Is a 12V cooler actually worth it?
I was recommended a 12V cooler so I don't have to load up on ice on my extended road trip (maybe 1-3 months?). I'll be driving only 2 hours at a time and spending several days to a couple weeks at each camp. I imagine needing to drive to town every 3-4 days to recharge appliances and handle laundry.
I'll likely need a solar panel and battery to run the 12V cooler. After crunching the numbers, I'm disheartened to see that I could easily spend around $800 on the cooler and a budget solar setup and have barely any power leftover to use my heated blanket or anything like that.
I'm beginning to wonder if it's smarter to just get a normal cooler (maybe a brand like RTIC or Yeti?) and deal with getting ice every few days.
What are your thoughts? Are there other benefits I'm not seeing to having a power station and a bit of solar? Is it still worth getting a 12V cooler—maybe even filling it with ice when I need to save battery? I'm looking at one on Amazon that is $200-230 ish. I'm on the west coast USA, Pacific Northwest but heading towards southern California beaches and possibly desert.