The best rugged coolers for outdoors provide cold beverages for hours even in extreme temperatures, while remaining lightweight and portable enough for outdoor adventures.

Rugged Road utilizes Fridgite foam for their lightweight high-performance coolers. According to their claim, it boasts superior cold retention properties while remaining featherweight when compared with rotomolded coolers.

Wheeled Coolers

While wheeled coolers add bulk to your load, they provide an efficient means for transporting food and drinks over rough terrain. Many models feature drain systems to quickly empty water from their bases – an invaluable advantage over soft-sided designs like Coleman Chiller or Arctic Zone Titan that don’t offer this capability.

Most hard-sided wheeled coolers are constructed by either rotomolding or injection molding techniques, which produce strong, durable designs that keep ice frozen for multiple days. Plastic options such as the Igloo Ecocool Latitude and Coleman 50-Quart Xtreme weigh less but lack durability or cooling capacities.

However, brands like YETI’s Roadie 60 and RollR strike an ideal balance between size and features. Though more costly, they provide top-of-the-line ice retention as well as plenty of storage space – not to mention puncture-proof tires for conquering mud, sand, or any other obstacles.

Hard-Sided Coolers

Our top pick for hard coolers strikes an optimal balance between capacity (it fits 28 cans, enough food and beverage for multiple people) and portability. It features a sturdy yet relatively light rotomolded design, and immobile handles on either side of its chest make carrying it for one person comfortable; some models–like Engel, Tundra 65 Xspec & Orca 58 and 40–also provide mobile handles that extend above it for two-person carrying capabilities.

Rotomolding makes these coolers more expensive than their simple injection-molded alternatives, with fancier hinges, latches, and handles adding even further costs during manufacturing. But these coolers typically outshone soft-sided options in our tests while offering longer warranties – worth investing in if camping trips or other outdoor excursions are in your plans!

Soft-Sided Coolers

Soft-sided coolers provide lightweight, easily transported cooling solutions with enough compact space for storage to fit tight spaces. Their unique fold down feature makes them an excellent option for picnics at the beach, hikes through wooded trails, or other outdoor adventures where a traditional hard cooler wouldn’t suffice.

Soft-sided coolers typically consist of an insulated liner within its main storage pocket, as well as additional pockets and compartments to help organize food and drinks. Many offer features like the ability to attach accessories via thread-through points such as Yeti’s SideKick dry storage bag that fits onto their Hopper cooler’s HitchPoint grid grid for convenient attachment of Yeti SideKick dry storage bag.

Makena Gross tested the AO Coolers 24 Pack to transport food and drinks on various outdoor activities ranging from summertime park BBQs to camping in Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains and road trips across the Southwest. Her experience helped shape our list for 2022.

Accessories

Coolers often come equipped with accessories that enhance their functionality and durability, such as bottle openers and lid dividers; we especially appreciate these for frequent users of their cooler. Other great additions to consider include cutting boards, can holders, and an ice tray recessed into its lid.

Rugged Road’s Fridgite foam insulation stands out, while their outer shell features Rigorite – the same material used to bombproof the Pentagon – which makes for a lightweight yet sturdy cooler that we tested and found to be exceptionally durable and cold retention was exceptional.

No tests were conducted specifically on this product to assess its grizzly resistance; however, it has been certified as being capable of withstanding bear attacks and is padlock compatible. Furthermore, its design makes it ideal for floating upright on lakes or rivers alike, while its handle made of braided rope provides a comfortable textured grip allowing two people to operate it easily.