It’s also important to point out that some companies provide different warranties for their hard-sided versus soft-sided offerings. For example, Yeti covers its Tundra and Roadie collections with a five-year warranty, while their soft-sided Hopper is only covered for three. I was able to fill the Lifetime High Performance Cooler with 62.4 quarts of water without causing it to overflow when I shut the lid. Keep shopping and you’ll find coolers on wheels, thermoelectric coolers, coolers with power and even a cooler backpack or two — truly coolers as far as the eye can see. We make regular work of testing coolers in our climate-controlled lab, with the ultimate goal of making it a little easier to find the best cooler for your buck.
The most crucial aspect of any wheeled model is how easily it gets you there, which the RovR does spectacularly. That said, it lags a little in the insulation department compared to some intense rivals, which is likely due to the imperfect seal between the top of the body and lid. It is important to remember that you’re probably not interested in taking a wheeled chest on a ten-day rafting trip or a three-week road trip, but rather to the picnic down the road or a tailgating party. We think the latches are a bit stiff to manipulate but can become easy to learn with some practice.
We’ve also used this cooler for nearly five years for grocery runs in Hawaii, and it’s still going strong. One charm of the RTIC 65 is its reasonable price, which allows us to be far less careful with this equipment than we are with something as expensive or desirable as a Yeti. Things are cooling down outside as autumn approaches which means football season and a cozy camping trip are on the horizon. Whether you’re planning to throw an epic tailgating party or camping with the family in the great outdoors, a cooler to keep your food and drinks at their optimal temperature is a must. If you typically go on quick overnighters, or you just need a cooler to keep some drinks chilled around camp, you probably don’t need to invest in premium insulation. Even the cheapest cooler will hold ice and keep your drinks cold for a day or so.
The Polar Cap cooler is constructed with a rugged rotomolded body and a freezer-grade gasket lid, ensuring maximum durability and ice retention. This cooler has been rigorously tested and has shown an impressive ability to stay below 40 degrees for eight days. Not once did this impressive cooler leak, and it gave an impressive performance when rolled around and jumped on. Whether you’re heading out on a multi-day adventure or just want to keep your snacks cold during a day trip, the Cabela’s Polar Cap cooler is an excellent choice for all your cooling needs. For $65, the 50-quart Coleman Xtreme is another standout in the value category, and this time with wheels. With a similar overall construction as our top budget pick, this basic cooler certainly is a far cry from the RovR RollR, Igloo Trailmate, and Pelican 80QT Elite above, but the functionality is decent for the price.
In fact, at $220, it’s the cheapest rotomolded design on our list—even undercutting the diminutive Yeti Roadie 24 ($250). Yeti is one of the most recognized names in the game for a good reason. The Tundra 65 boasts one of the most impressive performances out of any cooler we tested. Through numerous rounds of our intensive insulation testing, the Tundra 65 continued to outlast most others in keeping contents at safe temperatures for consumption. This is one of many chests we tested with a bear-resistance certification from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC).
Another benefit of high-end hard-sided units is durability—the difference in quality is immediately apparent and some of the best out there are truly meant to last a lifetime. All that said, if you just need a reliable cooler for days at the beach or packing a lunch on the road, it’s probably a good idea to save your cash. But if you consistently head outside for days at a time, the investment is well worth it.
We started in the lab with rigorous insulation testing and continued assessments through a wide range of real-world uses. From picnics in the park to beach BBQs, we carted these models everywhere we went to learn which models were most portable and enjoyable to use. We also went through hundreds of pounds of ice and frosty cans in our rigorous insulation tests. Whether you’re setting out on a road trip or a hunting trip, we can help you choose your perfect icebox.
The lowest temperature recorded between the two in our cooling tests was less than a degree apart (44.6 vs. 45.5 degrees Fahrenheit). If your main use is for keeping things cold, then the question is whether or not that extra 0.9 degrees is worth paying another hundred bucks for. Each had a little bit of water in the bottom of the cooler and experienced a bit of melt due to cooling down the room temperature coolers. Yes, I do realize that the coolers I tested are slightly different sizes.
Yet, because it’s so small (relatively speaking), we hardly miss those extra features. The Roadie is not airtight or leakproof — there is a sizeable gap where the ends of the rubber seals meet that’s only covered by a piece of fabric tape. The most important metric for most of us is how well an ice chest keeps food cold and fresh.
Magellan Outdoors has a double-latching, double-hinged removable lid and happens to have won our picks for best small and large cooler. The easy-to-use, double-latched design means you can open the cooler from either side and, if coleman instant tent you’d prefer, you can disengage the latches on both sides to remove the lid altogether. The performance data on this little cooler is excellent, with the lowest temperature reached and the lowest average temperature of the bunch.