Need a new cooler. What coolers are you folks using? Main use for me is camping.

We have a old Coleman that holds ice pretty well and decided to get an additional cooler for camping trips. A new Coleman max cool 5 day cooler was purchased and quite honestly it doesn’t hold ice for one day.

So I’m looking at the yeti, rtic types hoping it will keep ice. I thought about a conventional style igloo but the ones we have looked at in stores appear the same as the Coleman’s.

I have several RTIC that I have bought when they were on sale. They used to do 40- 50% off, but I haven't seen that in awhile. It's still a nice cooler for the money.

I have several of the Ozark Trail rotomolded coolers and have been very happy with them.  As long as the food and cooler is prechilled(important for every cooler), ice lasts a very long time.

I like Grizzly coolers.

Grizzly coolers FTW. Made right here in the good ole USA in Decorah Iowa.  Good freind of mine is an engineer there and I know most of the people there. Great company that take good care of their employees

Grizzly Coolers

I have a Pelican 35 quart that I keep in the truck all year round.   Basically I keep some food and water in the truck and I dip into the cooler every other day, if not every day.   Currently there are probably eight water bottles, four cans of Sphaghetti O's with meatballs, a three pound bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, a bunch of Granola Bars, and a tupperware full of batteries.   Primarily I don't want the stuff in the cooler to be temperature cycled constantly but it is nice to be able to grab a cold drink on a hot day.  

Every morning I swap out two two-liter bottles for two bottles from the freezer.   This keeps the stuff in the cooler cool for twenty-four hours easy.   Now this cooler is a few years old and is holding up great BUT I am comfortable that it doesn't keep things cool like it used to.   For one thing, four liters of ice thrown in Friday AM would keep the stuff in the cooler cool through Monday AM.   I am seeing the limit shifting closer to Sunday AM.   Also I am noticing that the water bottles furthest away from the ice aren't very cold.   I have no idea why this would change over time.   Maybe it isn't and I just think that it used to work better.   Without specific numbers it is hard to say.  

The cooler has held up great.   Yeah it has some scratches and marks on the outside but the hinges are great, latches still work well, handles are the same as the day that they made them.   I am still happy with the cooler.   Now I put more ice in it if I want to go longer.  

One other detail about this cooler is that for 35 quarts it is large and heavy.   You don't want to carry it by yourself very long.   The handles are long enough to guarantee that you are going to be banging it on your knees and it is really too big to put it on your shoulder.  

2Hut8

I really like the Orca coolers myself. US made.

RTIC has a new lightweight one for $150 that looks interesting.  It is new though so no feedback or reviews

The regular RTIC are GTG and i dont see paying a premium for YETI.  My buddy and i both brought RTIC to the beach and my other buddy brought YETI.  No big difference in ice retention etc

If you want to save some money my dad has both the lifetime and the Ozark trail rotos from walmart.  They are a really good value and hold ice for several days.  The ozark trail seems a little beefier, but the locking design on the lifetime is on of may favorites

For me it's Orion.  Sister company of Jackson Kayaks.

The Lifetime coolers consistently rate better than the Ozark Trail coolers on tests on YouTube. I have a 77 quart one that is awesome. For $150 you can’t beat it.

I took my Ozark Trail coolers on a trip out west last year. I froze everything that could have been frozen and prechilled the coolers before filling them. I also used large ice chunks and frozen water bottles. I then filled it completely with ice before leaving. I did add about 5 lbs of ice midway through the trip although I could have gotten by without adding ice.  Once we used up a lot of the food I consolidated everything into one cooler. We got home a week and a half later and still had ice left in the last cooler. I did drain the water off as it melted.

The key to long life span for ice is to freeze everything you can in advance and always prechill the cooler itself. If you put hot drinks in ice in the best, most expensive cooler, you’ll still get melted ice as the drinks cool down.

Dry ice is great for prechilling a cooler but don’t add dry ice to a full cooler. You’ll end up freezing everything into a solid block of ice!

Appreciate all the replies. I think for our needs the lifetime will be fine. I can’t see spending $300 on a cooler for all that we will use it.

Little late to the party but I love:

Canyon Coolers

Bison Coolers

My GF bought me a Yeti Tundra 65 for my B-Day, in January, for hurricane seasons here in Miami.

I looked at the RTIC, but saw too many pictures on the internet, of warped lids and whatnot.

Buy once, cry once, I guess?

Chris

My employer's safety team raffles off a Yeti cooler every year, one for each facility. This year it's the Yeti Tundra 65.

