Yet, every unit we’ve tested from Orca appears clean and polished. These details perhaps don’t matter in the long run from a durability standpoint but go a long way toward making your expensive cooler look as impressive as its price tag and performance suggest. We ran and re-ran insulation tests under controlled but harsh laboratory conditions. We dragged our test subjects through the gravel, sand, mud, and grass while road-tripping, tailgating, camping, and hanging out on the beach. We asked our friends and family, who span three generations, to help us dive into these coolers (sometimes literally) and identify the top performers.
Even when empty, hard-sided options weigh anywhere from pounds for low-capacity models up to 50+ pounds for premium designs with 75+ quarts of storage. Once loaded coleman screen tent down with ice, food, and beverages, that number skyrockets. And despite including carry handles, they’re simply too hefty to travel with for long distances.
Its walls can be inflated or deflated to match your load, body, and preference and its shoulder straps are soft and flexible. It offers solid insulation to keep your peak-bagging beverages chilled until you reach the summit coleman instant tent and an easy roll-top design that’s beyond simple to use. Made of thick, waterproof material, this backpack cooler proved itself more than capable of holding its integrity through all our backcountry rough handling.
Throw in a premium rotomolded build with excellent ice retention and a variety of fun features like optional cup holders and a side prepping board, and this cooler is as fun and functional as anything on the market. But, impressive cooling properties aside, the Coleman 316 Series Insulated Portable Cooler is a must-have for its durable, portable, and functional design. Equipped with two sturdy back wheels and a tow handle, the cooler is made for easy transporting, whether you’re headed to the campground, the beach, a tailgate, or a backyard party. The 80 can-capacity (which translates to about 50 pounds of ice) cooler also has a leak-proof construction that features a handy tethered drain plug, as well as a stain-resistant liner for easy clean-up.
Most cooler manufacturers provide a “claimed ice retention” spec in their product listings (Yeti is one major brand who does not). That said, we always take manufacturer-provided specs with a grain of salt, and there isn’t an established, standardized test here. In practice, most of the claimed ice retention times feel quite inflated to us, perhaps due to extremely favorable testing conditions (storing the cooler inside with the lid closed in cool temperatures, for example).
The Roadie 24 has plastic and rubber latches similar to the Xspec, but both are exceptionally easy to use, requiring less finagling and feeling much stronger overall. The market for ice chests continues to grow over the years, resulting in some extremely close competition and hard-fought rivalries. To help you find the right model, we tease apart performance differences between contenders, implementing specific tests spanning five exhaustive, mutually exclusive metrics.
Lower volumes of drained water indicated more ice retention and better insulation. Although this cooler was the cheapest in our test, the Igloo BMX can be found for not much more. The Xtreme will do the trick for backyard cookouts, or for someone who doesn’t store much perishable food at camp.
Of course, if you want a faster flow, a total plug removal is advised, but don’t misplace that cap, as most models we tested don’t come with a tether to keep it attached to the body of the box. The RTIC, Engel, Arctic Titan, Orca(s), Kenai, Xspec, and RovR all have this handy dual drain hole feature. We gauged the ease of grabbing the handles without looking and noted whether they required extra steps to slide them out into place or push them back down out of the way. We evaluated each drain (if there was one) to see how thorough a job it does and how simple it is to use.