Costway Car Fridge and Coolers

What Costway makes for campers and hunters

Costway covers three product types on this site, plus a few camp chairs that ride along:

• Car fridges: 12-volt compressor fridges and a compact freezer, from 16 to 53 quarts
• Hard coolers: ice coolers from 16 to 45 quarts, plus 52- and 75-quart rolling models
• Beach chairs: tanning chairs with a face hole, lounge chairs, backpack chairs and a webbing chair set
• Camping chairs with a canopy, single and double

The fridges are why most people land here, so they get the most room below. The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the groups, not about how many of each are listed this week.

Most specs in the grid came from Amazon listings, and the grid marks them. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash. I don't fill dashes with guesses. (A wiring job in 2014 taught me that one. The guess was wrong. The breaker was right.)

How to read a Costway car fridge listing

A car fridge listing has about five numbers that matter. Here's what each one tells you:

• Capacity in quarts: the box size. A quart is a quarter gallon.
• Cooling type: most of the Costway listings say compressor
• Zones: single, or dual for two compartments at two temperatures
• Minimum temperature: -4°F on the listings that give one
• Power: 12/24V DC for a vehicle, plus an AC adapter on several models for a wall outlet

The 12/24V line means the fridge runs off a car or truck socket (12 volts) or a bigger rig's 24-volt system. The AC adapter is for running it in the garage or the cabin, if your cabin has an outlet. Hemlock Run has two. One of them works.

Lineup notes: the Costway car fridge by size

Compact: 16 and 23 quarts

The 16 Quart Compact Car Freezer lists 12V DC and an AC adapter. Its listing doesn't name the cooling type, so the grid shows a dash there. The 23-Quart Portable Car Refrigerator lists compressor cooling, -4°F, 12/24V and an AC adapter.

Small fridges suit a lunch-and-drinks trip or one hunter's food for a weekend. They also fit behind a truck seat, which matters more than the brochure admits.

Mid-size: 37 and 42 quarts

This is the middle of the lineup. The 37 Qt Car Refrigerator with Wheels lists compressor cooling, -4°F, 12/24V and an AC adapter. There are two 42-quart models in the grid: the 42-Quart Car Refrigerator with Wheels lists dual zones, and the 42-Quart Portable Car Refrigerator lists compressor cooling, 12/24V and an AC adapter.

Wheels on a mid-size fridge are a real feature. A loaded fridge is heavier than an empty cooler and stays that way all weekend, because it doesn't melt. (I know. I've done the ice math for camp since 2008. A fridge breaks the math. It's like being told your truck doesn't need gas, only a very long extension cord.)

Large: 44 and 53 quarts

The 44-Quart 12V Car Refrigerator lists compressor cooling and 12/24V. The two 53-quart models both list dual zones, compressor cooling and -4°F; the Dual-Temperature version adds 12/24V and an AC adapter on its listing, and the other one adds wheels.

The large dual-zone fridges are the ones for a deer camp kitchen: freezer side for the meat and ice packs, fridge side for the milk and the eggs. The car fridge page and the portable freezer page compare sizes across brands.

Compressor, dual zone and why they matter

A compressor fridge is the cooling type the Costway listings name on most models. The other common kind of powered cooler is thermoelectric. On Costway's listings, the -4°F minimum shows up on the compressor models, so if you want a freezer side, that's where to look. The compressor fridge page and the thermoelectric cooler page lay out the trade across brands.

Dual zone means two compartments with their own settings. Dometic's fridge guide describes dual-zone models as having independent temperature control for each compartment. On a Costway listing, "dual" is the line to look for.

Set it by the thermometer, not the display

The FDA recommends a fridge at or below 40°F and a freezer at 0°F. It also says an appliance thermometer is the best way to know the real temperature, and to check it at least once a week at home. At camp, I'd check it every morning, before coffee, because after coffee I forget.

Keep the fridge side at 40°F or below. If the thermometer says otherwise, believe the thermometer.

Power: what a 12-volt socket can and can't do

Trust the wiring. A 12-volt socket in a truck is a circuit like any other, with a fuse and a limit, and your vehicle's manual says what that limit is. Read it before you plug in a fridge and a phone charger and a seat heater and wonder why the dash went quiet.

