The overall product weight of this cooler is 37lbs empty which is inline with the Pelican, but 7lbs heavier than the Ozark Trail cooler. The Tundra Haul features rubber clasps, which I really like, and hard plastic wheels. This cooler, when compared to the Pelican 45Q Elite and Yeti Tundra, has the smallest profile while still providing 45Q internal storage. It features rubber latches which I am a huge fan of for boating applications. When you are out on the water, people often sneak over to grab something from the cooler and may not latch it back up.
On one of the hottest days, the remote sensor reported temperatures exceeding 107 Degrees Fahrenheit while the air temp was in the high 80’s. I spend a great deal of time on the water every summer boating and fishing in Northern Michigan. I will often load a large cooler up at the beginning of the week and leave it on my Pontoon packed with drinks and ice.
Ozark Trail is proving to be a really solid competitor for outdoor products. This cooler has a number of features that you would find on more expensive coolers and a few that you won’t find. However, I used this bag two nights last weekend and found it was too cold on its own—lowest temp was 51 degrees each of those nights.
It has ClimaTech fiber for added warmth, comfort, and durability. It is terribly heavy for backpacking and definitely not rated correctly. If you just can’t afford a better bag…DO NOT GO OUT IN COLD WEATHER OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. The only way you would sleep well in this bag is if you are under 5’5″ and very slender and use it summer nights or maybe push it to early fall. My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review. To me, worrying about the temperature of the drinks I have on my boat is the absolute last thing I want to be thinking about when I am heading out on the water.
You can buy an expensive bag if you think it will make you more hardcore, but I will gladly tell everyone how hardcore you are if you pay me to do so. What bothers me the most, (and the main reason I gave it 2 stars) is that the fabric is hidden and not obvious until you get it out of the package and unzip it all of the way. If they wanted to skimp on fabric, it should have been used on the outside and bottom of the bag!
With a hard plastic latch, you run the risk of brushing by the cooler and hitting your shin, which I have done and is awful. One of my favorite features though is the rubber wheels vs. the hard plastic wheels on the Pelican and Yeti. Not only will the rubber allow for a slightly smoother roll when you are pull this cooler along, but it will also be quieter. You ozark trail chair won’t wake the neighbors up when you are pulling this down your dock. Rounding out the exterior is a lid that features 4 cup holders and inch notches for measuring your catch of the day. Our sister site Alloutdoor.com recently reviewed a hiking backpack sold by Ozark Trail that had an overall stellar performance and it triggered a question among our staff.
Overall the Pelican coolers have sharper edges and a bit more of an industrial feel than the competition. One of the first things to note about it’s design is that it has a larger drainage hole and a tethered drain cap, which is a nice feature. I have lost a couple of drain caps in my day which makes the cooler unusable until a replacement arrives. I’m using my North facing deck as the staging area which receives direct sunlight at almost all hours of the day. I also placed a small weather system on the deck rail to help get a sense of how hot surface temperatures are in the area.
It is water resistant, but not waterproof, and it stores extremely well. When it’s in the compression sack it comes with, it’s about 12 inches tall and 5 inches wide. The Ozark Trail cooler is made from polyethylene, which is the most common kind of plastic in use today. The coolers remained in the same location for the duration of the 6 day test, only being opened to snap daily progress pictures. As far as color options go, you can purchase this in one of two colors, Greystone which is the one featured in this article and a lighter grey. The constant color feature among the two are the orange rimmed wheels which I don’t love but, it is not a deal breaker.
Cooler’s have become somewhat of a status symbol in the outdoors and many equate the bigger brands with better quality. A higher price tag should mean a higher quality product, right? No, that is not always the case and any outdoorsmen, gear junkie, or general abuser of products will tell you the same thing. Every so often a brand will fly under the radar producing products that are not only a great value but also great quality as well. Browse Ozark Trail’s top-rated sleeping bags and pads and more.
The bag on its own is very comfortable down to the 30-degree range. With the return of the colder weather, it is time to pull out our winter sleeping bags. Mummy bags are very effective for keeping warm, but I am not comfortable in a confining bag. I purchased this sleeping bag for warm weather camping trips at the local lake.