For over 20 years Downunder has been selling high-end Ice boxes and Coolers in Australia, and is the leading brand in that market. We all have the unique opportunity to draw upon their 20 plus years of experience in launching this “new” brand to the United States.
Our Five Star and Tropical boxes are all Rotationally Molded; a far superior process to the “blow molding” method used by cheap coolers (think Igloo, Rubbermaid, and Coleman). Our boxes maintain a minimum material thickness of 3 mm of virgin material on both the inner and outer shell – our competition (both Engel Ultra Cool and Icey Tek) use a 3 mm Outer Shell but only a 1.5 mm re-melt inner shell. When looking at the competition’s boxes you may notice that their inner liner looks like a different color that their outer, they may come up with clever marketing reasons as to why, but the truth is it is cheaper and easier to cut this corner in production – something we never do at Downunder.
Another key step to building a better box is the method of attaching the hardware. In all of our boxes we mold in metal plates to back all of the hardware. We then rivet the hardware into place. Our competition uses both screws and rivets, but none of them use the metal plates. Without the metal plate, the plastic can strip out and make the hardware impossible to replace once stripped out. Due to our pop-rivet and metal system, in the rare case of a hardware failure, the item can be re-drilled and a new piece pop-riveted back into place using simple tools. The hardware on our boxes is very tough marine grade molded nylon. Not only is this product nearly indestructible, it is very attractive and easy to keep clean.
A main difference between the high-end ice boxes and coolers is insulation. Most inexpensive cooler don’t even add insulation to their inner walls using the “dead air space” as the buffer. It is important to note that air is the fastest transfer medium for heat and cold around…this means that the cold air in the cooler will leave faster through this dead air space than through an insulation of some kind. All of the better boxes that we sell against do use insulation, but not all insulation is created equally. All of our iceboxes come with a special blended refrigeration foam insulation that is applied under tightly controlled conditions to ensure that the foam bonds to the inner and outer shell, is of equal consistency throughout the walls and lid, and will not delaminate. Voids in insulation foam as well as foam that delaminates is a key cause to warped lids and boxes as well as inner and outer shell failures in our competitor’s products.
What good is an ice box if you can’t shut the lid tightly? All of our coolers come with food-grade water and air tight seal that is replaceable. Pour a glass of water into one of our cooler and turn the box on its side…..no water will leak out – try that with our competitor, only not in a store or you will need a mop! If water can leak out, then so can cold air.
A great feature of our boxes is the non-slip and non-marking rubber feet. These feet really hold the box in place, even on the wet deck of a fiberglass boat.
|
Through July 31, take $5 off any order over $100. Use promotional
code CRAZYJULY during checkout.
