Best non-electric cooler not a Yeti or Pelican?

[Christophe Noel]

All of the root-molded coolers by Yeti, Engle, Pelican, Canyon, NRS, etc, will have a similar efficiency and correlating price. Your non-roto-molded choices will produce a variety of less than awesome levels of efficiency. These things have been tested ad naseum, and the value winner is usually the Coleman Extreme. Just know that QC sometimes falters which is why some have great luck with them and others not so much.

 

[ikk]

I have the Coleman Extreme Non Marine I bought last year at Walmart its Blue with a white lid. For me its been perfect. We went to the Sequoia's for 5 days, temps mid to upper 80's. left camp with Ice still in the cooler. But to do this there are a few things that you need to do.

1st you need to precool your cooler. you should do this with any cooler. I do this with a few Ice packs I place the night before adding the food.

2nd Small ice cubes suck. You need either a block which you cannot find everywhere or what I do is I freeze most of my small 20 or 24 oz water bottles as well as a few larger 1 to 1.5 liter water bottles.

buy the 5th day I still had frozen water in the larger bottles. As well as no water to empty out of the cooler. As all the water was in the bottles.

 

[FJOE]

I have the Engel DeepBlue 35. I love it. It's kept ice for 7 full days for me (while stored indoors). I use it on road trips, as it fits in the back seat of my F-350 perfectly. The handles are great, and the drain plug has a hole for a lanyard. There are also grea taccessories like the basket that its in the rim of the cooler, and a divider that doubles as a cutting board. I put water in one side, beer in the other, and the basket is for fruit and other things that I dont want sitting in water, when the ice begins to melt. I got the tan 35 on Amazon for 200.00 shipped. It's been great. Other pros-

-Latches are replaceable.
-Rope handles are replaceable.
-Rubber feet keep it off the ground (and are replaceable).
-Certified bear proof
-Holes for padlocks or bolts.
-Slots on the side for tie downs.
-Makes a great impromptu seat!

Cons-

-$$$
-Heavy when full (Heavier than a big box store coleman).

 

[GS1150]

I have a Yeti Roadie and I'm pleased with it. It's more convenient than the larger ones since they need a team lift when they're full. My best mod has been adding some Amsteel loops through the strap/lock holes and a shoulder strap from a tool bag. It's much easier to carry when it's full. I also precool mine with 1 or 2 frozen milk jugs the night before.

 

[Utah KJ]

There's a thread on here that discusses the crappy manufacture and customer service offered by Pelican on their cooler. I use a Yeti and I'm kind of a big deal.