This cooler has been out a few years and we finally got our hands on one to put to the Tailgating Challenge. The Trailmate cooler claims to keep ice for 4 days and go anywhere with it’s 10 inch all-terrain wheels. We are on the quest to find the best coolers for whatever adventure life gives you, so now let’s learn more in the Igloo Trailmate Cooler Review.
Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement. The Liddup, for example, has LED lights inside for lighting up the cooler when you use it at night. The Marine has special inhibitors for UV rays in the wall that protect it from the sun’s damaging rays.
One of the major selling points of the Igloo Trailmate, in our eyes, is the myriad of features that come standard with this cooler. We were initially pumped about this array of features, though our excitement lessened throughout testing. The plug leash – a great feature for any cooler – is attached in a way that we had a pretty hard time unscrewing the actual plug, and typically had to use two hands to accomplish. The extra boxes and fishing rod holders on the outside kept popping off when we lifted the cooler or pushed it up against something in a certain way. The butler tray isn’t quite the right size to fit snugly in the trolley handle, and so slides a lot when in place. We did find the internal dry basket and two bottle openers on the outside to be fairly useful though.
Igloo Coolers have always been known for their attractive price points. While they typically won’t have the level of performance of higher ends brands like Yeti, RTIC, Orca, etc., they have always struck a happy balance between cost and usability. It won’t be on the level of toughness as an IGBC-certified rotomolded cooler but it will still be more than capable in most settings. In the case of the Trailmate Marine, it comes with special UV inhibitors built into the wall. They help to protect against sun damage (which can be a major concern in marine settings).
igloo water coolerSince there is only one size to work with (70 quarts), we decided to vary how much ice we put inside. As you probably would expect, the tests using more ice did better. And to provide additional support, there are a couple of aluminum stands (with equally aggressive grip) on the front of the cooler. These provide additional stability when the cooler is laid flat.
Well, the Trailmate is not a roto-molded cooler and we’ll explain why briefly. However, that didn’t stop it from being as cool and exceptional as it is, on the contrary; it allowed it to have so much more details and features than any roto-molded cooler could possibly have. Let’s start with the one thing that you may have already heard and read about many times before considering a portable cooler in the first place; roto-molded construction.
As we approach our next century, Igloo is 1,200 employees strong. We are proud to call—a 1.8-million-square-foot, three-building facility in—Katy, Texas home. With more than 500 products sold at thousands of retailers around the globe, we can confidently call ourselves the number one cooler manufacturer in the world. On numerous occasions, we found our hand searching for a front handle that doesn’t exist, only to latch onto the bottom of the little white box nestled on the front. Unfortunately, that little white box slides up and off the cooler as soon as you apply pressure – not a great handle, so the retracted trolley arm will have to do.
But where the Trailmate shines is in its mobility and features. There isn’t anything that Yeti offers that can match Igloo in these areas. Also, despite all of these additional features, you will still find that the Trailmate is typically more affordable than a similarly-sized Yeti.
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