We also found it to be an ideal road trip size as it’s small enough to fit easily into a car yet sufficient to carry drinks and snacks for a few people. We enjoyed using this cooler on a road trip from California to the Midwest and back to California and saw it as the perfect cooling copilot. The RTIC Soft Pack Cooler has a similar feel and look to a Yeti cooler but comes at a more accessible cost.
Carrying it around was comfortable, thanks to the padded straps and chest and hip straps, and the weight was evenly distributed. Boxier coolers can be easier to stack — as long as the walls and base are rigid — while sleeker coolers can more likely slip behind a seat in your car. Shorter, more compact coolers are easier to fit in tight spaces on a boat.
Our huge lineup of bags comes in all shapes and sizes with multiple ways to carry, so take a dive into all our options to figure out which one/s will make your life so much cooler. We have long admired RovR for the intention that goes into its products, and this recent release is no different. The TravlR is designed so that you can drop the brand’s cleverly segmented KeepR cooler basket right in, upping the cold retention, transportability and ruggedness of an already handy product. While both of these types of coolers are designed, in concept, to do the same thing — i.e. keep their contents cold for an extended period — there are some pretty important differences between them.
Waterproof Soft Coolers
Many of the coolers above utilize highly water-resistant zippers or openings, but very few have fully waterproof constructions. One exception is the ICEMULE Classic, which has a dry bag-like shape and exterior with a roll-top closure that can be fully submerged in water. This makes it particularly great for activities like kayaking or paddle boarding when it might be exposed to a lot of water. It also floats, which provides added assurance should conditions get rougher than expected. RTIC’s Soft Pack also falls into this category, and although it’s technically not fully waterproof, the tough shell and leakproof design should stand up well if it ends up taking a dip.
The brand recently launched the 28L TravelR 30 ($250), a tall-standing and oval-shaped soft cooler with generous space. The Mountainsmith Sixer ($35) was a great cooler for lunch on the go. Our tester, a Colorado-based electrician and mountain biker, packed it with a canned drink, sandwich, fruit, and chocolate.
Whether it’s beer for game night or desserts for a follow up to pizza, the night will end with delicious meals. Soft coolers also come in handy for sporting events, whether the user is a participant or a fan. In this case, Igloo’s Sportsman Waterproof Cooler Bag has the tough design and storage space needed to keep everything inside safe and cool.
We could fit 20 cans easily in this 24-can cooler or 12 cans with snacks and food. The thick and durable insulation kept our drinks cold for many hours. Hard coolers are still the gold standard in cold-retention, but soft coolers provide distinct benefits, such as portability made possible by their lighter weights and flexibility. To find the right cooler, browse our tested recommendations and read our tips at the bottom of this article. High-performance hard coolers from brands such as Yeti have raised the bar for what consumers expect (and what they expect to pay) from coolers. That shift has spilled over into the soft cooler category and has pushed quality soft coolers’ performance (and price).
It’s the perfect companion and size for a group of three or four to have a few cans each throughout the day. Despite looking like a Yeti—and having thicker insulation on its lid (by half an inch)—it didn’t quite have the same performance as igloo trailmate the Yeti Hopper. At the end of our 24-hour ice test, the Orca had no remaining solid ice, while the Yeti had some. And where the Yeti’s inner temperature increased by about 6 degrees over 24 hours, the Orca’s went up by about 13 degrees.