May 17, 2024 10:00 AM

The Best Coolers

We chugged chilled beverages to bring you our favorite coolers for every situation.

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Whether you're heading out for an evening picnic, a weekend adventure, or a weeklong overlanding trip, you need to chill—your food and drinks, that is. You need an ice chest, as we used to call them. There's a wealth of options these days, from little soft-sided coolers perfect for a day trip to heavy-duty, high-performance wheeled coolers with ice retention times that seem to defy the sun.

Cooler manufacturers aren't necessarily lying about how long ice will last in their coolers, but they are testing under ideal conditions that are never going to exist in the real world. We've been testing coolers for more than three years now, and we've stored them under the sun, in bike trailers, and in cars, all while trying to keep food and drinks cool and edible. Below, you'll find our top picks for each category (hard-sided, soft-sided, backpack-style, expensive, affordable, even disposable), as well as a few alternatives, plus general buying tips if none of these capture your fancy.

For your other outdoor needs, be sure to check out our other buying guides, like the Best Portable Grills, Best Camping Gear, Best Camp Camp Cookware, Best Tents, and the Best Binoculars.

Updated May 2024: We've added a new backpack cooler from Sierra Designs, some notes on the updated Yeti soft-sided cooler, and some more general buying advice, as well as updating links and prices throughout.

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Photograph: Yeti
Best for Most People
Yeti Tundra Haul
From barbecues to beaches, this cooler has become ubiquitous, and for good reason. It's expensive and heavy (37 pounds empty), but Yeti's 55.1-quart, rotomolded Tundra Haul is built like a tank with 3-inch thick insulated walls, a heavy aluminum arm, and puncture-proof, one-piece wheels. When it's full, you'll need two people to lift it into the trunk of a (very big) car. Like you, we were skeptical that any cooler could meet Yeti's claims, but the Haul kept ice frozen for six days in blazing 90-degree heat while stored in direct sunlight on my colleague Adrienne's deck. I (Scott) have managed to get five days out of it in the insane humidity of Florida in the spring. If you can afford it, a Yeti hard-sided cooler is the best cooler around.
$425 at Amazon
$425 at Dick's Sporting Goods
Photograph: Igloo
Best Affordable Cooler
Igloo Wheelie Cooler
I (Adrienne) have had a version of this basic Igloo cooler for more than a decade, and it has withstood the test of time. The wheels haven't gotten damaged, although I have somehow managed to break the handle. It's easy to rinse out and light enough to carry easily when it's empty. This is a great option if you'd like to use a cheaper cooler to store snacks and drinks, so that you don't have to constantly open your premium cooler that's keeping your meat, milk, and freshly-caught fish ice cold.
$30 at Walmart

Photograph: Pelican
Best for Road Trips
Pelican Elite 20QT
Pelican has been known for durable, waterproof cases since 1976, and its Elite series is no exception. The larger sizes (the 70QT, 45QW, and 80QW) are rotomolded, but I enjoyed taking the injection-molded 20QT on weekend trips with my family. It's tall and narrow, and its small footprint means that it fit easily into a pull-wagon and my car's backseat. Four cupholders with drains means it can double as a small drink table at the beach, and I also liked the nonskid, raised rubber feet. Ice stayed frozen for two days while being driven in a car and stored outside in 80-degree heat.
$150 at Amazon
Photograph: Bote
Best on the Water
Bote Kula 5
These bucket-shaped coolers are made to fit on the front of Bote paddleboards like the Aero Breeze (7/10, WIRED Recommends). That said, it doesn't have to be on a paddleboard at all. Its circular shape helps it fit in all sorts of places other coolers can't. It's rugged and the handle makes it easier to carry. The tie-down points mean you can attach it to anything. I've had it on paddleboards and in canoes, but I've also seen it doing fine while strapped to the back of a Jet Ski.
★ Alternative: Depending on your watercraft, the Yeti Hopper Flip 12 ($250) might be a better fit. I like this Yeti for the wide mouth and heavy zipper that never sticks. It's free-standing, and at 14.25 inches wide, it's the perfect size for bungeeing to the top of a paddleboard or bike rack. It has both a grab handle on top and a shoulder strap, which provide plenty of points to carabiner a small dry bag or pair of flip-flops. Earlier models were recalled for an issue with magnets, but the latest version has addressed that problem.
$270 at Amazon
$270 at Bote

