Mike M.

Mike M. is the hands-on owner behind Iron Mako Media, the publisher of Chill & Chest. He builds every ranking from manufacturers' published specs and warranty pages and the independent ice-retention tests he cites on every page, and says plainly when a figure can't be verified.

How Mike ranks coolers and drinkware

Mike builds every ranking from the documents a buyer can open for themselves: the maker's published capacity, insulation, dimensions and weight; each brand's own warranty page, quoted with the date he read it; the parts catalogue, to confirm the latches, gaskets, plugs, lids and straws can be bought; and the third-party ice-retention tests (OutdoorGearLab, Outdoor Life, Treeline and others), credited to the publishers that measured them. Each pick is then scored on the public rubric at the methodology page.

The payoff is that every figure on the site links to where it came from, so you can check a pick before you spend on it.

What keeps the picks straight

• The rubric is fixed and published with its weights before any product is scored.
• Every spec, warranty term and ice hour links to the page it was read from, with the date.
• Commissions never set a score or decide a pick, and no brand pays for placement.

Contact

Questions, corrections and warranty-term changes go to contact@chillandchest.com or the contact form. Mike reads every message. More about the publisher is at Iron Mako Media.