While the KeepR is an excellent drinks caddy, it’s also a perfect picnic option as you can still tote ice for cold drinks but use the compartments for utensils, dishes, and food for two or a small group. RovR even sells small SnackR food containers that fit neatly into the IceR, which can keep food hot or cold. Our testers liked how the ice consolidated in the center helped even out igloo trailmate the weight and noted it was comfortable to carry by hand. The most airtight, temperature-regulated, and waterproof soft coolers boast burly zippers that take hand grease to open and close. A handful of brands even send you home with zipper lubricant, like RTIC and YETI. Between uses, you can clean the interior of a soft cooler with a sponge, lukewarm water, and standard dish soap.
Some versions of this ice chest come in the form of soft lunch boxes for short journeys or use for kids, while Square and Hardtop Gripper cooler bags are better suited for heavier packing. The attachment points and rubberized grip top handles provide an easy carrying experience, and the front pocket is deep enough for storing extra food. The shoulder strap is adjustable and removable in case you’re carrying small loads, and the liner is leak-resistant to keep everything outside dry. We tried the 12-liter size and filled it with six cans, three sandwiches, string cheese, and a bag of ice. Then we packed it again with drinks only, fitting 12 cans plus ice.
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. As we’ve covered above, soft coolers are far easier to haul around than their hard-sided counterparts. In addition to weighing less, most come with padded straps and thick grab handles for carrying solo over your shoulder or by hand.
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. And we always focus on providing you with long-lasting cold retention, the whole point of a cooler!
Still, as you add insulation thickness and rigidity to improve performance, those benefits start to diminish. It’s hard to gauge how stiff or user-friendly a soft cooler might be from a product description since few manufacturers list the thickness of their cooler’s walls in their specifications. Many longer-lasting soft coolers weigh between 5 and 10 pounds, which gets heavier as you add heavy liquids and ice. Consider how long you need a cooler to retain cold and how far you might be carrying it on an average outing as you balance weight and performance concerns in your purchasing decision.
Models with flexible shapes, adjustable straps, and extra padding go a long way toward making these something you don’t mind carrying. The RTIC Soft Pack is also a favorite, with its soft, malleable body and long padded shoulder strap that makes it far more pleasant across your body when weighed down. The softer canvas exteriors and igloo water cooler flexible insulated walls of the AO 24 Pack and REI Pack Away are much more comfortable bouncing against our sides and feel like a duffel bag. The RovR TravelR 30 is the right size to keep up with those larger pack days. This rugged cooler can hold up to 39 cans and keeps them below 40 degrees Fahrenheit for just over three days.
If you’ve got the budget, it’s almost certainly worth opting for a hard-sided model instead. You’ll incur a sizable weight penalty, but the boost in cooling capabilities and overall performance will be well worth that tradeoff for many. The price spread among soft coolers is significant, ranging from just $25 for the Coleman 24-Hour 16-Can Cooler all the way up to $300 for RovR’s premium TravelR 30. That said, even the cheapest options on our list are reasonably well built and will get the job done for days at the beach or packing a lunch on the road, which will be enough to sway many. REI has a knack for balancing performance and affordability, and their Cool Haul 24 is no exception.
This cute cooler carried and chilled several cans of microbrews and several sparkling waters. We also used it day-to-day on drives to bring along lunch, snacks, and beverages. The wide opening is great for quick, easy access, and the leakproof seal prevented melted ice from dripping out (and also prevented rain from seeping in during storms). 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.
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. Most soft coolers focus on toting cans and measure their capacities in can increments. However, the RovR KeepR focuses on mixology with an open-top bar cart soft cooler designed to mix drinks away from home, whether at camp on the beach or on a boat. Unlike most soft coolers, the KeepR is more of a cocktail caddy built around the IceR double-wall stainless steel ice bucket.
Keep your food and drink cold with the Igloo Trailmate 18 Soft Cooler. This soft-sided cooler is durable and helps keep your items at the right temperature. If you’re concerned about spillage, very little melted ice escaped these teeth. Plenty of soft coolers sit well below the top-tier tag but not all perform as impressively as this RTIC Soft Pack Cooler that keeps 30 cans of our favorite soda and beer frosty. When ranked among the best coolers, soft coolers might be the next great sandbaggers of the outdoors. Color options for this cooler include slate blue and tan, sandstone and red, and tank green and black, which should blend in depending on what environment you’re exploring.