This is the Igloo Kool Tunes™ Playmate® Boombox Cooler, and as the name implies, it’s both a cooler and a boombox, meaning you now have one less thing to carry when setting up a BBQ or outdoor party.
Each Kool Tunes Playmate has dual speakers and a built-in lithium ion battery offering up to 10 hours of playing time per charge. They can also be set up in pairs for more volume and better immersive stereo sound at larger gatherings.
This is the Igloo Kool Tunes™ Playmate® Boombox Cooler, and as the name implies, it’s both a cooler and a boombox, meaning you now have one less thing to carry when setting up a BBQ or outdoor party.
History Speedrun: Igloo
Igloo started out back in 1947, just two years after WWII, as a small metalworking shop in Houston, Texas, founded by a group of local investors. Its first product wasn’t a cooler at all, but an insulated metal container built for oil-field crews, whose drinking water had (until then) been carted out to worksites in wooden buckets.
The company’s direction changed in 1962, when it introduced its first all-plastic ice chest. Plastic was lighter than the metal boxes it replaced, it didn’t rust, it held ice better, and manufacturing was easier. By then, the business was operating as Texas Tennessee Industries, and it renamed itself Igloo Corporation in 1971 to match its most famous product name.
In 1971 came the Playmate, its tent-top lid and one-handed carry made it the company’s signature cooler, and Igloo added the side push-button lock and release a year later in 1972. Smaller versions followed, including the Little Playmate in 1977. The design is now on display at the Smithsonian as an example of iconic American industrial design from the period.
Coca-Cola bought Igloo in 1972, Brunswick Corporation then bought it in 1996, private equity firm ACON Investments took it on in 2014, and Sweden’s Dometic Group closed its $677 million buyout in October of 2021. The company is still based in Texas, but now in Katy, west of Houston.
The KoolTunes Retro Bluetooth Boombox Cooler
Igloo first sold a KoolTunes in 1989, it was a Playmate Classic with a pair of speakers built into the front panel, finished in jade, magenta, and neon yellow. It was a simple AM/FM unit, battery operated of course, and given the battery technology of the era, playing time was somewhat limited.
Igloo brought the model back more recently as part of its “Retro Cooler” collection, keeping the original shape and logo, but replacing everything behind the twin grilles. The current version is a 14-quart cooler that holds 26 standard 12-ounce cans.
Two 5-watt drivers with passive radiators sit behind the front grilles, good for 80 Hz to 20 kHz. As you might expect, it has that classic tent-top lid, as well as a side push-button release, swivel opening from either end, and a molded-in handle.
The connection is via Bluetooth 5.0, and the cooler auto-connects to the last paired device on power-up. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery gives up to 10 hours of playback and charges over USB using a supplied 3-foot cable. The control panel is on the back, with a power button and a charging port, Bluetooth pairing, volume, and an LED status indicator.
The connection is via Bluetooth 5.0, and the cooler auto-connects to the last paired device on power-up. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery gives up to 10 hours of playback and charges over USB using a supplied 3-foot cable.
Igloo now offers the KoolSync app, this allows two KoolTunes coolers to be joined as a stereo left/right pair. This effectively doubles your available volume and improves immersiveness, it won’t be on the same level as a Bang & Olufsen unit obviously, but it’ll do a good job for the price point and use-case.
It measures 14.57 x 10.91 x 13.9 inches and weighs 5.26 lbs empty, with pricing at $99.99 USD at the time of writing via the official Igloo Amazon page here.
Images courtesy of Igloo
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