If you have a boat and bring kids or friends on the water, you know that once you leave the dock the requests for drinks start rolling in fast and furious. Sure, you can load a cooler out each morning packed with fresh ice, but it is just so much easier to cut down all that work with a cooler than can keep ice for days on end. I used this bag two nights last weekend and found it was too cold on its own—lowest temp was 51 degrees each of those nights. The bag is very lightweight and comes with a compression sack. It’s compact, and keeps you warm and comfortable throughout the night.
Overall the Pelican coolers have sharper edges and a bit more of an industrial feel than the competition. One of the first things to note about it’s design is that it has a larger drainage hole and a tethered drain cap, which is a nice feature. I have lost a couple of drain caps in my day which makes the cooler unusable until a replacement arrives. 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.
It did not even get down to 40, more like upper 40s at the most and probably low 50s when I used it. It’s easy to use, and has an inside zipper pocket, anti-snag zipper, full neck baffle, and ClimaTech fiber for warmth. It is easy to get in and out of, since the zipper runs down to your feet.
I could have gotten better quality from a teenager’s home ec project and lighter weight. Similar to the Ozark Trail cooler, the Pelican features orange wheel rims and also has orange clasp accents. 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. Pelican is a newer entry in to the world of rotomolded coolers and have taken their own spin on design and function.
Cooler’s have become somewhat of a status symbol in the outdoors and many equate the bigger brands with better quality. A higher price tag should mean a higher quality product, right? No, that is not always the case and any outdoorsmen, gear junkie, or general abuser of products will tell you the same thing. Every so often a brand will fly under the radar producing products that are not only a great value but also great quality as well. Browse Ozark Trail’s top-rated sleeping bags and pads and more.
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. I spend a great deal of time on the water every summer boating and fishing in Northern Michigan. I will often load a large cooler up at the beginning of the week and leave it on my Pontoon packed with drinks and ice.
For fifteen dollars I wasn’t expecting (or needing) anything that would stand up to freezing weather. Unfortunately the workmanship was more than a little ozark trail sleeping bag upsetting, even for that price. I notice this isn’t the first review with this complaint. The zipper broke on my warm weather bag on the second night out.
It has ClimaTech fiber for added warmth, comfort, and durability. It is terribly heavy for backpacking and definitely not rated correctly. If you just can’t afford a better bag…DO NOT GO OUT IN COLD WEATHER OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. The only way you would sleep well in this bag is if you are under 5’5″ and very slender and use it summer nights or maybe push it to early fall. My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review. To me, worrying about the temperature of the drinks I have on my boat is the absolute last thing I want to be thinking about when I am heading out on the water.
I’ll be totally honest, I was not expecting this cooler to be as nice as it was. It’s easy to get caught up in brand perception and often times very difficult to break away from what you think you know about a brand. I used the word “think” intentionally, because what I thought I knew about Ozark Trail was not correct.
Backpacking Light community posts are moderated and here to foster helpful and positive discussions about lightweight backpacking. Please be mindful of our values and boundaries and review our Community Guidelines prior to posting. The bag uses Climatech fill, a down alternative, making it very light. The roomy bag, 33 inches wide by 75 inches long, rolls up to a compact 14 by 8 inches.