Coleman’s new hard cooler collapses like an accordion

Coleman just invented a hard cooler that can collapse in on itself like an accordion, shrink to one-third of its full size, and slot neatly onto a storage shelf.

The cooler, called the Snap ’N Go, officially launched on March 17 in three sizes, with prices ranging from $199.99 to $239.99. It’s a first of its kind in the world of food and beverage insulation: While companies like REI, Yeti, and Coleman itself have created large soft cooler bags that can be compressed for storage, no one has ever manufactured a collapsible hard-sided cooler. That’s somewhat surprising, given that hard coolers are often more durable, more insulated, and easier to clean than their soft counterparts, making them the preferred choice for many consumers. 

The main issue with hard coolers, of course, is that when they’re not in use, they’re essentially a bulky box of air taking up room in storage. But according to Nicolas Duran, Coleman’s president of outdoor and recreation, there are a few good reasons why no one else has cracked the code on a collapsible hard cooler. 

“It’s a problem that’s really difficult to solve for,” Duran says, noting that you’re not only attempting to take a cooler from a bulky box to a unit “that replicates the size of a laptop case,” but you’re also seeking a way to maintain cold and prevent leaks.

After 18 months of development, the Coleman team finally solved this design puzzle using a clever external structure, several hidden internal details, and a very intensive testing process.

A cooler that folds like an accordion

The crux of Coleman’s new collapsible cooler design is its external plastic shell. Unlike a typical hard cooler’s sealed edges, the Snap ’N Go relies on multiple separate panels that bend and fold together.

The cooler’s final design has front and back panels set on a series of hinges that allow them to fold in the middle, stacking their top and bottom halves together. Meanwhile, the two smaller side panels are hinged to flip fully upward. When the cooler is compressed, these pieces slide like origami until the small side panels are nestled on top of the larger front and back panels.

Luke Eck, Coleman’s director of R&D, says this system technically worked in early prototypes—but it presented a pretty major problem for users. “On the initial hinges, you would have to hold it to manually set it down,” Eck says. “But what was happening was your hands were in an improper position and you would risk almost smashing your fingers.”

To fix that issue, Eck’s team resituated the cooler’s handles so they don’t interfere with the closing process, formatting them to snap outward when the cooler is opened and fold downward to its sides when it’s closed. Then, they created an internal tab mechanism that shuts the cooler without requiring any downward force or manual folding from the user. Pulling upward on this tab releases the cooler’s two smaller sides, allowing the rest of the structure to collapse smoothly on its hinges.

Innovating in a stale category

While the Snap ’N Go’s shell is the most obviously innovative element of its design, Eck says it wasn’t the most difficult part of the prototyping process. That came when his team had to design the cooler’s internal waterproof liner, which is the component of the cooler that keeps it insulated and leak-proof.

“In the first concepts, we were folding it kind of like a bed sheet,” Eck says. “It was very cumbersome.” Each time the liner needed to be expanded or tucked away, he explains, the user had to do it manually. That added step made the design feel less elegant and more time-consuming. After plenty of concepts, the solution finally arrived during a team meeting.

“Someone walked in with an iPad, and they unfolded their case and set it up to work,” Eck recalls. “We all just kind of looked at that person and were like, ‘Oh, that’s it.’”

Like a standard iPad case, the insulated liner comes with predetermined creases set into the fabric. When the cooler’s internal tab is pulled, these creases allow the liner to fold neatly under its own weight.

As a final step in the R&D process, Eck’s team subjected the Snap ’N Go to a series of trials in Coleman’s Wichita, Kansas, testing facility that read like medieval torture. The cooler was put on a machine that opened and closed it tens of thousands of times to ensure that its hinges and plastic would hold their form; left in a hot, temperature-controlled room to gauge its insulation; and tossed out the back of a moving vehicle and over the side of a building to test its durability. Eck’s team left no stone unturned in ensuring that the design would hold up to extensive use.

The result is a cooler that can keep drinks cold for up to 64 hours (that’s around 80% as efficient as Coleman’s other hard coolers), folds to a third of its original size, and, the company claims, has the highest size-to-volume efficiency of any cooler on the market. It’s a rare innovation in an industry that has basically operated under the same design constraints for decades.

“We’re creating value in a category that, in many instances, was stale,” Duran says. “If you think about it, some of the innovation that’s come into the category lately is low on the scale of true innovation. We are really resetting the expectation for the consumer.”

View the full article