Pass or fail? The Cooler2See magnetic, insulated drink holder and flashlight

We’ve had some weird, WTF? products come across our desks in the last few years, looking for free press on the site. And, we thought the loudly-colored, bizarrely-lit, magnetic Cooler2See koozies you see above were just another one of those novelty beer gifts of the week. It does look like it came off the set of Back to the Future 2.

Then again, we didn’t truly understand the Cooler2See’s greatness at first — it’s all right there in the name. This is an outstanding product for the outdoorsy drinker who must walk in the dark and seek out more booze in a shadowy chest of cold craft beer. The Cooler2See was patented by Peter Lindholm in Albuquerque, N.M. While camping and off-roading with his family, Lindholm recognized the need for a flashlight and drink in one hand. Being a problem solver he went to work designing a drink holder with a built in flashlight. He also added magnets to the side to attach his drink securely to his truck tail gate or garage door.

Ok, that’s cool and all, but does it keep my beer cold?

Oh yes. The drink holder is crafted of closed-cell injection molded polyurethane that provides great insulation. The opening is engineered to accommodate, without any adjustment, a wide diameter can or a narrow diameter bottle. A 13 L.E.D. flashlight, powered by easy to change AAA batteries, is embedded into a translucent base which glows and acts as a drink locator in the dark. The light, when turned on, is plenty bright to light your path. A pair of rare earth magnets are attached to one side of the Cooler2See, making it strong enough to hold a full can or bottle to most metal surfaces. It works. We tried it out.

While it is true that the cooler2see was created with a beer in mind, we guess it can easily be used with water bottles, soda and sport drinks. They are available in blue, red, purple and green and can be customized with other color combinations and a company logo (perhaps for your craft brewery).