Sign up for our T+L Recommends newsletter and we’ll send you our favorite travel products each week. No matter which product you go with, rest assured knowing that you will enjoy a cooler that has many years coleman canopy of experience behind it and comes from brands that know what they are doing. Sit in your aluminum-and-mesh lawn chair, prop open your Coleman Steel Belted, and pull out a glass-bottled, ice cold coke.
This cooler is simple in design, with a wide-opening lid and solid lid latch. The lid latch takes some getting used to, and one must occasionally get down and visual with it in order to assure that it is secured. coleman cooler The latch is a two-part contraption that remains secured to the main box portion. Hooks on the latch and lid mate to secure the lid, while an articulating cam pivots to pull the lid and press the gasket tight.
A cooler’s latch or closure system is one of the defining characteristics of a premium model and plays a significant role in overall cooling performance. Among high-end hard-sided coolers, you’ll commonly find two rubber T-handles along the front that keep the lid locked securely in place. These handles are fairly user-friendly, extremely strong, and minimize any openings for cold air to escape. At the other end of the spectrum, budget-oriented models like the Coleman 316 Series and Igloo Ecocool forgo latches completely and rely on a good fit between the lid and cooler body. This results in reduced insulating performance and means you need to keep a close eye on the lid to make sure it doesn’t pop loose or fall off in transport. Well over half of the coolers on our list cost $200 or more, which goes to show how pricey these units can be.
Coleman makes coolers available in every size you could need, from as large as 120 quarts of packing capacity to as small as a 5-quart personal cooler and a wide range in between. There are coolers fit to take on a day trip to the beach with the family, on a fishing excursion, hosting a small backyard party or even handing out cold cans to the neighborhood at a block party. These simple soft-sided coolers are surprisingly resilient and should last for a few years without major issues. The major issues include water easily leaking out and a challenge in storing as many cans as Coleman states that it can. Beware, the narrow plastic handles tend to dig uncomfortably into the bent fingers of whoever takes this cooler for a stroll.
Their 40-quart cooler gives premium rotomolded models here a real run for their money. Its flexible side handles make carrying a breeze, and we found the exterior organizer pocket to be a nice coleman cooler addition for storing small items like koozies, kitchen utensils, and a bottle opener. Starting at 20 quarts and going all the way up to 140, there’s an Orca cooler for just about any activity.
It can be added to summer promotions for outdoor concerts, company picnics, company-sponsored beach days and more! That makes Coleman’s cooler a sensible pick if you just want a relatively inexpensive wheeled cooler, but consider your alternatives before buying. Though it doesn’t have wheels on it, the Igloo MaxCold Cooler offers notably better performance for the same price, and while I haven’t tested them just yet, there are wheeled versions available, too. You could also think about saving up for the $400 Rovr Rollr 60 Cooler — it’s awfully expensive, but it offers a rugged, feature-rich design complete with 9-inch inflatable rubber wheels. But if you’re willing to settle for middle-of-the-road performance (and if you want to navigate that road without any heavy lifting), then Coleman’s cooler is a justifiable pick.
Roam is primarily a rooftop tent manufacturer and well regarded among serious outdoor-goers like overlanders and those who like to get off the grid. But their foray into coolers hasn’t gone unnoticed, combining the ruggedness and utility that Roam is known for with a myriad of functional features. And importantly, all these features are integrated nicely and have the same solid and confidence-inspiring feel as the rest of the aptly named Rugged. Coleman has been around for more than 120 years and has earned its reputation of making quality products for outdoor activities.
The major draw is that it easily fills the gaps between your food and beverages, cooling them quickly and efficiently. However, crushed ice is also the fastest to melt and you’ll likely need to replace it fairly frequently. Blocks of ice, on the other hand, take much longer to melt than crushed ice. However, blocks are bulky and take up a lot of space in the cooler since they don’t conform around your food and cans. If we have enough space, our preferred method is to use both block and crushed ice together, and Yeti has more great tips here.
This is an important detail because the first thing that will wear out on a cooler is either a hinge or a handle, and having affordable replacements means a cheap repair rather than a brand-new purchase. At the moment, you can buy Coleman’s replacement hinges and replacement handles for less than $10 each. Beach, lake, backyard or tailgate—bring the party in comfort with our Southern Comfort Coleman Cooler. It’s also worth noting that the Coleman 316 Series Insulated Portable Cooler has also earned high praise from Yeti cooler loyalists. One impressed shopper said that it kept their food “nice and cold” on a camping trip and noted that the “Coleman kept up pretty well” with the Yeti cooler they also packed. And, as a matter of fact, another reviewer wrote, “Ice lasts way longer than my Yeti [cooler] of the same size.”