StormJib said:
Here is a little more real world dribble for ya. No doubt soft luggage and carry on can have benefits. Using Polar Bear's own words their great products are the best soft sided cooler made. Using Polar Bears's own research some of their soft sided products will keep ice three days. Now to some science. Air only insulates when it is trapped and immobilized. In all our coolers and most of our homes trapped air is the actual insulator. All that fancy stuff is holding air captive creating a barrier from heat entering. Cold does not leave, heat or energy or energy invades the space. When you move, squish, and shift those soft sided coolers you are exchanging air. Each puff of air shortens that time on three(3) day Polar Bear. Stop the air from moving and your meat or drinks will stay cold much longer. The rigid sealed igloo with give you 5 days in a 90 degree oven 24/7... some of the larger ones 7 days in a 90 degree oven. Research shows ice will last in a standard igloo three days with the lid opened once every 8 hours or three times a day for three days. For all those reasons we travel with a duct taped sealed igloo. On big trips we check as much as we can and carry as little as we can making use of the entire industry built to tote bags and luggage door to door. We also travel with nothing we are not willing to lose. Over 4 decades two coolers have been delayed and the stuff was still frozen when the igloo caught up with us. Once in Canada and once in the Exumas. Life is not perfect... We gave up with carrying fishing gear. That stuff seems to always miss its planes and never find its way home.