Finally, we love the smooth-operating zipper that requires minimal force to open (not always the case with watertight designs), provides a reliable seal, and is easy to realign if it separates. All told, the Day Escape’s sleek but well-rounded design was quick to win us over, earning it our endorsement as the best backpack cooler of the year. As we’ve covered above, soft coolers are far easier to haul around than their hard-sided counterparts. In addition to weighing less, most come with padded straps and thick grab handles for carrying solo over your shoulder or by hand. Premium models tend to have great cushioning along the straps, as evidenced by RovR’s TravelR 30, RTIC’s Soft Pack Cooler, and Engel’s HD30.
Backpack coolers like the Hydro Flask 20 L Day Escape are the easiest to manage with full harnesses that can be worn like a standard daypack (we outline these more in depth below). But as long as you don’t drop it off the south rim of the Grand Canyon, you’re likely to have this cooler for a very, very long time. And not surprisingly, it had some of the best ice retention and coldest temperatures at the end of our 24-hour test. The Hopper Flip’s inside temperature only raised by about 6 degrees over 24 hours, thanks to Yeti’s closed-cell insulation, for which it’s become infamous. While we tested during cooler fall temperatures, the Walker delivered days of ice retention versus the hours we got from flimsier bag-style soft coolers. Those times would be shortened in direct sun and high temps, but the thick walls of the Walker are more than enough for a day at the beach.
In most situations, the best way to utilize dry ice is to place it at the bottom of your cooler, wrapped in newspaper. A soft cooler on wheels can be easier igloo water cooler to transport than one with only handles. It isn’t good for all- or multi-day use, but type type of cooler is sufficient enough for a half-day trip.
Whether it’s beer for game night or desserts for a follow up to pizza, the night will end with delicious meals. Once again, everyday use is the focus for this section of Igloo’s offerings. If you plan on staying out in the woods for more than a day, then be prepared to carry extra packs of ice, as well as more than one of these coolers so that you enjoy tasty meals. And 1.2 lbs., while the Cool Fusion 36, which provides more space, weighs 6.4 lbs. The locking and telescoping handles make sure that users have a tight grip when carrying the cooler.
Two final features worth calling out are the Arctic Zone Titan’s shelf for separating hard and soft items and the REI Cool Haul 24’s removable inner liner that allows you to use the shell separately as a tote. Waterproof Soft Coolers
Many of the coolers above utilize highly water-resistant zippers or openings, but very few have fully waterproof constructions. One exception is the ICEMULE Classic, which has a dry bag-like shape and exterior with a roll-top closure that can be fully submerged in water.
From there, we purchased the best 30 coolers we could find to take to our lab in Brooklyn for testing. While our testers noted this cooler is large and heavy and not the easiest to lug around, we also appreciate that the cooler floats in the water, is spill- and leakproof, and comes in four sizes. We also found it to be an ideal road trip size as it’s small enough to fit easily into a car yet sufficient to carry drinks and snacks for a few people. We enjoyed using this cooler on a road trip from California to the Midwest and back to California and saw it as the perfect cooling copilot. For the weekend warrior, the rugged adventurer, the daily luncher, the boater, the weekday commuter, the beach-goer, the Sunday hiker, the park picnicker, the snack provider (aka MOM)…the list goes on.
Our testing team filled each soft cooler in this guide halfway up with ice. The coolers were then placed in Reviewed’s humidity and temperature-controlled lab space to ensure that the coolers were tested with an outside ambient temperature of 72°F and 50% relative humidity. If you want a soft cooler for under $25, check out the Ozark Trail Soft Sided Cooler. When it comes to cold storage, the Ozark Trail did decently, keeping its interior cool for 38 hours. However, the quality of its webbing feels on the thin side and the straps are less comfortable than others on this list.
External Attachment Points
Many soft coolers, including YETI’s Hopper Flip 12 and REI Co-op’s Cool Haul 24, have daisy chain webbing along the outside for securing extra gear. In use, we’ve found this area useful for keeping valuables like keys close at hand (we use a carabiner to attach them). And we particularly like the stretchy bungee system on the Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze, which makes it easy to secure a lightweight jacket or small towel on top.
Unlike most of the other models, the Coleman Xtreme has a channeled drain, which made draining much easier and required very little tilting on our part. While they’re not standardized measures, we have found that most cooler companies’ estimates of their cooling power are reasonably helpful for rough comparison. A soft cooler that claims 24-hour ice retention is usually lighter duty than one that claims three days or more. You should never consider these numbers as performance guarantees, but as a crude spec to gauge where a cooler stands within the category, I find the estimates useful. High-performance hard coolers from brands such as Yeti have raised the bar for what consumers expect (and what they expect to pay) from coolers. That shift has spilled over into the soft cooler category and has pushed quality soft coolers’ performance (and price).