Best Coolers for Camping: Our Top 9 Picks of 2023

The majority of the time, heading to the wilds for a few days means having to do without a few creature comforts and luxuries until returning back to civilization. The folks here at My Open Country, however, consider giving up fresh, tasty evening meals a sacrifice too far, and forgoing our ice-cold, post-hike beer bordering on sacrilegious.

Feel the same? If so, a simple solution to the problem is to kit yourself out with one of the best coolers out there.

The camping market is blessed with such a wide array of kickass coolers that choosing between them can be a time-consuming and tricky affair. To save you the hassle, and your time, we’ve put together a list of the best quality options on the market this year.

Our list of 9 top-rated coolers has something for everyone, from oversized hard-sided options for family camping trips to portable soft-sided models for backcountry adventures.

Top Choices by Category

Soft-sided: REI Co-Op Haul 12, Pelican Dayventure, and Hydro Flask 22L Unbound
Hard-sided: Yeti Tundra 65, Yeti Roadie 24, Coleman Cooler Xtreme, RovR RollR 60, Dometic CFX3, and RTIC 45
Electric: Dometic CFX3
Bear Resistant: Yeti Tundra 65, RTIC 45, RovR RollR 60, and Yeti Roadie 24

The Best Coolers for Camping: Our Top 9 Picks

Buying Advice: How To Choose The Best Cooler For Camping

Cooler Types

Hard, soft, or electric? Below, we offer a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of each type.

Soft Coolers

• Lightweight
• Easier to transport – many models have backpack/messenger-bag-style shoulder straps 
• Extra “give” in fabric lets you squeeze more items in and make the most of the usable space
• (Mostly) cheaper than hard-sided coolers
• Poorer ice retention than hard-sided coolers
• Less durable 

Our list has 3 soft-sided coolers, the REI Co-Op Haul 12, the Pelican Dayventure, and the Hydro Flask 22L Unbound. Of the three, the Unbound offers the best ice retention and the Dayventure the best organization, but both cost more than twice as much as the Haul 12, which is a perfectly good option for day trips.

Hard Coolers

• Superior ice retention
• Durable
• Often certified bear-resistant 
• High capacity models available
• Pricey, for the most part (the Coleman Xtreme is a notable exception)
• Heavy 

Our list has 6 hard-sided coolers: the Tundra 65, Roadie 24, the Coleman Cooler Xtreme, RovR RollR 60, Dometic CFX3, and the RTIC 45.

Electric Coolers

• Awesome ice retention (just like your freezer at home!)
• Require a power source
• (Darned) pricey!
• Heavy

Our list’s lone electric cooler is the Dometic CFX3.

Hard, Soft, or Electric?

Which particular model is going to be best for your camping trips?

This depends on three things: the duration of your camping trip, where you plan on doing your camping, and the size of your camping crew.

For long-stay trips when you have access to an electrical hook-up, then an electric cooler is hands-down the winner due to its infinite (barring a power outage!) cooling power and high capacities. The downside? They cost so much you may have to rob a bank or remortgage your home to buy one…

The next best thing for multi-day trips are rotomolded coolers like the Tundra, Roadie, and RovR RollR 60, all of which can keep your eats and drinks icy cold for multiple days. These coolers, however, are also unlikely to win any prizes for affordability, are far heavier than soft-sided models, and are awkward to carry. 

Soft-siders are the most portable of the bunch. They’re light, malleable, and come with handy shoulder straps that let you carry them like a regular backpack or tote. Most models are also far cheaper than similarly sized hard-siders.

On the downside, soft-walled coolers have poorer ice retention than their hard-sided siblings, so they’re usually only good for day trips or overnight stays.

Cooling Performance & Ice Retention

This refers to how well (and how long) any cooler can keep your edibles and drinkables cool or frozen, and is mainly determined by the type of insulation used and its seal. 

