John-
This cooler may have some use in some very special circumstances, but its use of ice as a cooling agent makes it kind of hard to use, as ice is scarce anywhere it's hot, unless you've got a tropical day when you're visiting a glacier.
The ice would provide cool, damp air, but how much ice do you have to have and where are you going to get it, and at what expense? It also functions as an evaporative cooler ("misting technology"), but the real sell is on the ice cooling.
Usually when it's really hot, ice is hard to find or expensive, or both.
There may be some special circumstances where the cost or availability of ice wouldn't be a problem, but most of the time I'd first prefer a simple portable evaporative cooler that can bring down the temperature from the 100's to low 80's, providing the humidity in the air is in the low range, say 40% or less.
However, in high humidity situations, evaporative coolers don't cool much and just add to the humidity and uncomfortableness. They are available in 12 volt versions, by the way.
For high humidity situations, and where genuine cooling with reduction in humidity are desired, there's no substitute for a real refrigeration system / air conditioning unit along with an appropriately powered generator, period! This option is not cheap, of course, but nothing else does the job as well, getting rid of the excess heat and humidity as well.
O2Cool also makes a simple 8-D battery/12 volt auto/boat fan unit that is great for simple fan cooling in moderate situations that's available from WalMart for about $15. It's discussed along with a comparison with the much more expensive Endless Breeze Fan
HERE.and
HERE.
Thanks for bring this item to our attention!
Joe. :thup :teeth
