Cooler Suggestions

Been using a Yeti 65 for the last year. Having said that, Yeti is NOT nearly the best cooler anymore. Years ago, they where the best by far. Then...everybody caught up. Then most top brands left Yeti behind. Yeti is good, but not great. A dozen other brands are better, no joke. Today, the Siberian Alpha line is about the best on the market in the 65 size. The Orca coolers in the smaller sizes are about the best.

Siberian Alpha 65 in action:
 
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If you are interested in the Otter cooler, shoot me a private message. I can help you out with a pretty legit discount through 4/15.


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Yeti are awesome. Pelican are virtually indestructible. RTIC are great especially for the price. IGLOO are decent considering cost. And if you're really pinching pennies the OZARK Trail ones from walmart will actually keep ice pretty decent. I use a Yeti Roadie I was gifted and a RTIC 65 for longer trips.
Tried the RTIC against my dads Yeti 65 and beat him by about 4hr on ice keeping (we used nothing but ice to fill the coolers and they sat next to each other on the boat).
 
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roninrunner said:
Yeti are awesome. Pelican are virtually indestructible. RTIC are great especially for the price. IGLOO are decent considering cost. And if you're really pinching pennies the OZARK Trail ones from walmart will actually keep ice pretty decent. I use a Yeti Roadie I was gifted and a RTIC 65 for longer trips.
Tried the RTIC against my dads Yeti 65 and beat him by about 4hr on ice keeping (we used nothing but ice to fill the coolers and they sat next to each other on the boat).
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Our Ozark 57 wt Roto CRUSHED it at Castaic Lake near LA with daily temps over 110f... 7 days, 3 bags of ice replaced after 5 days..... caveat, 6 teenage boys always in it for sodas..

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I like use Yeti coolers and have heard great things about Engel and Manta. Lots of magazines and sites do cooler shoot-outs, I believe Overland Journal did one a couple years back, worth a google...
 
Jade Overland said:
After looking around and reading a lot of reviews like this one https://expeditionportal.com/the-big-chill-overland-journals-cooler-test/ I chose a Canyon Cooler. I used it all last year, taking a few extended road trips and a lot of days on the beach. It worked as described and at that time I was happy as a clam, but this year decided to purchase a fridge. It's night and day. Not having to look for ic when you're on the road is nice...not having all of your food wet is nice, being able to set your temperature and keep some stuff frozen and some cold is amazing.

I don't remember what I paid for the cooler, maybe $300ish, and if I was purchasing another cooler, I'd buy that one all over again. It performs exactly like my buddies Yeti, at a much better price. With that said, I should have just put that money into a fridge. The Dometic 50 I bought is some of the best money I've spent on the Cruiser.
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I hav a question for you. Do you have a dedicated battery for it, solar or 12V plug of your car?
 
PacoPicot said:
I hav a question for you. Do you have a dedicated battery for it, solar or 12V plug of your car?
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I run it off the battery of the vehicle. I installed a 12V socket on the rear of the center console for the fridge. All I do is run the fridge at its high battery setting to keep it from draining the battery too much. I only use the vehicle half the week because I have a take home vehicle for work, so it spends some time just sitting in the garage. When I travel, I put it on the medium setting and I have never had any issue with it draining the battery over night. I just don't get out as much as I'd like, but if I did I would like a second battery and solar.
 
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I own, Canyon Outfitter 22qt, Pelican Elite 30qt., K2 Summit 70qt. Can't complain about any of them. They all hold ice for long term. IMO any insulated heavy roto-molded cooler will do the job. Geographically longevity of ice depends on ambient outside temperature. On the average my largest roto-cooler (70qt.) will last 4 1\2 days here in the south if I used the divider in it. That's only filling 1\2 the cooler shown in 1st photo). We like to use the 70qt. K2 cooler for early spring\late winter disperse camping, & leave the Engel fridg\freez home. This is were we like the divider in this cooler, the ice hardly melts, & everything stays real cold.
In this same 70 qt. cooler I almost get 6 days with a full cooler of ice if I follow cooler instructions. My 22qt Canyon Outfitter cooler (my smallest) I get 2 1\2 days because of the size & capacity it holds. The Pelican Elite 30qt. hold just as long as my large cooler 1\2 full 4 1\2 days, this is weather like in the 80's.
Again were in the south dealing with hot humid weather, but again my disperse camping stops when the weather is too hot like in the mid 90's to 98 degrees w\heat index of 103.

When it comes to 12v. fridg\freez's "for me", I will only own a Engel. I own 2 of those, I started off with the smaller Engel MT27F 22 qt & recently bought their Engel MR040F 37 qt. Engels reputation of being the lowest power consumption portable fridg\freez on the market, their years of reliability & their 40 plus yrs in portable fridg\freez's industry are track proven. That's another post for another time.
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I have a rtic 65 and a small Ozark Trail 20. Both do a great job. We are starting summer down here and the temps are starting to skyrocket with high humidity and both these coolers will hold up for days. The only complaint I have is with the Ozark not having a drain plug.

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ZREM said:
If you are interested in the Otter cooler, shoot me a private message. I can help you out with a pretty legit discount through 4/15.
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I guess I am too late to the party... I have been keeping my eye on these and have seen them drop to $225 for the Venture 45.

The modular design is a huge draw for me., handles or no handles I can find a way to work around them. I have yet to see it in person but fairly convinced this will be a solid cooler for me.
 
Mojavewanderer said:
I was looking at that cooler today, and thought the same about the gasket. Made in the USA though.
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I made the mistake of leaving my Lifetime very full of water on the way out of our last excursion and it did leak a bit. It was in our off-road trailer which was bouncing around pretty good on the trail and still the leakage was minimal. As an after thought I added an 90 degree garden hose elbow to the drain outlet that I can connect a hose for easy draining without having to move the cooler.

Ice retention wise it worked great! We just use it for drinks as the ARB 50qt handles the all the food cooling responsibilities.
 
Ended up ordering the Siberian Coolers Alpha Pro Series 65 Quart cooler after reading this page. Not sure why I decided to spend that much but it's ordered now!

If it arrived in time for my trip next week I'll track how long it takes for ice to melt and not anything else I come across.

I really like this one because it's flat all the way around, better for storage in the vehicle.
 

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