Compared
Cooling and compression you can move in.
Wrap it on and keep moving. No machine, no hose, no ice water. Below, side by side: what the common ways of cooling need, and how each one is used.
Four ways to cool
Compared on what anyone can read in the instructions: movement, equipment, preparation.
| Question | Liquid Ice | Cooling machines with hose and ice water | Ice and gel packs | Concentrates you mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move while it cools | Yes | On a hose to a unit on the floor or a table | Yes, held or strapped on | Yes |
| Cooling and compression in one | Yes, as a bandage | Depending on the model, through the cuff | Only with an extra wrap | Yes, as a bandage |
| What you need | The can with its bandage, or the bottle for shirt and band. Nothing else. | A unit, ice and water, power or a battery depending on the model | Ice, or a freezer or fridge for gel packs | Water, a container to mix in, a bandage |
| Preparation | Can: soak, wring out, wrap on. Bottle: spray it on your shirt. | Fill with water and ice, connect hose and cuff, start the unit | Pre-cool as the pack says (often about 2 hours), wrap in a cloth, take off after about 20 minutes | Mix with water as the instructions say, soak, wring out, wrap, fix if specified |
| Storage | Room temperature | Unit in the room, ice from the freezer | Freezer or fridge before use | Room temperature |
Categories, not brands. Based on the published instructions of typical products in each category sold in Austria and Germany, October 2026. Compared on movement, equipment and preparation, not on how cold or how long. Details vary by model; sources on request at hello@liquidice.com.
What each one is good at
Every way of cooling has something it does well.
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Cooling machines with hose
Controlled
Models with adjustable cold and compression deliver both through a cuff. During use the unit stands on the floor or a table, joined to the cuff by a hose.
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Ice and gel packs
Cold
Ice is colder than Liquid Ice. For short, hard cold it stays the simple choice. It needs a freezer, and a pack comes off after about 20 minutes.
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Ice spray
Instant
Sprayed briefly and from a distance straight onto the skin, as the can says. Quick cold for the first moment.
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Concentrates you mix
In the bandage
A soaked bandage cools here too, with compression. Before use, the concentrate is mixed with water in a box, as the instructions say.
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Cooling vests
Torso
A vest cools chest and back over a large area. Liquid Ice adds to it where the vest stops: on a headband, a cap, the sleeves, or as a band on the wrist. The two work together.
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Liquid Ice
Mobile
Ready to use from the bottle, can or pouch. Cooling and compression in one bandage, or sprayed on your shirt and band. Measured on the soaked bandage: 5.8 °C cooler skin, and it was still cooling after two hours.¹
For short, hard cold, ice is the simple choice. Liquid Ice is for everyone who wants to keep moving while it cools.
See the Self Cooling BandageWho has cooled with it
- Olympic teams from ten nations
- Tour de France teams
- The German national football team’s physio at a World Cup
- US Marines field test: 9.1 out of 10
- A Lamborghini Super Trofeo team in the pit
- Shipped to more than 20 countries
Questions about the comparison
Cooling in a practice or a team? For practices & teams
Is Liquid Ice colder than ice?
No. Ice is colder. Liquid Ice cools pleasantly instead of icily: under the soaked bandage, the coldest skin temperature in 140 infrared readings over two hours was 21.4 °C.¹
Can I move with Liquid Ice on?
Yes. You wrap the soaked bandage on like any elastic bandage, with no hose and no unit. Sprayed on a tight-fitting shirt or band, Liquid Ice cools while you train or work.
Why are there no brand names here?
Because this is about ways of cooling, not single products. Each column describes what typical products of that kind need, according to their own instructions.
Does Liquid Ice need power, ice or a freezer?
No. Liquid Ice cools as it evaporates and is stored at room temperature. Keep the bottle and the can closed.
How long does it cool?
The soaked bandage was measured: 5.8 °C cooler skin, and it was still cooling after two hours.¹ Sprayed on a shirt, it cools as it evaporates, and you can spray the shirt again whenever you like.
What do I need to start?
For the bandage: the Self Cooling Bandage, a can with 360 ml and the bandage. For shirts and bands: the 500 ml bottle. On the go: the Active Ice Bandage, soaked and ready in its pouch.
The Self Cooling Bandage.
360 ml of Liquid Ice and an elastic bandage, 4 m stretched: soak it in the can, wring it out, wrap it on.
€49.00 · 360 ml · €136.11/l · incl. VAT, plus shipping
Liquid Ice 500 ml- ¹Soaked bandage · Dermatest GmbH, Münster · 20 subjects · infrared · 120 min · 2008 · compared with each person’s own starting temperature. To the protocol
- ²One Active Ice Bandage, pre-soaked (worth €14.90): Once per customer, with your first order of a bottle, can or set, added to your cart automatically.
All prices incl. VAT, plus shipping.