Koolatron 12V 45qt Electric Portable Car Cooler

My hubby is an OTR truck driver and needed something to keep lunch meat, mayo, yogurt, egg-whites, butter, fruit, and leftovers cold. I bought this for him as a stop-gap measure to the mini-frig we will get for him once he settles into his new career. This works well but, you have to keep an eye on the external temps for optimum results. It keeps things cool only to about 40 degrees below ambient temperature. At times the truck can reach 110-120 degrees inside in the summer, so that would bring the cooler's internal temp down to around 70-80, far too hot for many refrigerated items. So, we place an giant cup of ice inside the cooler close to the fan to help with cooling, refreshing the ice cup about once a day from the ice station at any truck-stop. We also have some of those gel packs made for coolers that we freeze at home/motel and we keep them in the cooler next to the walls. Even when these have thawed gel packs stay very cold and help greatly with keeping that internal temp way down. We also try to fill it up when the cooler has cooled down (takes about an hour) and then we fill it with stuff that's already cold. When adding warm items such as soft drinks I try to do only 4 or 5 drinks at a time, and then I try to put warm things in it only at night so it doesn't put more strain on the cooler. This may seem a lot of work but it really takes only a couple of minutes a day and the end result is that it stays ice cold and we have never had an issue with spoiled food. I doubt he'll have to do this during the winter months. He and I love this cooler, as it beats buying ice (he gets ice for free when reusing the cup purchased from the truck-stop) every day, and worrying about dealing with a lot of water. Recommend for cross-country trips, camping, RV's, and truckers.