This is an important detail because the first thing that will wear out on a cooler is either a hinge or a handle, and having affordable replacements means a cheap repair rather than a brand-new purchase. At the moment, you can buy Coleman’s replacement hinges and replacement handles for less than $10 each. Since dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, it passes directly from a solid coleman sundome to a gaseous state, meaning no water to deal with as it melts. However, dry ice can be dangerous to touch (you have to wear heavy gloves to prevent frostbite), doesn’t last long, and many coolers aren’t even rated to handle it. All told, it might take some finessing to perfect your ice strategy, but we think a combination of crushed and blocks is the best (and safest) method.
It offers some of the best insulation of any soft cooler, keeping its contents below 40º F for just over three days in our insulation testing. While many similar coolers have thick zippers that are a struggle to operate or very narrow openings that are difficult to navigate, this soft cooler is impressively easy to use. The corners unclip, allowing the top to open quite far for swift loading and locating items. And with a large (for a soft cooler) capacity of 48 cans, the Engel HD30 just might be enough to get you through a weekend of camping. Despite this oversized stature, it’s more portable than we expected, with comfortable handles on each end that make carrying it that much easier. After years of regular use, this durably constructed soft-sided model looks and works just about the same as the day we first bought it.
That’s important, especially if you, like most people, don’t have a freezer that can produce enough ice to fill a cooler and you tend to resort to buying bags of ice from the grocery store or liquor store. The Original is made with an exterior of 840-denier UV-resistant nylon wrapped around open-cell foam. Technically less insulating than closed-cell coleman instant tent foam, open-cell foam performs fairly well for most applications as long as the cooler isn’t left in the open sun. The Original can do exactly what you need it to do, which is to keep things cold for the day while you focus on the fun at hand. This roto-molded cooler costs far less than the Yeti Tundra 65 but performs just as well in nearly every way.
The Engel and Tundra 65 are both relatively portable — their combined overall shapes and mid-50-quart capacities make finding what you’re looking for easier. They’re big enough to bring everything you need without being so big that they require two people to lift them out of the car. Equally as important, the RovR’s handle swings out far enough from the chest’s body to avoid painful heel smashing. And with motocross-style rubber handles located on the edges of the sides of the wide trolley handle, it’s clear that this product is designed with the user in mind.
Most cooler manufacturers provide a “claimed ice retention” spec in their product listings (YETI is one major brand who does not). That said, we always take manufacturer-provided specs with a grain of salt, and there isn’t an established, standardized test here. In practice, most of the claimed ice retention times feel quite inflated to us, perhaps due to extremely favorable testing conditions (storing the cooler inside with the lid closed in cool temperatures, for example). If we had to generalize it, we would say that you should expect to get approximately half of the claimed ice retention time in real-world use, give or take depending on your specific circumstances.
We think the latches are a bit stiff to manipulate but can become easy to learn with some practice. After using it for years now, this rolling icebox is like nothing we’ve ever experienced before and is the only one that our friends request to cart around. The RTIC Ultralight 52 has nearly everything you could want from a cooler.
Though the number of backpack-style soft coolers has continued to increase, this one is the only one we truly find comfortable to carry for serious and longer distance hikes. Its walls can be inflated or deflated to match your load, body, and preference and its shoulder straps are soft and flexible. It offers solid insulation to keep your peak-bagging beverages chilled until you reach the summit and an easy roll-top design that’s beyond simple to use. Made of thick, waterproof material, this backpack cooler proved itself more than capable of holding its integrity through all our backcountry rough handling.
Most major brands have their own designs that work well in their coolers, and the best part is that you can use them repeatedly without ever having to drain melted ice. That said, ice packs are fairly expensive (YETI’s range from $15 to $30 depending on size) and require refreezing once they lose their coldness, which limits practicality for longer trips. Most of the hard-sided coolers on our list have drainage systems to help you empty out water once your ice has melted. Typically, this comes in the form of a screw-on or pop-off cap at the base of the cooler—simply take it off and let the water pour out.
We tend to steer clear of most bargain-basement coolers—they may work well for a day or two but often lack the impressive ice retention of premium models and won’t stand up as well to regular outdoor use. Igloo’s ECOCOOL 52 isn’t totally exempt from these drawbacks, but it’s more well rounded and functional than much of the budget competition. For just $60, the Igloo boasts a generous 52-quart capacity, and the proprietary foam insulation does a good job keeping food and drinks chilled for up to three days (in the right conditions, of course). The feature set is also pretty well sorted for the price, including four self-draining cup holders and functional lifts at the bottom that slightly elevate the cooler off the ground or truck bed.