Our Guide to Coolers

We've organized the most commonly used items people use to address the Core function below, with example images, characteristics, features, etc.

Our category name		Single-use cooler	Standard cooler	Technical cooler	Thermoelectric cooler	Solar cooler
Example qualities & features	Example images
	What does it need to keep cold?	Ice or ice packs			Electricity
	How long will it keep things cold?	Up to 1 day	Up to 1 weekend	Up to 2 weeks	As long as there's "fuel"
	Is it durable?	E.g., Styrofoam; really not worth it	Less so if made with fabric, a soft-shell, vs plastic, a hard-shell	Some models are certified bearproof storage devices	All hard-shell
Effect on other factors	Price	<$20	$10-100	$300-600	$100-1000
	Size (Capacity)	Small lunchboxes or Thermos to mini-fridge sized			From 26qt (25L) to mini-fridge sized
	Rationale	Less technical			More technical
Why we do/don't carry it = we rent = we sell		There may be issues with durability	Standard for most outdoor uses. For rent only because it's not outdoor-specific enough for us to sell	Most people would not need something this technical

If you don't go very often, of course you're going to want to spend less money, but this often means real trade-offs in terms of the experience that you will have with the gear. Even if you do go often & are ready to invest in quality gear, having the upfront funds can be hard!

Now, it may seem like this price & quality trade-off is disappearing, because you can find a cheap version of almost anything for tens of dollars that still has good reviews (assuming the reviews are real). So you might be thinking: I'll just buy something cheap, and because the price is so low it doesn't matter if it's less featured or heavier or whatever compared to something higher end. When that breaks, I'll buy something cheap again, and so on. Just remember:

• What's better than cheap? FREE! And we have a gear library of items you can borrow for free!
• Many reviews are written after only a trial use or first use: We've seen entire review videos of gear done at home, which is very different than actually being outdoors! And reviews after the first use don't tell you about dudrability at all
• You're headed outdoors to relax and enjoy life! Saving money only to have a trip ruined due to quality issues will feel terrible. Our program to rent coolers is designed to help you avoid this trade-off: you get to rent high end, quality coolers for around the same price as buying cheap ones (sometimes even for less!)

For this item specifically, the price vs. quality trade-off issues center around performance & durability.

For coolers, performance & durability are linked (a punctured cooler doesn't insulate!). Therefore given the above, we definitely do not recommend single-use coolers.

However, all the other types of coolers fundamentally have to insulate, which means reaching a pretty good minimum level of durability. In fact, for most use cases, a standard cooler is probably sufficient (technical coolers are favored by hunters who need to keep game cool for long periods of time).

In most of these gear guides, we have a table with the various possible capacities & general use cases in the outdoors. That's almost impossible to do with coolers, because the use cases are so diverse! We've tried to capture a few below for reference, and know that you can always try to rent a cooler to test what size works best. Of course, the bigger the cooler, the more expensive!

• Picnic lunch: 10 quart (9L) for a nice picnic spread & some drinks
• Camping: 40-60 (38-57L) quart for a weekend for 2-4 people
• Drink fridge: Rule of thumb: in a cooler, 1 quart = 0.75 cans = 1 bottle, coolers often have approximate can or bottle capacity written on them as well!
• Hunting or fishing: Usually at least 60 quart & likely more than 1 depending on size of animal

Additionally, you'll want to think about a cooler fitting in your vehicle or in a stationary bearproof storage (bear box). Some examples:

• At 40+ quarts (38+L), coolers may be too tall to fit in a bear box or car trunk
• Although, coolers without wheels are "flatter" in shape & may fit better
• Even the largest coolers can usually fit in a car's backseat

If you have a cooler that you normally use, but that won't fit in a specific space for a trip, you can easily rent a cooler for a few dollars!

Here, we give you a list of questions to start thinking about other features. We hope our approach of savings these features for last gets you to more critically think about what you need & not get caught up in the hype of what's cool and over-spend your budget. Remember, we allow you to hire a cooler so feel free to try out various models with different features.

• Does it have wheels?
• Does it have locks on the lid for security & to seal in the cold?
• Are there cup holders (on the lid)?
• Is there a separate ice tray for drinks?
• Is there a drainage spigot at the base?
• Can the lid be used as a seat?