Photograph: Airskirts
Best Inflatable Cooler
Airskirts Inflatable Cooler
The AirSkirts inflatable cooler is ideal for those of us who live in small spaces, or for anyone who just doesn't want to store a massive cooler they use only twice a year. The Airskirts packs down into a small carrying bag for storage and easily inflates in just a few minutes. Once inflated, it's rigid and strong enough for me (a 165-pound male) to sit on. It's made of a PVC fabric, and the air trapped inside the walls when you inflate it provides pretty good insulation. I was able to keep a bag of ice cubes for a full day, even in the direct Florida sun (which would be silly, don't do that). It's not cheap, but portability always comes with a price tag.
$399 at Airskirts
Photograph: Oyster
Best With Low Ice
Oyster Tempo Cooler
Double-walled vacuum insulation is how your iced coffee stays cold in a travel mug, but it's normally structurally stable only in a cylindrical shape. The Norwegian company Oyster figured out how to transfer this technology to a rectangular cooler. The Tempo’s aluminum body is so efficient at temperature retention that it can keep food and drinks just as cold as a plastic or foam cooler can, while using less than half as much ice. The design also gives the Tempo very thin walls; the sides are only about an inch thick, which is about half as thick as the walls of most plastic coolers. This makes the Tempo more compact, and gives it an interior that’s much larger than you think it’s going to be when you open it. The lid clamps down with two brackets. You can undo them both to lift the lid entirely off, or (in a clever design touch) undo just one bracket so the other can serve as a hinge. The handle snaps on and can be removed entirely or replaced with a strap.
The 5-gallon capacity is enough for a half-gallon of milk, a couple quart containers of pasta salad, a six-pack of cans, some loose produce, and a couple of cold packs. If you stay on a liquid diet while vacationing, it holds 36 cans of whatever you’re drinking. It costs $500, which is a few hundred dollars more than most anyone wants to spend on a cooler. But if you want something compact and powerful and don’t mind paying through the nose to get it, just know that the Tempo performs well enough to earn its price tag. After a Tempo packed tightly with perishables and two freezer packs spent five hours in the backseat of a car and three hours on the floor of a cabin, a can of Spindrift soda still felt and tasted as cold as if it had spent that whole time in the fridge. —Michael Calore, consumer tech director
$605 at Oyster

Photograph: Sierra Designs
A Lightweight Sling Cooler
Sierra Designs Grotto 15L Cooler Sling
Sierra Designs' Grotto is perfect for a day at the beach. It's lightly insulated but kept my drinks cool all day, and the dry-bag-style, watertight, roll-top closure prevents any leaks when the ice starts to melt. Because it's designed like a dry bag, you have a huge open top, which makes it each to get things in and out. The padded shoulder strap isn't meant for heavy loads, but it gets the job done on short walks. I've also used this as a dry bag and it works well (I wouldn't trust it with an expensive camera, but it kept my towel and extra clothes dry while paddleboarding one day).
$70 at Sierra Designs
Photograph: Igloo
Best Disposable Cooler
Igloo Recool
Not sold on any of these? Disposable coolers are still a thing, and they don't have to be Styrofoam (which isn't really disposable and hangs around forever). Igloo's 15-quart Recool is made from recycled paper and AKD (alkyl ketene dimer, a waxy material that provides stability and waterproofing). I (Adrienne) was startled by the performance of this initially unattractive cardboard box. I used it to store a quart of milk, hummus, and yogurt on an overnight camping trip, and after seven hours, the ice hadn't melted. The next day, I drained it and it was still stiff and reusable.
$10 at Amazon

