Additionally, our team tested select coolers in person, running them through various tests for capacity, durability, ice retention, and overall usability. This good-looking backpack cooler from Corkcicle is spacious enough to hold snacks and drinks or a picnic lunch for a few friends. The wide top opening igloo water cooler makes it easy to load, while the extendable side pockets mean that your large, insulated water bottle doesn’t need to take up space inside the cooler. A big front pocket offers enough room to stash your wallet, phone, and keys so you won’t need to take another bag with you to the park or the beach.
Light dirt or stains can be cleaned with water or mild detergent. Tougher stains may be cleaned with diluted solution of baking soda and water. Ensure all cleaning agents are thoroughly rinsed and the cooler is dry before storage. Ease of use encompasses both size and how easy it is to transport. Especially if you’re looking for a cooler you can use regularly and/or for a specific activity, it needs to be the right size and style for that activity. As a mom, Crystal Scott, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching, uses a soft-sided cooler for almost everything.
This Igloo product is warranted to be free from defects in material or workmanship under normal use and service for 5 years from the date of original purchase. Most coolers on this list are designed to keep food or drinks cold for at least one day and up to eight days. While it’s hard to beat their quality, brands like RTIC and Igloo offer coolers that perform extremely well for a fraction of the price.
But for a well balanced cooler, which of these two would be best to buy? I hardly use my BMX (25qt & 70qt) but want a lightweight cooler. The fee is determined at checkout.Handling Fee may be applied based on order quantity.
Thanks to their thick, insulated walls, hard-sided coolers retain ice for much longer than soft-sided coolers and will do a much better job of withstanding the elements. But just as with soft-sided coolers, these perks do come with some downsides; hard-sided coolers are heavy, bulky, and (usually) take up a lot of space, plus they’re more expensive. If the Yeti Tundra 45 is versatile, the Tundra 65 is all-purpose. One of the largest coolers on this list, it’s perfect for a family camping trip, a day at the beach with your friends, or a backyard barbecue. You’ll get everything you can expect from Yeti, including superior ice retention, rotomolded and bear-proof construction, and multiple handle options for transporting, plus an interior storage basket.
But if wheels and features are what you’re after and a budget is what you’re on, the Igloo might be the right fit for your life. Up against some pretty intense competition, the Igloo Trailmate didn’t turn any heads in our torturous insulation testing. The USDA recommends maintaining raw food temperatures below 40º F to avoid the growth of pathogenic bacteria. While the coolers we tested averaged 4.5 days maintaining these cooler temperatures, the Trailmate managed just 3.2 days of wavering right at or just below 40º.
It’s waterproof and watertight to withstand any moisture coming from outside or inside. The cooler will even stand up on its own for when you’ve reached an overlook and want to snap a photo without your backpack cooler on, a feature that’s also helpful for loading and unloading the cooler through the narrow opening at the top. As the largest online restaurant supply store, we offer the best selection, best prices, and fast shipping to keep your business functioning at its best.
Since it’s a small cooler it won’t retain ice for as long as some of the big boys, but if you’re replenishing your rations every night that won’t be a problem. For a non roto molded cooled, the Igloo provided impressive ice retention ability. On the front of the cooler, Igloo advertises up to 4 days of ice retention. In our testing, the Trailmate crushed these numbers with 8 days of ice retention. Every day during our test, the lid temperature of the Trailmate was 100°+.
Additionally, its telescoping trolley handle provides an ample amount of space between the front of the cooler and the backs of your heels. This added space makes the Igloo the only wheeled cooler we tested that we never hit our heels on – a pretty big deal. And while we greatly appreciate this fact, we feel that the Trailmate still can’t quite live up to the smooth ride we got from coolers with air-filled tires. We should also add that the telescoping handle doesn’t have a smooth action — it definitely doesn’t feel high quality or built to last a decade.