Lower volumes of drained water indicated more ice retention and better insulation. Although this cooler was the cheapest in our test, the Igloo BMX coleman screen tent 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.
While the plastic is relatively light, expect to have to get at least two people to assist in moving around the 100 or 150-quart models when they are full. People who go picnic or go for business trips need to bring food with them. To ensure they eat fresh food, business and pleasure cooler bags and thermal bags can be considered, and they are available on Alibaba.com. Various coleman cooler like golf bag cooler, lunch box coolers, and beach cooler bag is designed for different occasions.
This metric is also the source of many extraordinary claims from manufacturers. From models with “5-Day” in the name to stickers boasting up to 16 days of ice retention, it seems that just about every product out there will knock your socks off. While all these things will help extend the life of your ice and, therefore, the freshness of your food, it’s unlikely that every consumer will follow these stipulations for each use. So we tested these coolers the way that we, and most consumers, would use them. We bought some ice, filled each model about ⅓ full, and put a mixture of cold and room temperature cans in them. Then we simulated a hot summer trip by sealing them in a heated room for over a week while tracking and recording each unit’s internal temperature.
Today, I want to focus on the budget-friendly Coleman Xtreme and see how it holds up to the rest of the competition. Other high-end coolers are becoming more popular as well, such as those from Engel, RTIC, and Grizzly as well as the Igloo Yukon and Coleman Xtreme.
That’s all well and good, but I worried that a standard ice retention test on its own wouldn’t tell us the whole story. Sure, some coolers would probably keep the ice frozen for a lot longer than others, but using the melting point as your metric seems to disregard everything that comes before. I wanted to get a good sense of performance not just days in, but hours in, before any of the ice had even melted at all. The last time I tested coolers for this list, I had Cabela’s 60-quart version of this cooler listed as the best large cooler.
It also weighs less by a significant margin, which adds to its portability. The Roadie 24 has a flexible webbing strap that more comfortably facilitates an over-the-forearm carry. It also has a pair of indented handles hiding underneath both sides of the top for two-handed carry. The Pelican 20 isn’t very enjoyable to carry, with a hard plastic top handle and a tall, gangly shape with too many rigid edges that smacked our legs and ankles as we walked. We also considered the overall shape and size of each competitor as part of its usability score. Models featuring a compact, packable shape and handles that hide away easily are easier to pack into a vehicle for your next adventure.
As such, they are easy to use, lacking the stiff stubbornness of many other latches. Still, more flexible rubber might have a shorter lifespan than denser rubber, though we haven’t had an issue after using these products. The Igloo IMX 70qt is similar, with exceptionally flexible, soft, easy-to-use latches, coleman sundome also giving us pause about how well they’ll hold up through years of use and UV exposure. However, this is just speculation and not something we witnessed during our extensive testing. The Igloo BMX also has T-grip latches with slightly different shapes and thicknesses that both get the job done just fine.
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.
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.
The rope handles are tied tight to bolted attachment points, and the rubber gasket inside as well as the rubber feet on the bottom are attached securely enough that we couldn’t pry them off. RTIC’s Hard Cooler finished as a close runner-up, lagging only slightly behind the Yeti in most of our tests. If that’s what you’re hoping for, your best bet might be to turn to Kickstarter and Indiegogo, where expensive, gadgety mega-coolers like the Coolest Cooler and the Infinite Cooler live in infamy. I say infamy because both of those cash-grabs have a history of production delays and decidedly unhappy customers.