(The less you open it, the longer it’ll last so keep the opening and closing to a minimum). All in all, it’s a pretty solid ice chest and a major upgrade from some of the stryofoam and even Rubbermaid coolers of yore. The weather was in low 90s during the test, ozark trail canopy the coolers were in full sun for most of the morning, and we opened them several times throughout the day. The ice melted in the Coleman in 39 hours and the Ozark Trail in 73 hours. The water turned warm in both coolers fairly quickly after the ice melted.
They have harnessed this into their small but potent lineup of hard-sided coolers. These coolers are available in 26-quart, 52-quart, and 73-quart and fall somewhere in the intermediate to lower premium price tier. The hard-sided coolers are designed to try to compete with the top-tier of the premium cooler world. That being said, the two premium soft-sided coolers were no slouches. The tote, in real-life conditions, should hold ice for around 1 ½ days while the backpack should last a full day. Not to mention, it has a built-in bottle opener and four drink holders on the lid, so you can have a good time no matter the temperature.
I’m using my North facing deck as the staging area which receives direct sunlight at almost all hours of the day. I also placed a small weather system on the deck rail to help get a sense of how hot surface temperatures are in the area. On one of the hottest days, the remote sensor reported temperatures exceeding 107 Degrees Fahrenheit while the air temp was in the high 80’s.
This cooler claims that it keeps ice for more than 4.5 days in mild temps. We’ve found that in cooler temperatures, it keeps things cool for about 4 days but there isn’t any ice left after 4 days. On hot summer days when you can’t get any shade or coverage for the cooler or the van you can count on about 48 hours where there’s still a little ice.
Several weeks ago we finally purchased an Ozark Trail 52-Quart High-Performance Cooler from Walmart. I was so excited to get it home and run a test to see if it really holds ice longer than my Coleman 60 Quart Performance Wheeled Cooler. We purchased four bags of ice – two for each cooler – and got started. The Ozark Trail held ice one day longer than the Coleman and in general, the cooler felt cooler inside than the Coleman. Unfortunately, the deal breaker is that it intermittently leaked water from the drain spout. Prior to purchasing the cooler I had read several reviews that said this cooler collects condensation around the drain spout.
On the contrary, the premium soft coolers and particularly their hard-sided coolers have more of the traditional features we look for when we think of long ice life. So you can expect them to allow for much longer ice retention. We enjoy the premium soft coolers and hard-sided coolers the most. But all models could make do with a few additional color choices. Also, there is nothing in the way of custom colors, decals, etc.
You can get this cooler in three colors, Tan which is featured here, as well as graphite and white. The other two colors will have different rims and accents, so if you don’t love the orange you have options. The coolers in competition were the Ozark Trail 45QT Rolling Thermocooler, The Pelican 45QW Elite Wheeled Cooler, and the Yeti Tundra Haul. I chose these coolers because they were the closest among the brands when it came to internal storage. My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review.
If your budget can stretch a bit they are worth checking out. I really like these coolers as they offer great value but ozark cooler they don’t break the bank. Another issue people have had is that these coolers go in and out of stock frequently.