The base of a soft cooler can play a significant role in the integrity of your cooler. A strong base keeps your cooler walls from collapsing, while a flimsy base could result in the walls caving in. In our testing, we liked the wide, soft material of the two swing-up straps on the Snow Peak Soft Cooler. The quality of materials influences the waterproofness, durability, insulation value, and whether or not the face fabric produces condensation. The materials also determine the comfort, breathability, support, and overall cost. Boxier coolers can be easier to stack — as long as the walls and base are rigid — while sleeker coolers can more likely slip behind a seat in your car.
There’s just one big main compartment, but it has the brand’s HitchPoint Grid, allowing you to attach other things to the outside. For the weekend warrior, the rugged adventurer, the daily luncher, the boater, the weekday commuter, the beach-goer, the Sunday hiker, the park picnicker, the snack provider (aka MOM)…the list goes on. So, if you were chilling a gallon of milk, you’d use two gallons of igloo water cooler ice to keep it cool. That said, using more ice allows for better food preservation over a longer period of time. Additionally, give priority to coolers with closed-cell foam insulation over ones that employ other cooling methods. The sensor at the top of the cooler was removed daily to record its findings and simulate the temperature gains that occur when a cooler is opened during normal use.
The benefits of hard coolers are that they typically are more durable, sturdier, and keep ice longer than soft coolers. Some downsides to hard coolers are that they are more difficult to move and carry, and they can be harder to store since they don’t compact like soft coolers do. Some soft coolers are superior at ice retention, which is generally igloo soft cooler reflected in the price tag but not always. The price of a soft cooler is reflected by the size, durability, quality of materials, design features, and ice retention. The weights of soft coolers are typically reflected by their size and capacity. The smallest design in our guide is the Mountainsmith Takeout, which weighs less than a pound.
In use, we’ve found these to be incredibly useful and helpful for keeping track of our belongings whether we’re spending a day at a local state park or enjoying an afternoon at the beach. We also appreciate when these pockets are water-resistant, which provides a little extra assurance against splashes or precipitation. A few models that include functional stash pockets include the RTIC Soft Pack Cooler, Orca Walker Tote, and Arctic Zone Titan igloo soft cooler Deep Freeze. The opening style and closure system of a soft-sided cooler may not seem all that important, but we can tell you firsthand that it will have a sizable impact on both convenience and overall performance. The Yeti Hopper M30, for instance, has a rigid magnet-equipped opening that requires considerable effort to keep open while loading and unloading food and drinks. Upon closer inspection, it’s easy to see why this cooler does well.
With four storage compartments, you can create a fun party tray, with snacks in one and drinks in the others. It’s also built with rugged materials, so you can trust that a few drops won’t cause much damage, though you might lose a snack or two. Currently we offer FREE FedEx/UPS small package Ground shipping and FREE ABF/YRC freight ground shipping on most orders of $199 or more within the 48 contiguous states. Some irregular shaped or oversized items may include a special handling charge.
In this selection, you’ll find coolers with excellent insulation properties to enhance ice retention. For extended cold storage, consider larger coolers with thicker insulation. To get the low-down on each cooler, check out the specs and product details. With a solid performance that’s well above average across the board, the Reactor 30 once again proves its worth through an impressively low price tag. We’ve tested numerous soft coolers over the years that offer inferior performance but cost the same or even several times as much.
After many years, its durable construction has proven worth the investment, with consistent performance, unchanged over time, and even looking like we bought it last week. Before diving into the finer details, it’s important to point out that soft coolers come with some inherent compromises. Unlike hard-sided models that can keep food and beverages cold for days (or even weeks) on end, soft models aren’t built to keep contents cold for more than a few days at maximum. They’re also generally much smaller than hard-sided designs, typically offering around 30 liters of capacity at the high end.
While adventuring throughout the Southwest, Groos took these coolers on a multitude of activities ranging from day trips to the lake to go fishing and swimming to multiday road trips. The exterior is made of a 600-denier polyester shell that’s waterproof. The zipper is completely watertight with welded seams, so leaking isn’t on the menu. We noticed the zipper is hard to pull one-handed, and we typically need to counter-pull the side handles to open or close it.