New "ultra-Cool" swamp coolers - worth it?

My rooftop cooler is going on 26 years, and in cranking it up this spring, I see a fair amount of rust flaking off the inside, so I'm preparing for a possible replacement. (They've gone up in price in the last 26 years!).

I see there is a "new" kind of cooler on the market - it has a lower profile, single inlet, and an 8" to 12" thick pad. Champion calls these "Ultra Cool".

For about 50% higher price, are these any better? Pads cost about $180 - do those have to be replaced every year? Currently, I replace my pads annually for about $30.

Thanks

 

These are called single inlet coolers and have been around since about 1984. Adobe air first came out with them, their version was called mastercool. Adobe air just went out of business and Champion bought the mastercool name and are relabling their single inlet models as the mastercool.
With that said, single inlet coolers are far superior to conventional aspen pad coolers. If you elect to get the model with the 12" celdek pad, you will get a few degrees cooler air out of it.
Even in our hard Las Vegas water where I live, we get four years out of the pad but you MUST use either a bleedoff line or a dump (purge) pump to get rid of the hard water. I have seen coolers here that didnt use either and that $150.00 pad was shot after one season! If you elect to use the dump pump, it dumps the old water every 6 to 8 hours of cooler operation and saves more water over the traditional bleedoff method.

 

Thanks! I appreciate your input.