for non-perishables.
Overall, the iFreezer Go20 does exactly what it says it does and it does it well.
Price/Value
This puppy is not cheap sitting at an Early Bird price of US$449. I think the value is going to depend on everyone’s needs and perception of convenience here. I do like that I never have to buy ice and deal with the mess that it makes. I also like that you can set the temperature to exact numbers and not worry about how well your ice or ice packs are doing. As with most pricier items, it’s hard to gauge a value because everyone is going to feel differently about this.
Wrap Up
This is a handy gadget, albeit an expensive one. I’m sure, over time, that the iFreezer Go20 will end up paying for itself but it may be a little bit before that happens depending on how often you’d use it. I’d say if you’re willing to spend this much money on this sort of convenience then it’s a great idea. I’m sure there are others who just don’t see the value and at the end of the day, you have to decide if it’s worth your hard earned money.
*We received a sample of the iFreezer Go20 for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
