Ozark Trail on the other hand are Walmart’s white label brand and the internet is littered with reviews of poor quality of their products. It’s gone beyond being just a cooler brand and is now a lifestyle brand and a status symbol. The Yeti is the more expensive of the two coolers and does has some benefits over the Ozark cooler. What we are going to do is look at those benefits and then it is up to you to decide whether or not those benefits are worth the extra cost of the Yeti. The Ozark drain plug is so large you can even drain out pieces of ice rather than just water. Given they are a Walmart brand of cooler the prices at Walmart tend to be the best prices you will find online.
Ozark coolers are certified bear resistant, meaning they have been tested by the IGBC and withstood bear attacks for over 60 minutes without the bears being about to get into the cooler. Yeti coolers have gone through the same testing and Yeti coolers are certified bear resistant also. This one is a really cooler feature that I wish my Yeti cooler had. In fact very few roto-molded coolers have cup holder at all which I find very frustrating. Yeti coolers feel premium and it feels like they have a lot of quality assurance to ensure every single Yeti is as close to being free of faults as possible.
In fact, they’re certified by the USDA’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee to be bear-resistant. Ozark Trail coolers are often equipped with accessories that make them even more functional. Most models include a handy bottle opener to make opening beverages easy. Some hard-sided models also feature a molded fish ruler on the lid for fishermen, as well as two to four molded drink holders to prevent your drinks from getting knocked over. Ozark Trail’s medium and large hard-sided coolers are equipped with an interior wire basket to help organize your food. Ozark Trail soft-sided coolers are all designed to have multiple storage options.
Most of the coolers that I tested were, but some took things even further. On the topic of wheeled coolers, the Igloo Journey Trailmate 70qt All-Terrain cooler also came with a dizzying amount of extras and features. Overall, it wasn’t quite as durable as the Rovr, but I think they’re mostly designed for different purposes.
The tote and cooler backpack look much more progressive but are limited to just one color choice. We would welcome some additional color choices and perhaps a slight facelift to the more plain-looking models in the future. We are impressed with the lineup of features you get to enjoy here. They include things such as non-skid feed, internal wire basket, fish ruler, and comfort-grip handles. And the construction utilizes proven rotomolding technology and stainless steel hardware. Ozark Trail, despite their best intentions, doesn’t quite live up to the level of ice retention and toughness of a Yeti.
Hiking refreshes me, my mind, and keeps my body reasonably fit. So far I have walked three Camino routes and many other long distance hikes in the UK, Canada, and around the rest of Europe. Seeing as not many outdoor enthusiasts actually buy and use these things, my analysis of this (and Ozark Trail’s) lowball will be brief. You also might want to check out other Yeti coolers, such as the Yeti Soft Cooler or the Yeti Hopper Backflip Cooler.
And while no models will be able to keep up with the impressive ice life and toughness of some of the premium brands on the market, the competitive asking price makes that much easier to swallow. Depending on which model you go with, you should see between 2 days and 5 days of ice life. That is still plenty impressive and should meet most people’s needs. But it does fall a bit short of the top-tier premium coolers in the industry. The ice life, well not bad, was not near what Ozark Trail stated in their specifications.
To start with, you will find an oversized drain that makes short work of any melted ice that is inside. The threaded drain can easily be removed and will be held in place thanks to the mounted chain it is on. This can cooler even has a bottle opener in the bottom for your friends drinking from a ozark trail chair bottle. REI had a member sale over Memorial Day weekend and we were able to save 20% on our cooler. We still spent more money than I’d like but at least we saved 20%. Just as with the other cooler test, we purchased four bags of ice and put the Coleman and YETI Tundra 65 in a head-to-head test.
For a leak-proof, easily transportable cooler with excellent build quality, the 35-quart Ozark Trail premium is ideal. It also has lots of nifty features for versatility, from a waterproof interior light that can be removed for use as a flashlight to multiple tie-down points. Several weeks ago we finally purchased an Ozark Trail 52-Quart High-Performance Cooler from Walmart. I was so excited to get it home and run a test to see if it really holds ice longer than my Coleman 60 Quart Performance Wheeled Cooler. We purchased four bags of ice – two for each cooler – and got started.