The Chill Chest infomercial states that it's revolutionary.
It's "the lightweight foldable cooler that keeps everything ice cold for up to 10 hours without any ice at all". So, we HAD to put it to the test!
The set-up is simple. Just flip up the sides, fill it with cold items (the coldest on top) and close the lid. The instructions say it's best when it's full. So, we added everything from soda cans, frozen veggies, pizza, ice cream and more! We filled the open spaces with towels as well, as recommended.
Then, we waited to see if it would really lock the cold air inside. After five hours, we opened up the ice cream sandwiches, but they were already completely squishy! At the 10-hour mark, the pizza was definitely not frozen anymore. We could practically bend it in half! The Tater Tots were soggy, too.
ANOTHER CLAIM: "Even after being run over by a 4.5-ton truck, the Chill Chest works perfectly, and it's guaranteed for life".
With much enthusiasm to test the claim, I ran it over with my truck. It came apart, but was easily put back together again.
The infomercial also touts the product being lightweight, only two pounds! That is, until you put everything inside. Once we filled it up, it weighed around 25 pounds. We filled up another cooler with the exact same items, and it weighed about 27 pounds. So, there wasn't much of a difference.
We bought the Chill Chest at Target for $39.99. We did not test if it can keep everything hot for 10 hours. We only tested the major focus of the product, to keep things cold for 10 hours without ice, and it failed. We even kept the Chill Chest inside, but many of our items, including meat, spoiled.
So, where does it rank on our 'Bull or No Bull Meter'? We're going with BULL!