They’re also generally much smaller than hard-sided designs, typically offering around 30 liters of capacity at the high end. With this in mind, soft coolers have limited appeal for multi-day outings. Instead, they’re best-suited for weekend getaways or day trips to the park or beach, tailgates, afternoons on the water, or quick errands like grocery store runs. They can also be a great supplement to a larger hard-sided model, providing additional space to store extra food or beverages when camping with a larger group.
For multi-day trips, however, hard-sided models offer several added benefits over soft coolers. Namely, they retain ice for much longer (two to 10 days is standard), are inherently far more durable and hardwearing, and come in larger capacities. Many hard coolers also boast helpful features like drainage systems to help you empty out water once your ice has melted and lockable lids to bear-proof your cooler when camping in bear country. YETI’s Hopper M30 above is the crème de la crème of soft coolers, but it’s overbuilt and overpriced for many. Enter their Hopper Flip 12, which retains much of what we love about the M30 in a lighter, cheaper, and more approachable package.
That shift has spilled over into the soft cooler category and has pushed quality soft coolers’ performance (and price). It took some time for us to figure out the best way to use the inflatable sides to maximize both capacity and insulation, but once we got that down, we enjoyed the extra padding provided by the air-filled walls. However, we can’t quite get the top rolled tight enough to be waterproof, though it only leaks little drips when completely inverted. When fully loaded with a whopping 39 cans, we wish we had a waist belt to take some of the weight off our shoulders. But for lighter loads, wearing the IceMule is like carrying a grade school backpack. Of course, large capacity always comes with a trade-off in how far you’re willing to carry it.
Many soft coolers do not have tiedown points, which would be a good feature for river or motorcycle trips. When you use a cooler outside, many factors influence a pack’s ice retention, including frequency of opening the cooler, direct sunlight, and ambient temperature. For instance, the REI Co-op Cool Haul Soft Cooler preserved ice for 60 hours during our test but only for 18 hours during one toasty car camp trip.
We were surprised at how well the cooler retained ice despite being out in the elements, due to the premium thermal insulation. The heavy-duty base also increased the chill factor while stabilizing the cooler during igloo soft cooler transport and beneath items. The staunch base also allowed us to set the cooler on variable surfaces and was easy to clean. The flat backside wall alleviates bounce when we were using the shoulder strap.
Dry bags are a staple of river trips, as are heavy, bulky hard-sided coolers. The Icemule Pro essentially combines the two into an insulated, durable dry bag perfect for a day on the water. Like a good dry bag, the Icemule Pro has a roll-top closure that it claims will not let water in or out and allows you to trap air inside for extra insulation. Our testers noticed a bit of a leak from the roll-top closure when inverting the cooler. It also has the added benefit (significant on the water) of making the bag float. When it comes to performance in soft coolers, you often get what you pay for in terms of durability and insulation value.
It’s the perfect companion and size for a group of three or four to have a few cans each throughout the day. The IceMule Pro is relatively durable and resistant to our abuse, though the straps’ attachment points seemed perhaps not quite as reliable or as robust as we’d like them to be. Not surprisingly, some of the coolers that performed the lowest in this category also have the weakest material. However, these coolers (the Coleman 16-Can and Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze) are also some of the least expensive we tested, so you might not be so upset about replacing them when they bite the dust. The models that scored lower in our durability tests use light to mid-weight nylon or canvas with middle-of-the-road zippers and regular seam construction.
In this case, Igloo’s Sportsman Waterproof Cooler Bag has the tough design and storage space needed to keep everything inside safe and cool. Do you have a vacation in the outdoors coming up and have plans for afternoons on the lake? This ice chest is designed to be easy to carry over your shoulders or under your arm. Even the heaviest soft cooler in our guide is lighter than a hard cooler. For comparison, the YETI Tundra 45 Cooler weighs 23 pounds, and the RovR Products RollR 45 weighs more than 37 pounds. We took the aesthetic Fishpond Blizzard Soft Cooler ($100) out fly fishing with two anglers.
However, the cheapest coolers often don’t deliver much cold-retention, so we’d steer clear of the most inexpensive options as they are often not much better than a thick bag or backpack that you may already own. The IceMule Pro doesn’t deliver multiple days of extreme ice retention, but it’s enough to get you through a hot day. When emptied, it’s much more collapsible than stiffer softer coolers meant to retain ice for multiple days—an important feature when conserving space in a boat or on a pack.