Dometic's portable fridge guide suggests a separate battery to avoid draining the vehicle's own, and ice packs on short trips to save power. It also suggests keeping the fridge out of direct sun. Those three habits apply to any brand of car fridge, Costway included.

Walt's take on car fridges: "So it's a cooler that needs a jump-start." He's not entirely wrong. He's also never once carried a bag of ice from the gas station to the cabin in November, so he doesn't get a vote.

Lineup notes: Costway hard coolers

The ice coolers come in two shapes. Carry coolers, from 16 to 45 quarts, and rolling coolers at 52 and 75 quarts.

• 16-quart coolers: two in the grid, one with cup holders; both list 5 days of ice retention
• 20 and 21 quarts: the 20 lists 6 days and a drain plug, the 21 lists 3 days and a drain plug
• 37 and 45 quarts: the 37 lists 3 days, the 45 lists 6, both with drain plugs
• 52 and 75 quarts, rolling: both list wheels and 6 days

My one opinion on this page: ice retention claims are measured in ideal conditions, not in a truck bed in the sun. The listings give a number of days and nothing about the conditions behind it. Treat 6 days as a comparison between Costway models, not a promise for your trip.

A drain plug matters more than the day count, in my experience of draining a cooler sideways over a tailgate. The coolers page, the cooler with wheels page and the small cooler page compare them across brands.

Lineup notes: Costway beach chairs

The beach chair group is wider than you'd guess from a fridge brand. The grid holds four kinds:

• Tanning chairs with a face hole: lay-flat, 4 recline positions, a headrest pillow; the listings that give capacity say 330 or 350 lb, with steel frames
• Lounge chairs: a 3-piece set with a side table and a folding chaise lounge, both with 5 positions
• Backpack beach chairs: aluminum frames, 330 lb, 5 positions, cup holders and backpack straps; the set of 2 adds a cooler pouch
• A 6-piece folding webbing chair set: steel frames, 265 lb

A face hole in a tanning chair is exactly what it sounds like. You lie face down and still breathe. Renee calls it "the one chair you can read a book through." She means the book goes on the sand under the hole. It works.

The backpack chairs are the ones I'd carry from the truck. Straps on your back beat a chair on your shoulder, and a cooler pouch is one less trip. The beach chair page, the backpack beach chair page and the beach lounge chair page cover them across brands.

Lineup notes: camping chairs with a canopy

Two Costway camping chairs carry their own shade: the Camping Chair with Canopy and the Double Camping Chair with Canopy, a loveseat for two. Both list steel frames and 265 lb; the single adds a cup holder. On the double, check whether 265 lb is the whole seat or per person in the listing. The camping chair with canopy page compares them.

How to choose within the Costway lineup

Ice or power first

A hard cooler needs ice and nothing else. A car fridge needs power and no ice. If your trip is a weekend and your truck runs every day, a fridge makes sense. If it sits for three days at a trailhead, ice doesn't care about batteries.

Then the size

Quarts are the size, but the box also has to fit your vehicle. Read the dimensions on the listing and measure the truck bed or the back seat. Then fill it to about how you'd really pack it.

Then the features

Dual zone if you want a freezer side. Wheels if you're moving a large fridge or cooler alone. An AC adapter if you want to cool it down in the garage first. A drain plug on a cooler, always.

Costway facts and warranty

Here's what Costway states on its own site:

• Origins: its about page says it started with indoor furniture in 2011, added outdoor furniture in 2013 and small appliances in 2018
• Warehouses: 9 in the US, per the same page
• Warranty: a 365-day Costway Care warranty from the date of purchase, for defects in materials or workmanship under normal home use, per its guarantee page
• Where it applies: the guarantee page says it covers orders placed on costway.com only
• Returns: the same page says to contact Costway within 30 days of delivery for an item that doesn't meet expectations, under its return policy

Commercial use, abuse and accidental damage are excluded, per the guarantee page. For an Amazon order, read the listing and the seller's terms before you count on coverage.

Clip a thermometer inside the fridge, write the morning reading on the lid with a grease pencil, and you'll know by Saturday whether the display tells the truth.