Photograph: Engle
Best Electric Refrigerator/Freezer
Engle MT17 Fridge-Freezer
Most people probably do not need an electric cooler. For the price of most electric coolers you can buy at least two large Yetis. When my family and I moved into our RV years ago, even we used a ice box. It worked great for well over a year. Eventually though, we decided to join the modern world again with some refrigeration and this Engle has been humming away ever since.
We use it chiefly as a freezer, though it works great (and draws less power) as a fridge. It keeps everything cold and Engle's customer support is among the best I've ever encountered. Once, a short in our electrical system killed the DC motor (my fault, not the cooler's) and Engle's support team walked me though troubleshooting everything with a multimeter, spending hours on the phone to make sure I figured out the issue.
Other Electric Coolers:
Dometic CFX3 45 for $949: Past reviewers at WIRED have given this Dometic high marks for its efficiency and low power draw. One nice feature of the Dometic is that it includes a three-stage monitoring system that will cut the cooler off from your car's battery if it drains it too low—handy if you don't have a dedicated battery to power it.
$949 at Engle
Photograph: Spiderstock/Getty Images
How to Buy A Cooler
A Few General Cooler Shopping Tips
The first thing to consider when buying a cooler is how you're going to use it. If you aren't heading out for days at a time, you probably don't need an expensive high-end cooler. All the coolers we've recommend above are capable of holding things at a safe temperature for a day, provided you keep them in the shade. Similarly, if you aren't going to be hiking into a campsite, don't spend the extra money for a backpack cooler. A wheeled cooler, however, is well worth the investment. Your back will thank you.
Hard-sided coolers: These range from the old green Coleman coolers—once a staple of every camping trip—to Yetis, which cost as much as cars did when Coleman started making coolers. You might wonder why the Yetis are so expensive. That I can't answer, but Yeti did upend the cooler industry by introducing rotational molding, or “rotomolding,” where melted plastic is molded over foam insulation in one piece. Rotomolded coolers offer seamless, uniform density in their walls and lids, which drastically improves a cooler's performance. In contrast, those ancient, affordable plastic coolers we've all used have thinner walls, leaky seams, and less insulated lids. Whether you need the extra insulation depends on what you're doing and how hot it is when you're doing it. Want to learn more? Our In-House Know-It-All has a more thorough insulation explanation.
Hard-sided coolers generally have the luxury features you want, like leakproof lids and drain plugs, and some are even bear-resistant (check this list of bear-proof products if you're headed into grizzly country). The downside is that these coolers are generally huge and heavy.
Soft-sided coolers: Soft-sided coolers include everything from well-padded, impressively insulated sling bags (like the Yeti Hopper Flip above) to roll-down, dry-bag-style coolers perfect for those mild beach days. The best soft coolers are easier to carry, pack away better when not in use, and have a versatility that traditional hard coolers lack. (I have used dry-bag-style coolers as, well, dry bags.) Ice doesn't last as long, but for short outings where you don't need a large cooler, these are what we recommend.
Electric coolers: If you're headed out on longer adventures and have access to power, these are the way to go. You'll need some kind of power source, but you'll never have to worry about your ice melting. There are quite a few of these available now, and I am working on a separate guide for them, but for now I've included our top picks here.
Other Features to Look For:
Drain plug: This greatly simplifies life by making it easy to drain the water out of your cooler. If you're buying a large cooler, make sure it has one of these.
Divider: One of our top tips for long-term cooler use is to have two coolers: one you treat as a fridge and hardly ever open, and another for drinks. If that's not possible, you can achieve some of the same by getting a cooler with a dividing wall in it. That way you can pack one side tightly with ice to keep that meat at a low temp, and use the other side for chilling beverages with cubed ice.
Wheels: Coolers get heavy and wheels are awesome. They won't always work (good luck wheeling your cooler over tree roots), but when they do, they are completely worth it.

Photograph: Brian Hagiwara/Getty Images
A Few Cool Tips
How to Optimize Your Cooler's Performance
If you're storing your cooler in a 160-degree Fahrenheit car trunk, no rotomolded wall or freezer gasket will keep ice from melting. But if you want to maximize your cooling time like the pros, we do have a few tips. Prechill your cooler by packing it with ice a few hours before packing, so your cooler starts out the trip freezing cold. As mentioned, you can keep two separate coolers: one that you open infrequently to hold perishables like meat and cheese, and one for snacks and drinks that you open more frequently.
My family and I (Adrienne) start out every camping trip with prefrozen food items like vegetables, butter, and meat. Larger ice packs at the bottom will keep small chunks of ice cooler for longer. If you're really committed, you can add rock salt to the bottom to lower the water's freezing point, but I generally prefer my food to not have a faint hint of winter pavement.

Scott Gilbertson is a senior writer for WIRED. He was previously a writer and editor for WIRED’s Webmonkey.com, covering the independent web and early internet culture. He studied at the University of Georgia. You can reach him at luxagraf.net.

Senior Writer and Reviewer

Adrienne So is a senior associate reviews editor for WIRED, where she reviews consumer technology. She graduated from the University of Virginia with bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish, and she previously worked as a freelance writer for Cool Hunting, Paste, Slate, and other publications. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Senior Associate Reviews Editor

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