716: ICECO VL45 PLUS: World’s First 3-Way Access Portable Freezer

It’s ICECO Month, and they brought in the right guy for it. David from ICECO says that after COVID changed everything. Like a lot of people, he went outside, went wheeling, and ended up pivoting his whole career around it. Now he’s working with a brand that started in OEM refrigeration — manufacturing the internals that go inside other companies’ products — before expanding into the outdoor and overlanding space. That OEM history matters because it’s where the technology comes from. ICECO runs SECOP compressors, which articulate up to 40 degrees without throwing an error — something Jimmy can personally relate to after loading a competitor’s fridge into his truck and watching it fault out. The conversation goes well past compressor specs. David and Tyler get into the framing that stuck with Jimmy most by the end: a fridge isn’t a recreational product that you also use at home — it’s a lifestyle tool that you bring with you. Jimmy’s been using a small fridge for grocery runs with his wife. She loads the car fridge first, doesn’t have to make the store her last stop, and comes home when she feels like it. That’s not overlanding. That’s just Tuesday. And it opened up a whole line of thinking about how the technology is circling back to everyday life after coming through the outdoor market. From there the episode covers some of the new product stuff: the refrigerated backpack (cold drinks on a day hike — the gap between “car camp” and “pack everything in”), the VL45 Plus front-opening drawer fridge that launched on Kickstarter June 10th (Tyler’s take: this solves the “I have to keep the whole back seat clear to open the lid” problem), and the ICECO x PRP collab coolers. David also teases some upcoming product lines he can’t fully get into — racing cooling systems among them, including what sounds like a wearable air conditioning system for fire suits. Tyler’s response: he wants a refrigerator fanny pack for one beer. ICECOWebsite: https://icecofreezer.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/icecofreezer/?hl=enKickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/iceco/iceco-vl45-plus-the-first-3-way-access-portable-freezer SnailTrail4x4 Discord: https://discord.gg/yFyFFkQbuyCome hang out with us on the SnailTrail4x4 Discord — it’s the easiest way to connect with Tyler and Jimmy directly, chat with fellow offroad enthusiasts, and get first access to Group Buys and Treasure Hunt token drops. MORRFlate Giveaway at 900 Reviews on Apple Podcast. But our next giveaway is when we reach 800 reviews; we are giving away an OnX Elite Membership. We will also give away an OnX Elite membership when we get to 850. However, when we reach 900 Reviews, we are teaming up with MORRFlate for a $1000 MF Product Giveaway. Go over to Apple Podcasts to leave your review now and become eligible to win. Congratulations to A13XMONT, who won a set of tires from Yokohama Tire! Call us and leave us a VOICEMA