Food and drinks stay chilled longer with the 150-Quart Hard Ice Chest Cooler, which keeps the ice up to 6 days. Enjoy easier lifting with the swing-up side handles, then have a seat on the closed lid. Not to worry, cup holders built into the lid will keep your drink close and prevent spills.
The drain plug isn’t the only factor that makes emptying water easy or annoying. Most of the contenders we tested also have a sloping channel behind the drain to help gravity pull water out. Still, several have unfortunately paired this with a large lip or other obstruction that then stops your drainage progress before it’s 100% complete.
This cooler feels like you can roll it across anything without the handle straining or bending, or the wheels breaking. We previously noted that Yeti had suspended sales of our backpack pick, the Hopper M20, due to a potential safety issue with the closure, which could fail, releasing magnets, which would be dangerous to ingest. We’ve removed that pick and are continuing to monitor the situation. If you want a backpack cooler, we recommend the Polar Bear Original Nylon Backpack Cooler.
Though the Dometic CFX3 doesn’t have an energy-saving mode like many other powered coolers, it does have different levels of battery conservation that ensure it won’t prevent you from starting your car in the morning. And even while cooling, it draws just 50.7 watts, which is on the low end of powered coolers we tested. Our biggest complaint about this cooler is that its cords are barely over six feet long, which just doesn’t get you very far from the outlet.
Even after regular use over several years, the Tundra 65 performs just as well as the day we bought it. Yeti also continues to diversify the colors and personalization options available for this cooler, providing more choices to match your style better. As we prefaced above, if your cooler must-haves include easy mobility, large capacity, and maximum ice retention, it’s best to consider a rolling hard-sided model. From our picks above, the RovR Products RollR 45, Igloo Trailmate Journey, Pelican 80QT Elite, and Coleman Xtreme have rear wheels and tow handles, and Yeti’s Tundra series also includes the wheel-equipped Haul.
Each cooler was opened only once per day to photograph where the ice level was and how well each cooler was doing. For this test, I placed each cooler in direct sunlight for approximately half of each day and then in shade for the other half. This test is just a practical, real-world test of how people actually use similar coolers. In theory, the Coleman Xtreme is meant to compete on the cooling side of the equation while still maintaining an affordable price.
But we think that, for most people, it’s worth the investment to get a cooler with a latching lid, more durability, and better insulation. While the steel of the body felt solid, stable, and durable, the rest of the cooler was slightly lacking in build quality. While we initially thought that the swivel mechanism was super cool, the plastic component on the lid that it latches into popped out with very little force.
There are a few different colors to choose from, which is nice, and the larger coolers have well-placed built-in cupholders which add a bit of spice to the overall look (but not much). And all of the coleman sundome colors come in a solid tone with little in the way of patterns outside of the vertical lines that adorn the body. However, these trips can sometimes be unpleasant due to the limitation of food.