I was tasked with picking it up,, unboxing it,, and placing it on display in the break room. I have to say,, it looks like a really nice cooler, but I was truly surprised by how heavy it is. Not a problem if you're car camping or staying in a camper/RV, but the additional weight of food, drinks, and ice will amount to something you definitely won't want to have to carry very far.

That’s why I like my Ozark Trail coolers with wheels. They are heavy loaded up.

If you want to get max time on a cooler you need to fill it completely with ice. Any available space with ice. Also large chunks of ice will last longer than small pieces of ice although small pieces will pack into small places inside the cooler better.

Lots of people add warm food/drinks to a cooler and then complain the cooler doesn’t keep ice for as long as it’s rated for. If you prechill the cooler, freeze everything that can be frozen, and chill everything else, your ice should last at least as long as the cooler rating and likely longer.

I've gotten my money back on my rtic 20q. Its heavy but it works.

Canyon Coolers look really nice, but it seems like the sizes I want are never in stock.

I have a Yeti Tundra 75 that works great.  It is heavy but it's built like a brick shit house.

I have a Yeti Tundra Haul arriving tomorrow, slightly smaller with wheels.  I think it will get a lot of use.

Have you heard of my lord and saviour Pelican?

Attached File

My main reservation to the high dollar (especially YETI) coolers is they are more likely to be stolen. When we camp, we frequently leave the campsite sometimes for all day and the coolers sit there. Not that my Ozark Trail cooler can’t get stolen but it’s at least less likely to be stolen than a YETI. Plus, if it’s stolen I’m not out nearly as much money as a YETI. YETI makes great products although, with the other high quality coolers out there for much less money, I don’t think the price is worth it.

I have one of the better RTIC coolers. I really like it, but honestly......for as big as it is, and heavy as it is, and the fact that if you open the cooler a lot the ice doesn't really last much longer than a cheap cooler....I would probably just buy a cheap Coleman and be done with it.

Those rotomolded coolers are just too big and heavy.

Rtic, Pelican, AO.

I just have my wife carry them.

Go be poor somewhere else.

ARB Fridge Freezer.  Buy it and be done.

Edit - https://arbusa.com/portable-fridge-freezers/

Can use 12v or 110v power.

You obviously didn't search for Yeti warped lids or you wouldn't have gone with them either.

Some of the pictures on the web are pretty severe.  Fortunately it sounds like Yeti has warrantied them without any fuss.

My tundra 75 has been out and about for a couple of years and doesn't seem to have any issues, but it doesn't sit out in the sun all day in the back of the truck.

At any rate, new Yeti cooler.  Should be a great weekend size.  Going to fill it with beer today...

No, I didn’t check them out too much.

It sits on my covered 3rd floor patio and frankly, with even 30# of ice, it’s too heavy for me to lug around ‘bear country’ and that’s OK, since I’m just a city slicker.

When the power goes out again for 3.5 days, I’ll be ready to rock n roll.

Party on.

Chris

I bought a 70qt Coleman Xtreme for like $50 a few years ago. Holds ice amazingly well. Last time I used it, it held ice for 5-6 days, and three of those days were in the garage after I got back and the temp was between 90-100º those days.

It cured my itch of wanting a Pelican or similar.

Lifetime
Also made in the USA and sold at walmart.  Price is pretty good I thought

I agree. I bought a lifetime I think it’s 55qt. It’s heavy and the ice doesn’t last much longer......for us. I’d imagine if you pre chill the cooler (who does that?) and cool everything you are putting in it it *may* last 5 days.

Either way, last trip with the lifetime I bought less ice than the $30 Coleman. Yes, it was 1 bag less but it was less lol

RTIC just came out with one that is 50% lighter.  They say holds ice as well.  Probably not quite as durable, but may be worth checking out

52 quart is only 20 pounds.  prob 35 or so pounds for a regular roto mold style

https://rticoutdoors.com/shop/coolers/ultra-light/RTIC-52-Ultra-Light-White-Grey

Any chain stores sell them or are they factory direct ?

I am pretty happy with the Lifetime cooler we recently bought. It kept food cold on a recent week-long vacation/camping trip that ranged from 39-95 degrees. Made in the USA and very reasonably priced.

FIL bought us a Yeti Tundra 65 for Christmas last year.  Love it.

 Those Bison coolers look pretty good, I'm looking for a smaller one like their 25 Qt. Canyon seems to be OOS on most of their models.