People Companies That Care Logo is used under license, © 2022, TI Gotham, Inc. Edibles that only need to be chilled should be placed closer to the top of the cooler. Additionally, as dry ice constantly emits carbon dioxide, store it outdoors or, lacking that, in a well-ventilated area. All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners.
We could stuff lots of goods inside or squish the cooler down for storage. The slender shape doesn’t bounce around and feels smooth to carry over the shoulder. The Igloo Pursuit Tote ($100) preserved our igloo soft cooler bubbly water, hummus, pepperoni, peppers, and arugula while car camping and crewing the Hardrock 100. The RovR KeepR manages to excel in just about every way, all while not having a closure system.
In use, we’ve found this area useful for keeping valuables like keys close at hand (we use a carabiner to attach them). And we particularly like the stretchy bungee system on the Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze, which makes it easy to secure a lightweight jacket or small towel on top. Most cooler manufacturers provide a “claimed ice retention” spec in their product listings (YETI is one major brand who does not). From our list above, times range from just 4 hours at the low end for the Hydro Flask 20 L Insulated Tote to three or four days at the high end for Engel’s HD30 (24 hours is pretty standard). That said, we always take manufacturer-provided specs with a grain of salt, and there isn’t an established, standardized test here. If we had to generalize it, we would say that you should expect to get approximately half of the claimed ice retention time in real-world use, give or take a bit depending on your specific circumstances.
To put the size in perspective, this cooler could fit one dozen 12-ounce cans. However, our ice melted fast on hot days, and with minimal room in the cooler, the food can get wet. But, the seamless liner did hold the water and showed no sign of leaks. According to the ice retention test, the Takeout can retain ice for 21 hours.
The IceMule Pro doesn’t deliver multiple days of extreme ice retention, but it’s enough to get you through a hot day. When emptied, it’s much more collapsible than stiffer softer coolers meant to retain ice for multiple days—an important feature when conserving space in a boat or on a pack. Stiffer soft coolers are not collapsible and take up the same amount of space regardless of whether they’re in use.
The zipper is a little sticky when the lid is all the way shut, but we take that as a sign it’s truly locking arctic climes inside. It’s also worth noting that hard shell coolers typically offer better insulation overall, but that doesn’t mean that soft coolers are left in the dirt. If they’re made right, they can be nearly as effective at insulating over time. For instance, multiple versions of RTIC’s hard and soft coolers can keep ice frozen for literal days at a time.
It’s super durable, too, standing up to wear and tear while preventing water from seeping out. The only thing to note is that the water-sealed zipper sometimes gets finicky, but we figured out how to reposition it and got it to continue working. Coleman is probably one of—if not the most—popular budget outdoor gear brands. And its High-Performance Leak Proof Soft Cooler is an excellent value as it aced many portions of our test and is one of the least expensive coolers we tested.