So I finally broke out the cooler from the basement and was able to test out the Cooler Light Flashlight from Coghlan’s and the verdict is in: this cooler light is a cool light. It’s a very lightweight LED light that attaches to your cooler lid. When you open the lid, the light automatically goes on.

You might question the utility of such a device but here’s a real situation where I found it useful: a party outdoors at night, not the best lit, but lit. When I bent over to pick out my choice of fine alcoholic beverages, I had to contort myself slightly to see inside the cooler since I was creating a shadow of darkness over the cooler itself. Without the Cooler Light I would have been forced to pick a beer at random and might have gotten stuck with “the beast”. With the Cooler Light I was able to quickly locate the superior beer.

The light attaches to the underside of your cooler’s lid via adhesive tape behind the white portion of the gadget. This means that if you want to detach it and move it to another cooler you will need to supply more double sided tape. Being very light, the Cooler Light stuck on securely to the dry lid of my cooler. The light works in such a way that when it’s moved from horizontal to vertical by lifting the lid, the light goes on for 20 seconds before fading out. If you need more time, just open and close the lid quickly for another light cycle. It’s important to note that you must have the right style lid as a “lunchbox” or house-shaped cooler lid will not hit the right angles for the light to go on.

The Cooler Light could actually be used for more than just coolers. Any type of box with a lifting lid would work fine- a chest, toolbox, tacklebox, toybox, or trunk. Good for camping or fishing. I’m not sure if it’s robust enough to handle road vibrations but it might work as a trunk light for an old (or cheap) car that doesn’t have one. The Cooler Light runs on 3 watch batteries (included). Cool summer gadget.