Recommendations for cheaper "stratacooler" benchtop coolers?

[Dima Klenchin]

In article <r_grant-2206991000170001 at 192.168.0.84>, rgrant at netscape.net wrote:
:In article <7kmp89$cmk$1 at news.doit.wisc.edu>,
:klenchin at REMOVE_TO_REPLY.facstaff.wisc.edu (Dima Klenchin) wrote:
:
:>I am telling you result of an experiment. You dennounce the result and
:>it's implication based on your beliefs.
:
:No need to get nasty.

Ooops! I did not intend it to be "nasty"! I apologize if it is...

:OK, you told me that a block from the freezer stayed at below 0 degrees
:Celsius for 1 hour.  That is not sufficient data for me to trust my
:enzymes to this method.

But you have trusted Stratagene's cooler without monitoring 
temperature, right? :-)

:For example, what is "below 0 degress"?  Minus 1?  Minus 20?  This is
:critical data for a whole bunch of enzymes (excepting Taq, of course (-: )

It kept pretty close to -20 for the first 10 min (max time I usually take
enzymes out), and after this (when I forgot about it), approximately one 
hour later, termometer showed -2C. I firmly believe this is perfectly
OK for all enzymes.  

:If you were to tell me that you had used a 10 x 5 cm aluminium block, from
:-20, and that you had tested your enzymes after an hour on the bench and
:found no loss of activity then I would be more inclined to accept this
:method :->

Oh, but that's  what I was telling from the beginning: I find no loss of 
activity despite the fact that 50% of the time enzymes are kept in 
aluminum block rather than in Stratacooler. 

:In the meantime, I use enzymes either directly from the freezer

Agree. That is always the best thing to do when possible.

Regards, 

        - Dima