Manufacturers typically indicate how long their coolers can keep their contents cold. The time frames they suggest, however, are best taken with a pinch of salt. Why? First, the marketing peeps at the big brands aren’t shy about inflating ice-retention times to boost sales. Secondly, several variables can impact a cooler’s ability to keep your stuff cold.

The most important of these variables are:

• Ambient temperature (the “maximum ice retention” of some models only applies in cool temperatures)
• Sunlight exposure
• The ice-to-contents ratio (i.e. how much ice you pack compared to food)
• Whether or not you pre-chilled the cooler and/or its contents (pre-chilling the cooler can add hours to its cooling capacity)
• How often you open the lid
• The size of your ice cubes/blocks (larger cubes of ice melt more slowly)
• The type of ice you use (regular or dry – dry ice aids with cooling power but isn’t compatible with all coolers)*

Of all the non-electric models on our list, the RTIC 45, which can keep ice frozen for a whopping 10 days, offers the best cooling capacity. 

*The Tundra is the only model on our list that is compatible with dry ice. 

Insulation

What makes one cooler a better insulator than another?

While a handful of factors come into play, none is more important than the thickness of the insulation. Simply put, better, thicker insulation means a cooler cooler.

All of the top models we’ve carted on our trips in the sticks have had one thing in common: around 3-inches of high-density polyurethane foam sandwiched between a pair of burly, rotomolded, compound resin or polypropylene walls, as seen on the RTIC 45, Tundra, and RollR 60.

For proof of this, we need only cast an eye toward the less impressive ice-retention times of coolers with less insulation, like the Coleman 5-Day and the 3 soft-walled coolers in our review.

Seal

A cooler’s cooling capacity depends on its ability to keep cool air in and ambient air out. This being so, the quality of the seal is of the utmost importance.

While the seals used on all the models in our review are effective and well-made, they are constructed of less durable materials (silicone) than the body of the cooler and so it’s worth noting that these will degrade over time. When this happens, the cooling capacity will drop drastically, so be prepared to purchase a new one a few years down the line.

Cooler Capacity – What Size Cooler Do I Need?

The answer to the above question depends on the following: how many peeps you’re camping with, how big your appetites are, and the duration of your camping trip. 

Below, we’ve added an at-a-glance overview of cooler capacities and their suitability for different group sizes and trip durations. Because so many variables come into play (food type, ice-to-contents ratio, the size of your appetites), these are best viewed as “ballpark” estimates. 

• Small (10-35 quarts) – good for a day trip for 2-4 people or an overnight camping trip for 1-3 people
• Medium (35-55 quarts) – these are compact enough to be loaded into a car trunk and can be carried by one person
• Large (55-75 quarts) – good for two or more people traveling for multiple days, or weekend trips for groups of 5 or 6
• Extra Large (75+ quarts) – ideal for large groups for a 3 to 4-day camping trip or smaller groups on longer trips

Weight And Portability

Depending on whether you are car camping or have miles to cover on foot before setting up camp, the weight of your cooler may be a critical concern. 

Once you’ve loaded it with all your eats, drinks, and the ice that keeps them cool you could be looking at a 60-pound load, which ain’t ideal unless you happen to bench press small vehicles on your lunch break or have a personal Sherpa to do the carrying. 

If you don’t have a Sherpa or daily vehicle-hoisting muscle enhancing routine then you have 3 options: 

1) Choose a soft-sider – models like the REI Cool Haul and Hydro Flask Unbound weigh in the region of three pounds, a whole 24 lbs lighter than the winner of our review, the Tundra.

2) Choose a cooler with wheels, like the RovR RollR rolling cooler. 

3) Compromise by opting for a model with a lower capacity or poorer cooling power. 

As you’ll have gathered from the above, wheeled coolers and soft-siders are the most portable options. Soft-siders are not only lighter, but almost always have backpack-style shoulder straps, chest straps, and/or hip belts to aid carrying, which makes them the best coolers for backcountry trips. 

