Shop around for a cooler and you’ll find a flurry of new, expensive, “rotomolded” designs from names like Yeti and Orca. With higher-quality materials and extra-thick insulation, each of them promises superior performance, but they cost hundreds of dollars. Beyond choosing a cooler with wheels, there are a variety of additional products that can improve its usability and aesthetic, as well as help to maximize the rolling ice chest’s igloo ice chest overall capabilities. Cooler enthusiasts have realized that using them in lieu of regular ice can have several benefits, including the fact that they are reusable, less messy, and easy to tuck away to help maximize storage volume. Road trips and camping adventures are great, as is maxing and relaxing in your own yard. The thermoelectric Koolatron is an intriguing alternative to all the typical one-trick-pony coolers on the market.
As much as we love cold beer, this really isn’t the only thing you should be considering. Carrying this nice looking cooler around is easily done as well due to no-crush handle grips on either end. Furthermore, you can also enjoy this cooler as a seat, rest your cups or cans of beer on it, and wipe it clean with ease.
Not only do the brand’s reputable toughness and durability hold up against the competition, the cooler boasts superior insulation and a comfortable towing design. The cooler walls boast up to two inches of insulation to maintain ice integrity, even withstanding triple-digit temperatures. The commercial-grade polyurethane foam pressure-injected igloo electric cooler into the cooler’s walls and lid keep ice and other contents extra frosty for days. Anything smaller, and you end up carrying a lot of bag and not carrying much of anything else. There just isn’t enough room in those smaller sizes for them to be functional for anything except an individual lunch or a few drinks.
Over the years we have expanded our selection of commercial equipment and wholesale supplies to include healthcare, educational, food, beverage, office, parts, hotel, shipping, and industrial supplies. Cooler lights are also helpful if you’d like to illuminate your cooler at night. It’s a no-brainer to assist in finding specific items in the dark, and lights also just add a cool visual effect to enhance your evening environment. We previously noted that Yeti had suspended sales of our backpack pick, the Hopper M20, due to a potential safety issue with the closure, which could fail, releasing magnets, which would be dangerous to ingest. If you want a backpack cooler, we recommend the Polar Bear Original Nylon Backpack Cooler.
Since dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide, it passes directly from a solid to a gaseous state, meaning no water to deal with as it melts. However, dry ice can be dangerous to touch (you have to wear heavy gloves to prevent frostbite), doesn’t last long, and many coolers aren’t even rated to handle it. All told, it might take some finessing to perfect your ice strategy, but we think a combination of crushed and blocks is the best (and safest) method. The Yeti Tundra Haul Portable Wheeled Cooler is a sturdy cooler with a large capacity that will work in nearly every setting. Your perishables will stay cool inside for days while the long handle allows for a comfortable journey between destinations.
Jacqueline Weiss is a professional food writer with over five years of experience and a lifelong lover of working in the kitchen. Her writing has appeared in Eat This Not That, EatingWell, AllRecipes, Simply Recipes, and more. For this article, she used market research, in-house testing insights, and her own expertise to curate this list. Most of our auctions sell with no reserve prices with shipping and delivery options available anywhere.
This cooler feels like you can roll it across anything without the handle straining or bending, or the wheels breaking. If you really take your hiking, camping, or any other activity that will require you to bring a cooler along seriously, then you’re going to want a seriously good cooler. The Trailmate Liddup from Igloo is certainly that but it will set you back some serious cash compared to the others in our reviews so far.
So if you want to rely on more than just ice and insulation to keep your beer and brats chilly, go for the Koolatron. This one has a thirty-three quart capacity and comes with two shelves for organization. The coolers draw less power than your car’s parking lights and there won’t be any need to stop at the gas station for ice before you head out.