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Best Insulated Can Coolers: Your Ultimate Guide

There is nothing like cracking open your favorite chilled beverage on a hot day. But without a cooler box or a can cooler that refreshment becomes warm and unpleasant fast. That’s why I recommend a double-wall vacuum-insulated can cooler for anyone who wants to keep their hands dry and their drinks cold. These are my picks for the best beverage insulators for 12-ounce cans and bottles.

Price: $ – $
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Insulated Can Coolers Vs. Neoprene Koozies

Look, I know what you're thinking. These insulated can coolers are pretty awesome but I have a drawer full of neoprene koozies. Aren't they just as good? Well, they aren't and we even have some semi-scientific evidence to back this statement up.

Exhibit 1 is this Thrillist article where author Meredith Heil puts the traditional koozie to the test against a "commando" can. Though far from empirical, Heil's findings agree with common sense. The classic koozie helps somewhat but leaves room for improvement.

Exhibit 2 is the vast corpus of scientific research that went into developing vacuum-insulated panels, a popular technology that is used in refrigerators, buildings, and now beer can coolers. It is one of the most efficient ways to prevent the transfer of heat and is therefore in a class of its own when compared to standard koozies.

So while there may not be a scientific scale for grading how good a cold drink tastes on a hot day, there is definitely one for measuring the effectiveness of insulating material. And the math on insulated can coolers definitely checks out.

How Does Vacuum Insulation Work?

Vacuum insulation is a fairly simple concept if you are familiar with the laws of thermodynamics. If not, allow me to summarize the key points. Heat is thermal energy and it always disperses into entropy. It moves in three ways: radiation, conduction, and convection.

The concept behind vacuum insulation is that thermal energy cannot be transferred by conduction or convection in a vacuum, nor can it radiate through insulated materials. By creating a vacuum between two insulating layers, you cut off the transfer of almost all thermal energy between the panels.

For an even more in-depth explanation, I refer you over to this helpful explanation from SFGate.

See Also

9 Best Beer Coolers: Your Easy Buying Guide

9 Best Collapsible Coolers: Compare, Buy & Save

11 Best Soft Sided Coolers: Compare & Save