Wheeless hard-sided coolers are the least portable due to their weight, rigid construction, and unwieldy dimensions. The Tundra, for example, weighs 27 pounds and measures 30.5 x 17.4 x 16 inches, making it an uncomfortable carry and suitable for car camping only. 

Internal Organization

Most coolers are mere empty boxes, but some have storage trays, shelves, or compartments that divide the overall capacity into two or three parts. This may seem like a fairly rudimentary and unnecessary add-on, but it has two main benefits.

Firstly, it allows you to keep your food separate from your beverages, or keep certain foodstuffs like meat, poultry, and fish away from others that don’t need to be cooked before eating. Secondly, keeping things organized means you’ll spend less time fishing around inside trying to locate what you need, which improves cooling capacity by reducing exposure to warmer air. 

Latch And Closure Systems

Premium cooler models mostly have integrated hinges and rubber latches that create an air-tight seal between the lid and the storage chamber. These enhance cooling capacity by locking cool air in and keeping ambient air out, and also prevent spillage during transportation. 

Cheaper coolers, like the Coleman Xtreme, have no latch. This means you have to take care while you’re on the road to ensure the lid doesn’t pop open and then weigh the lid down with a rock/human/other objects when at camp.

Bear-Resistant Ratings

Some coolers on our list are certified as bear-resistant by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. While no 100% guarantee can be made that the product cannot be opened or destroyed by a bear, it certainly means it’s less likely and, just as importantly, tells you that the cooler is also less likely to leak any scents that might attract bears to your campsite.

Need a bear-resistant cooler? Check out the Yeti Tundra 65, RTIC 45, RollR 60, and Yeti Roadie 24.

Cooler Drain Systems

Drainage systems are one of those features that most buyers don’t think they need at the time of purchase. However, when it’s time to empty your cooler post-trip or drain melted ice to make room for fresh ice you’ll be mightily glad it’s there! 

The reason for this is simple: a cooler plus ice plus meltwater plus frozen food equals a lot of weight, which means a lot of effort if you have to repeatedly tip the cooler up to make room for fresh ice and/or clean it.

All of the hard coolers on our list have drainage holes/spigots, though we’re particularly big fans of the RTIC 45’s “Rapid V-Drain” system, which is just a little easier to use than the rest. 

Most soft coolers aren’t blessed with drainage systems but do have removable inners (REI Cool Haul) or wide-mouth, hinged openings (Hydro Flask Unbound) that simplify post-trip cleaning. 

Accessories And Add-Ons

A couple of non-standard add-ons can enhance the overall convenience and user-friendliness of a cooler. With hard coolers, things like drink holders, integrated handles (as opposed to rope handles), a built-in bottle opener, and anti-slip rubber feet are well worth having. With soft coolers, look for exterior pockets, daisy chains, attached bottle openers, and carabiner clips.

Cooler Warranties

Warranties do two things. 

First, they give you added peace of mind in knowing that your pricey purchase will be replaced or repaired if it breaks. Secondly, they demonstrate that the manufacturer has so much faith in their product’s durability that this shouldn’t be necessary in the first place. A lengthy warranty should inspire more confidence than any of the gushing praise they might lace their product descriptions with.

The Top Insulated Cooler: The Final Verdict

Ready for a quick roundup of our top picks? 

Our favorite cooler on the market is the Yeti Tundra 65. This robust hard-sided model has too many practical and performance-enhancing features to repeat again! This is reflected in the price tag though so if you are on a tight budget you can’t go wrong with the Coleman Xtreme 5-day. It has a good cooling power for its price and even has a cooling drain, it is, however, lacking a latch so you do need to be more careful with it.

Want to go electric? Then our top pick is the Dometic CFX3. This is very much at the top end of the price spectrum but with its rugged build, dual compartments with independent temperature control, and infinite ice-retention time it is worth the money if you do long-term camping with an electrical supply.

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