Recon Hardside Cooler

This thing is amazing! The optional plastic tray fit perfect inside the cooler on the top. This is the one that comes with the other 2 sizes. Cup holder does not fit this model. It does come with a water spout you can screw on in place of the drain plug or you can also use the included adapter to work with either the new 360 faucet or the old Dometic go faucet. I don't believe the larger 2 models come with this. That old faucet worked, but the button sucked when it got wet. The new 360 model rotates and has a high and low actual button to press to turn on and off. Oh, and finally USBC charging. Old one had crappy old usb micro. The top of the 16L cooler has magnets in multiple places that the faucet will stick to. The 11L you had to use a metal plate that came with adhesive. Long story short, I am replacing my couple year old Dometic go 11l with faucet with this and the 360 faucet. With the addition of the plastic tray, it is also a great cooler. Or you can pack dry items In it for travel and then use it at camp for cold drinking water. 16L is a little over 4 gallons of ice cold water that will stay for days. The latches are nice and it can open from either side. The lid can come completely off if desired. Speaking of the lid, it has a recessed flat, non slip surface that is great for stacking items on for transport or using as a workstation while camping or floating. The lid as well as the cooler have slits for tie down straps and the lid is recessed for the strap as not to effect the stacking capability. The carry straps have nice handles with magnets. They also can be removed with the Velcro on the straps. Either with the straps on or off, these areas can also be used for strapping down. I don't believe the cutting board divider fits this model...only the larger ones. Tote does not fit - only the larger model and it fits them well. The large Recon ice packs fit nicely with 2 in the bottom. The smaller ice packs fit too. What else? Nice non-slip rubber feet. Slick surfaces that should be easy to keep clean-not like the rough surfaces of cheap coolers that hold dirt in. The lid has a nice rubber seal. Ok, that's more detail than I saw anywhere else on the web.

The earliest refrigerators had no electricity and no environmentally damaging freon involved. They were, essentially, highly efficient chests in which one would place ice in order to keep their perishables cold. Hence: icebox, an archaic term that still gets a bit of play today. As a concept, the idea was sound. An efficient box. Ice inside. Stuff stays cold. But, imagine: the earliest ice boxes thrown far into the future, into the age of big tech. Same concept. New technologies. What kind of icebox could you build then? It turns out, you don't have to wonder. Dometic has done it with grace and style. Their icebox (and no: they don't call it that) is a thing of beauty. Materials have been thoughtfully injection molded into a form those early icebox designers couldn't have even imagined. The model I have is the 41 litre medium version, in a butter yellow color they call "Glow." The photos I've included show it from both angles in the back of my Lexus 450h. I wanted you to see it this way because, in some ways, that 41 litre is intended to be an on-the-road food prep and serving station. The lid either flips up or comes off (you choose) and the inside is stylishly compartmentalized in a way you can alter and control. The lid itself is designed in such a way as to be a table or a seat. An inner divider doubles as a cutting board. I mean, I don't think 41 liter Dometic Recon Cooler was designed for tailgaiting, but it would rock it, no doubt. What IS it designed for? Anything you want that involves keeping things cold for a long time. Not endlessly, of course. But substantially. And as long as you keep replenishing the ice that has melted, it will do it endlessly. My first test involved tucking a frozen bottle of water in there to see how long it would stay cold in the fiercely hot interior of my Phoenix-in-July garage. After the ice melted, the bottle leaked, which was a gift, as I got to check out the function of the built in drain. (It worked.) I am completely delighted with this fancy high tech icebox. Every detail has been carefully thought of and thought through and you feel it with every use, from the well made handles that make it easy to carry, but tuck away when not in use, to the very stackable design, and even the warm yellow color. All the things. It's everything it should be. And more.

This thing is a beast. Insulation works magic, looks good and lightweight. You can fit a lot of stuff inside.