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So why do we need a KoolerGel review? Why do we need to review another cooling agent? Isn’t an ice pack or regular ice cubes and block ice enough?
Well, there actually is an argument to be made for why you might need this particular product, and why it saves you money in the long run.
The whole purpose of a cooler is to keep things cool. You want your food and drinks to stay cold throughout your camping trip or whatever other kinds of trip you’re on.
However, not all coolers are the same. They all have different ice retention times and not all of them are a 10-day Yeti Tundra.
While we’re on the topic of ice retention, I have to mention that nothing is as painful as opening your cooler and finding that all the ice has melted when you’re halfway through your camping trip.
I’ve personally had experiences where I had to keep getting in the car and rushing to the local gas station to get extra ice. The damage? An extra $30 where I really shouldn’t have been spending so much money on ice on a single camping trip.
Luckily, you and I are not the only ones who’ve had that problem. Steve Glass, the brain behind KoolerGel, did too.
That’s when he decided to come with a formula for a cooling gel that extended the lifespan of ice by up to 50%.
Not only that but you could also use the product as a cooling pack, just like it was a block of the ice itself. And it can be reused over and over for years!
Would you believe that? Does it sound like a fantasy? Well, the good news is that it isn’t, and it is what today’s review is going to be all about.
KoolerGel Ice Extender Review
KoolerGel is a gel, though when you buy the raw product and the container it’s just a gel.
It’s concocted from a scientific formula that Steve Glass has never shared with anyone.
It comes in the form of a gel which you add water to and it turns into a gel.
You then freeze it and it’s ready for use. That’s pretty much it!
Of course, there’s more to the story, otherwise, we would finish the review here.
The Story behind Kooler Gel
Steve’s story really started in 2010 when he was working on an invention of his called the Trophy Bag Kooler.
Back then he was focused on something that hunters could use to keep their meat from spoiling. And yet even back then he had something called a “game fresh system” that came in the form of a gel.
The gel was capable of freezing to very low temperatures and staying right there.
His other products were actually popular too, and they sell up to this day under the auspices of TBK Industries, LLC. They include the Trophy Bag Kooler and the ComboKooler.
- The Trophy Bag Kooler is a special purpose game bag that keeps game meat fresh. It actually allows you to pack the entire deer into it, like some special purpose body bag, complete with slots for the antlers to stick out.
- The ComboKooler, on the other hand, is a soft-sided cooler that you can pack your food and drinks in, or your groceries if you want them to stay cool for some trip.
But the real superstar of Steve Glass’s operation was the KoolerGel.
Back then the gel was nothing more than a gel. You bought it in a large package, poured it into a bottle, mixed it with water, froze it for a while, and then it was ready to use.
His business exploded with that. He went from 14.5 million registered hunters in the U.S to 200 million customers. It was a light product and it did the job. And it was in heavy demand.
In 2014, Steve Glass attended the ICAST Show in Orlando, Florida. It was an event designed for distributors and dealers to meet and network. They got a booth and showed off their KoolerGel to the fishing and boating industry.
It didn’t take them long before they were picked out of 1187 new products to feature in the ODU’s list of top 99 new products.
Their good luck didn’t stop there. After lots of product tests, they were able to get TV fishing legend Jimmy Houston to endorse their new products. They even got approved by the North American Hunting Club and Fishpond.
They tried to get their products to distributors in late 2014 to see if they could get it widely distributed across the country.
The distributors loved the product but thought it would be best if they could get a container for it somehow, instead of selling it as a gel.
They also suggested improvements to the packaging to better show what the product did.
That’s when they decided to design and build the KoolerGel pack. A few calls and connections with a plastic maker, a mold company, and a product developer, and they were in business.
They even tried to launch an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for the cooler pack container, though it didn’t raise much.
They did, however, manage to raise enough funds and the rest is pretty much a success story.
Koolergel Ice Extender
The KoolerGel ice extender comes in two main variations:
KoolerGel Ice Extender Gel
No products found.This gel can be used with plastic bottles, food containers, and Ziploc bags.
A single pack is capable of making 3 1-gallon container’s worth of gel, 6 2-liter containers, 7 1.8-liter containers, and 12 1-liter containers. There’s a formula to how you mix it though:
- 2 tablespoons, when mixed with water, will give you a gallon of gel.
- 1 tablespoon, when mixed with water, will give you 2 liters of gel.
- 2 and a half teaspoons, when mixed with water, will give you 1.8 liters of gel.
- 1 and a half teaspoons, when mixed with water, will give you 1 liter of gel.
It is important that, when mixing the gel with water, you do not overfill the bottle. This is because you need to allow some room for the gel to expand as it freezes.
It’s advisable to fill the water up to about where the bottle begins to taper toward the neck. The KoolerGel pack comes with further instructions to help with this.
Once you’ve filled up the bottle with water and allowed some minutes for the gel to absorb it, the whole mix will turn into a gel. Put it into a freezer and freeze it for 48 hours for the optimum temperature drop.
You can then use it in your cooler, either with your ice, ice packs or on its own.
It will extend ice retention time by 40%-50%.
Kooler Kube KoolerGel Container
No products found.The KoolerGel Kube is a ready-made container that contains the KoolerGel gel and is ready for use.
All you have to do is fill it up with water (again, do not overfill!) and then place it in the freezer for 48 hours.
Both forms of the product are reusable and will last years.
Extra Tips for Using Koolergel in a Cooler
If you want to extend the ice retention even further, you can pre-chill the cooler itself for 12 hours before you need to use it.
Packing the cooler so that what you need most is at the top while most of the ice and KoolerGel is at the bottom will also help with ice retention.
It’s also a good idea to limit the number of times you open the cooler.
KoolerGel Review – The Bottom Line
And with that, we come to the end of our KoolerGel review. We think this is an innovative and revolutionary product and we wish we’d found it sooner.
Anyway, the good news is that we found it eventually, and we’re glad to share it with you.
With the KoolerGel extender, your ice retention woes will be a thing of the past.
Happy cooling!
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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