coolAIR Inflatable Cool Box Review

The cool box is an outdated piece of camping gear, it’s big, bulky and gets in the way. But it just got an upgrade, the coolAIR Inflatable Cool Box is the modern day way of cooling your food and beverages on the go. No more dragging around a giant blue box that can barely fit in your camper. Now there’s a portable inflatable version that can fit comfortably in your vehicle without wasting space.

Most of us vandwellers have an integrated fridge within our builds, some weekend warriors and car explorers may not. The need for a portable cool box is mandatory when going on a road trip, a picnic or just heading out to the park for a few hours if you lack a fridge in your vehicle.

The coolAIR inflatable cool box removes the heavy lifting that comes with the overweight, cheap, modern day cool boxes, allowing you to take more food and more drinks when you’re on the go.

The inflatable cool box weights just 4.5lbs and can be rolled up into an incredibly small form factor, what’s even better is that coolAIR chuck in a free carrying case so that you can chuck it over your shoulder should you need to carry it while walking. When it’s rolled up it’s very easy to setup, simply pull it out the bag, un-roll and use the included hand pump to inflate the lower base first, and then the lid.

We’ll admit, it takes some time to inflate with a hand pump, so we advise using a larger foot pump instead, this will get you fully inflated in under a minute. The hand pump that’s included is very low quality, so don’t go crazy with it or it may break, but it does the job!

The coolAIR inflatable cool box is made with rubberised material, on the bottom they’ve added extra puncture resistant mesh to keep away and twigs or sharp objects from puncturing the inflatable cool box. We would’ve liked to see this around the whole unit as there’s a chance you could catch the cool box on something sharp when transporting it.

That’s the only major downfall with this type of product, is the chance of it puncturing. You don’t get this with a normal cool box as it’s very much a chuck and go object, whereas the coolAIR inflatable cool box will need some taking care of, so keeping it in it’s travel case as much as possible is a necessity to keeping it “alive”.

What Can I Fit Inside?

Once fully inflated you get a better look at the inflatable cool box. On the top it comes with 6 can holders built into the lid. This is great for not only storing your tinnies, but keeping your car keys, cash and sunglasses stored too!

Under the lid you’ll notice a bunch of velcro strips, this help keeps the cool box shut. Due to its weight that lid would fly open with a small gust of wind, so it’s nice that the team have thought about this when building the product.

Coming down to the base of the coolAIR inflatable cool box you’ll find two extremely durable reinforced rubber handhelds. We can confidently say that these are well made, even when the inflatable cool box is filled with liquid, these things feel as if they can take even more weight without tearing. You have some coolAIR branding and a useful attached bottle opener to the side.

A great addition to the product because we’ve all gone somewhere without a bottle opener and had to get the old trust tooth out to pop it open!

When you open the lid you’ll find an extra layer of insulation on the inside which can be zipped up. At first we didn’t like this, but after some use the zipped insulated compartment makes everything nice and snug, so if your inflatable cool box does take a beating, you’ll know your food and beverages are safe and secure inside.

This can also hold ice for up to 3 days straight, so it’s no cheap insulation!

A watertight drainage plug on the bottom allows for an easy way to release excess water when you’re done using your coolAIR. You’ll notice when you inflate and drain the cool box that the air valves are seriously top quality.

They come with a quick release system that allows for speed air deflation. They’re a little tight at first to open, but after a few uses they pop open with no force at all.

The coolAIR inflatable cool box is a perfect size, not too big, and not too small. Once inflated it comes in at around 25″ wide and 18″ tall. This can fit a total of 60+ cans, and then compacts down into a 6th of the size of traditional cool boxes. Once fully compacted it comes in at just 25″ wide 6″ tall.

The coolAIR inflatable cool box is aimed that someone who lives a compact, outgoing lifestyle. It’s for those that want to store it somewhere small, perhaps in your campervan conversion, or car. If you’re into watersports the this is also great, we’ve seen people attach it to the back of their kyaks, or chucking it in a lake, because it floats upright, allowing easy access to your beers while you’re in the water.

We primarily used it in our camper for when we head down to the beach for a weekend, or when we go to visit friends outdoors for BBQ’s.

What we loved is that once we finished it while we were out, we just deflated it, rolled it up, then slid it into the back of our van out of the way. No having to waste space, no needing to clean it, and no needing to lug the heavy cooler all the way back to our vehicle. It’s easy, light and very compact. We love it.

Overall Opinion Of The Inflatable Cool Box

Overall we are really digging the coolAIR inflatable cool box, it’s an invention that we wish was made sooner. Yes, it’s not perfect, the material could potentially rip with rugged use, the $99 price might be a little high and the inflation process can get a little taxing but it works, and it works incredibly well.

The modern day cool box just got a whole new look, and once you got inflatable, you’ll never go back. At just 4.5lbs its one of the lightest cool boxes on the market, and the fact that it can hold up to 60+ cans just goes to show how much food and liquids can fit in this thing.

The addition of the durable handles and nifty bottle opener is extremely helpful and it helps that you can use this as a outdoor seat too.

It’s a must buy for anyone that loves taking their munch outdoors, and it’s great for those living the van life as it can be stored pretty much anywhere, even on your roof rack if need be! You can back it on Kickstarter here.