Kickstarter campaign helps high-tech cooler raise more than $5.2M (Video)

WASHINGTON — One Kickstarter campaign is really helping people step up their cooler game.

With more than 40 days to go, the Coolest — a portable party cooler — has collected more than $5.2 million on Kickstarter as of July 16. The device’s creator Ryan Grepper had a goal of $50,000 to get the Coolest started.

The “21st Century cooler” boasts waterproof wireless speakers, a waterproof USB charger, a built-in blender, a LED lid light, a cutting board and a bottle opener. Also, it has a gear tie-down on top, integrated storage for plates and a knife, beach-friendly tires, a split lid and divider for the interior.

“The Coolest cooler is 60 quarts of AWESOME packed with so much fun you’ll look for excuses to get outside more often,” the Kickstarter post says.

The project will be funded on Aug. 29, 2014, and more than 26,900 people have backed the project. It can be purchased by “backing” it on Kickstarter.

For Grepper, the Coolest has been a decade in the making. He says on the Kickstarter page that he built a prototype about 10 years ago.

“Last year I reexamined these well-loved creations and realized just how much room for improvement there was,” Grepper wrote.

The Coolest comes in a variety of colors including “Sangria” red and “Margarita” green.

Watch a video about the Coolest:

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