igloo trailmateBut if you skip the ice and just fill it with food and a drink, this won’t be an issue. A tough, reliable soft cooler can keep your food and beverages cold while you hike, take a day trip, picnic, or tailgate. Best of all, unlike a hard-sided cooler, many of the best soft coolers can be collapsed down for easy storage when not in use. Soft coolers may have shoulder straps — which are typically removable — buckles, attachment points, and interior or exterior pockets. Some pockets have durable, waterproof zipper closures, but many are not weather-resistant or secured with a closure. The weights of soft coolers are typically reflected by their size and capacity.
If you’d rather carry it around your shoulder, you can take advantage of the free adjustable and detachable shoulder strap that comes with most of the Reactor coolers. External Attachment Points
Many soft coolers, including YETI’s Hopper Flip 12 and REI Co-op’s Cool Haul 24, have daisy chain webbing along the outside for securing extra gear. In use, we’ve found this area useful for keeping valuables like keys close at hand (we use a carabiner to attach them). And we particularly like the stretchy bungee system on the Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze, which makes it easy to secure a lightweight jacket or small towel on top. Pockets and Organization
Soft coolers come in a range of shapes and designs, but many include at least one exterior pocket for stashing small valuables like a phone, wallet, or keys. In use, we’ve found these to be incredibly useful and helpful for keeping track of our belongings whether we’re spending a day at a local state park or enjoying an afternoon at the beach.
igloo water coolerYou can see how the Igloo Reactor draws inspiration from the more expensive Yeti. Yeti, however, are more premium, which makes them much more expensive. Both brands are well known, both are from the US, and both make their products both locally and overseas.
The most durable coolers we tested are the Engel HD30 and Yeti Flip 12. These models feature incredibly tough, wear-resistant outer fabric, durable components, sturdy zippers, reinforced stitching, and a design made to be used and abused. Even after several years of regular use, they work just as well as when they were new and still look nearly as nice. But where do you want to go with your cooler, and how do you want to get there?
Though this cooler requires a bit of a learning curve, it proves itself incredibly easy to use and comfortable to carry. The large roll-top design allows easy access to its contents, so you won’t have to remove everything on top to reach that last cold soda at the bottom. Soft, wide shoulder straps, a longer torso length, and sides easily inflated or deflated by hand make this pack much more comfortable to carry than its many rigid competitors. With a lightly padded back panel, breathable mesh, and a more flexible structure, we found ourselves much less sweaty hiking this model down the trail than any other backpack cooler. It also performs quite well among backpack models in our insulation testing and is solidly durable. In our experience, the sweet spot is often right in the middle, with many of our most frequently used soft coolers offering space for around cans with ice.
Even when packed to the brim with drinks, food, and ice, this cooler backpack was easy to lift and comfortable to carry. We appreciated the adjustable padded shoulder straps and chest buckle. Most adults could carry it on a hike or at least down to the beach.
And the wide shape allows easy access to the grub inside the cooler. The exterior is made of synthetic plastic and nylon, so it’s not resilient for a rugged whitewater trip but is suitable for basecamp. The insulated walls have an interior aluminum coat that helps trap cold air, and the ice retention is adequate for single- and 2-day adventures. With Igloo’s soft coolers, you have plenty of choices, depending on the situation. While all of these soft coolers have a touch of black on the outside, the three main choices for colors are agama teal, blaze red and acid green. Each bag weighs less than 1 lb., and storage space ranges from six to 36 cans.
And it’s even better with the right cooler bag (that you can easily carry and fit between seats) to keep you all refreshed with ice-cold provisions along the way. Our new Marine Ultra Soft Sides collection will keep your drinks and contents cold (or hot) all day long. Sturdy, stylish, and destined to become the indispensible companion for smooth sailing.