I assume the Ozark Trail was probably made by Lifetime but I certainly don't know that to be fact.
@mmc45414 that's exactly how I ended up with my Lifetime but it was Whitetail not Antelope. I usually actively avoid Walmart but it was all that was available to me at the time.
In Wyoming you can come in with pants covered in blood (whoops, rookie mistake...) and when you are mentally calculating how much dry ice you should buy the elderly female cashier might interject with "How many animals do you have? How far are you driving back?"Originally Posted by rd62
I bought my daughter and her husband an Ozark I found on clearance last Christmas. They used it for a several day event and only bought ice the one time. They put it in the garage when they got home and forgot to clean it out for several days. It still had ice in it.
I bought myself a smaller Ozark for myself also on clearance earlier this year. I’ve used it on an overnight camping trip and as a lunchbox on a couple training weekends, including this past one that was unseasonably hot. I have some of the biggest Ozark ice packs and used two. It’s kept everything cold. In fact, on the overnight, I pulled some shaved beef that had been in it almost 24 hours and found it almost frozen.
I’ve also heard that Yetis are hot items to steal and that no one wants to steal your Ozark, Igloo, etc.
Anyone know anything about the Coho brand? Costco has one on sale right now that’s a useful size for me.
Line-X "Expedition" coolers are roto-molded, made in US, and come standard with extras (divider, basket, tethered plug) other brands do not.
Performance is equal to Yeti, RTIC, etc.
https://www.linex.com/accessories/catalog
I've got 75, 65, 45, and 35 Yeti hard coolers. Just got a Soft 18 for a lunch box.
Good coolers, durable. Mostly got with my REI dividend (kinda of free). I am sure you can find lots of You Tube tests and comparisons.
I am pretty brand loyal and have no complaints. I did grind around the lock holes so the coolers fit real locks, I was surprise how thick the plastic it.
I am a big fan of the wire baskets that keep food out of the ice/water - though on rough roads during fire assignments the splash would soak my dark chocolate bars - plastic wrap those bitches now.
Like several other posters have indicated. I'm perfectly happy with my Lifetimes.
I initially bought a 77 but when loaded it was too heavy for me to lug to and load onto the pontoon, hey. I'm supposed to be kicking back, right? This prompted me to buy a 28 for the next trip.
My initial trip with the 77 was a mid summer outing to Lake Wilson in Kansas. Filled the cooler with ice and water/sodas/bottled tea, still had ice after three days of getting into it for drinks. It was kept under the canopy and there was only myself and my wife getting into it, but I was happy. When we got home I unloaded it and set it on the covered patio between our house and garage. Several days later I remembered it and while the ice was melted, the water and what drinks we had left were still cool. This prompted me to buy the 28 with no hesitation.
I think that it depends on your usage. For my usage, weekend boating and camping, they work fine. They also work fine when we travel with the trailer and they spend most of the trip sitting on the floor of the shower.
Would I necessarily buy these for more rugged use? Don't know.
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
I've used both Yeti and Pelican coolers for training classes. Started with a Pelican Elite 45QT and then added their 20QT model. After doing a bit of research, I sold the 45QT model and bought a Yeti Tundra 45. The Pelican was good quality and I liked the latches, but comparing overall size and weight, the Yeti in the same capacity was lighter and had smaller external dimensions, which made it a little easier to pack for classes in the Hyundai CUV I was driving at the time.
In terms of performance, both could maintain ice through a three-day class in Florida without issue, although a 45 isn't large enough to hold all the water I need for a three-day, at least not without having to restock the cooler with supplemental water. And every time you do that, presuming you're restocking from a case of water in the car, the cooler is now having to chill that water from whatever the ambient temperature is, which means your ice melts faster.
Ultimately I ended up with a soft-sided Yeti. The Hopper Flip is big enough to hold all the fluids I need for a single range day, plus lunch, and it's super easy to tote back to the hotel room at night. My practice is to keep my drinks in the hotel fridge and pre-chill the cooler overnight with ice, then refresh the ice each morning of class and load up for the day. I don't love the zipper on the Flip, though—even when maintained with the lube Yeti provides, it's just not as easy to open as a hard-sided cooler with two latches. Conversely, the Flip is the way to go if you're going to be lugging the cooler any significant distance. I once went to a class where I had to park about 50 yards from the firing line, coincidentally the first class I took the 45QT Pelican to, and there was no way I was dragging that thing from the car to the range every day.
If I was in the market right now, I'd be looking at the Yeti Roadie 60 for ease of movement and capacity. On paper, I think it would be big enough to get me through a class without refilling, and it would be easy enough to move from the car to the range.
I've been shopping for one myself and based on Wirecutter's rundown it seems like the major differentiators in roto-molded coolers are price and hardware (handles and hinges). It looks like they all cool more or less the same.
My company evaluates coolers as an accessory for the products we sell.
Based on recent testing I would avoid Engel.
I've spent some time with the Dometic Patrol series recently and liked it. Good performance, good design. Haven't done a side by side with Yeti.
Don't go anywhere near Coleman.
Last September it was 107 degrees here in town, before I left for my elk hunt. I was really worried about losing meat, since I was by myself, and it was so damn hot. I loaded my two large Lifetime coolers with as much ice as I could pack into them, between block and crushed. Two weeks of sitting sorta in the shade under a tarp, and a couple bags of crushed added at the midway point, and they still held most of the ice from the start. Had I been more careful about keeping them in the shade, I'm sure they would have lasted even longer, but there wasn't much in the way of trees near camp, and I had to make due with tarps between my trailers. I was able to take enough ice out of them to fit almost all my meat in the coolers, and tarp/ice down what I couldn't fit. I still had some ice in them 36 hours after getting home and finishing processing all the elk meat.
Mine are the 55qt and 115qt. They are made here locally in Utah, and I like supporting USA made products. I bought both of mine as "blemished" discount items from their local outlet... And honestly can't tell you why they were considered blems. The larger one is for sure a two man lift if fully loaded. The 55 is a nice size for shorter trips, but it is a lot bigger than my crappy old Coleman cooler. They are "bear" rated, if that's a requirement for you. I'm sure the fancier brands are slightly tougher, if that's a consideration, but I've been very happy with my Lifetime coolers.
My friend is a big Yeti fan... and his coolers do seem to perform at least as well as mine, ice retention wise.
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