Hands on with the Coolit USB Beverage Chiller

Some of you might be looking at the title and saying, "What the heck is 'Cool IT'?" Isn't Information Technology cool enough as it is? Well, of course it is, but this is not the particular CoolIT that I wish to discuss.

This CoolIT is a beverage cooler that attaches via USB to your computer. It came in hard plastic packaging that required twelve pairs of scissors to open, but at least it didn't require any assembly.

Using it was as simple as plugging in to the computer and the surface cooled to about 45 degrees Fahrenheit in mere seconds. There was this little fan in there that did the cooling, and the temperature on the pad is quite cold. I was kind of wondering if it was so cold that my tongue could have stuck to it, like the kid in A Christmas Story. Even though it failed to pass the tongue-stick test, I will have to say the tip of the tongue feels a little numb. It reminds me of skiing, when I used to put my tongue on my zipper.

I've seen beverage coolers work before, and I didn't know what to expect from the USB CoolIT. I had hoped that this product could take an ordinary can of soda plucked from the non refrigerated 12-pack and make it cold, but no such luck.

However, this is not what the CoolIT was advertised to do. The CoolIT works under the principle that your soda can is already cold before you put it on there, and then keeps it at a stable 45 degrees. Think of it as a way to keep your drink chilling while you are working.

Testing this out scientifically, I took a soda out of the fridge and found that I was able to keep a soda on the CoolIT for about three hours. I was able to drink it afterward, and it was not the lukewarm stuff that makes you want to spit it from your mouth. It normally takes six hours to chill a soda, but you couldn't chill a soda on the USB CoolIT no matter how much time you had.

I found that I had better results when I used the CoolIT and turned the soda can upside down a few times. I highly recommend rotating the soda can every half-hour. That way, the cola coolness gets mixed in.