Technically less insulating than closed-cell foam, open-cell foam performs fairly well for most applications as long as the cooler isn’t left in the open sun. The Original can do exactly what you need it to do, which is to keep things cold for the day while you focus on the fun at hand. We may have wished for such niceties as a dry bin or the coleman camping chair ability to handle dry ice, like many of the other coolers in this review, but such is not in the cards for the Coleman. Tipping the scales at a mere 11.9 lb, the Coleman is shockingly lightweight. This fact certainly adds to the Coleman’s portability, as many of its competitors weigh three or four times as much without even anything in them!
We’ve removed that pick and are continuing to monitor the situation. If you want a backpack cooler, we recommend the Polar Bear Original Nylon Backpack Cooler. The interior is rather roomy – Coleman claims 70 quarts, and we measured it at 68, which is pretty darn close.
Air bubbles that do not share cell walls and in effect stay insulated from one another are better at reducing the overall transfer of heat through the foam. Closed-cell foam is also much more expensive to produce than open-cell foam. The resulting product is strong and especially rigid feeling, and typically it weighs more than 1.7 pounds per cubic foot with more than 90% of its air cells closed to one another.
There are also some unique features exclusive to Yeti as well as some accessories that harness their power. But you will pay a very high asking price to enjoy this Yeti experience. Closed-cell foam is considered a better insulator than open-cell foam because the tiny bubbles of gas in closed-cell foam remain independent from one another.
That’s important, especially if you, like most people, don’t have a freezer that can produce enough ice to fill a cooler and you tend to resort to buying bags of ice from the grocery store or liquor store. As with all soft coolers, you shouldn’t leave the RTIC Soft Pack Cooler out in the sun or resting on very hot surfaces like the back of a pickup truck or on top of a picnic table for a long time. Although the exterior of the cooler is made of a durable, thickly coated nylon—waterproof and tough—the sun and heat will degrade the material and slowly wear it out. Beach, lake, backyard or tailgate—bring the party in comfort with our Southern Comfort Coleman Cooler. As the lid overextends, you can hear the screws ripping right out of the plastic. The lid lacks the rubber seal of so many competitors, meaning the Coleman is neither airtight nor leakproof.
The major issues include water easily leaking out and a challenge in storing as many cans as Coleman states that it can. This is an extremely attractive cooler and will certainly stand out from the crowd. Recent improvements make it adequate in ice life and the toughness is bumped up a notch thanks to steel construction and hardware. But it is limited in features, size options, and it will be a bit more expensive than most other Coleman Coolers. Their ice chests are designed to last for many days and you can put them through the extremes that nature can throw at you and they will typically come out the other side unscathed.
If you’re looking for all the bells and whistles, dive into our review of the Yeti Tundra 65. This cooler has some of the best insulation and can withstand wear and tear. Unlike the feature-filled frivolity of a few of the other elaborate coolers we tested, the Coleman Xtreme doesn’t offer too much beyond the necessary. It does have several beverage holders molded into the lid, as well as measurements running across the top so you can easily check to see if your catch is a keeper.
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