Ozark Trail "High Performance" cooler - any good?

[Ricer_X_01]

Well, it leaks like a sieve too until you put teflon tape on the threads...
I bought a brass cap and it leaked too. Worse. And sweated even more. I'm guessing that the threads are just ever-so-slightly too small and get even smaller when they're cooled. Could use a softer gasket too.

You must've missed the part where I stated I had to use Teflon tape as well. My first day out with the cooler it soaked my back seat down to the cushion and started dripping on to my carpeting. Teflon taped it and didn't leak a drop afterwards. The larger orange opening didn't leak, it was the smaller hose sized black cap.

 

[pyrate]

Hey pyrate, you're right in that stocking and availability decisions are more on Walmart's side of things, but I will definitely pass on your comments and the other comments I've seen here about stock and availability to my team who work with the folks at Walmart.

As for the online store, an alternative tool that I have used in the past has been visualping.io <- It's a free tool that will email you whenever a selected area of a webpage changes. (Such as the area that shows the price and "out of stock"). Though I have found sometimes I get pings when minor changes to the pages are made as well. But it might be a good idea to use both Walmart's email notifications and the visualping.

Thanks again for your input, it's comments like these that help smooth out the growing pains when it comes to bringing a product like this to the market.

Thanks again,
Cam

Thanks for your interest. Bringing a new item into the marketplace is a tough thing and supply and demand issues, on even the highest quality product, will kill the short window of opportunity.

 

[kojackJKU]

too bad you could not reach out to walmart and tell them to sell the ozark trail gear in canada like the used to. That would be great ha ha!

 

[CamFromCI]

RE: Drain leaking

..
I'm reaching out to the design team right now to see if they have any tips or tricks for the drain. Also, if the drain continues to leak or you feel the cap is defective, definitely feel free to reach out to our support team (service(at)ca-innovations(dot)com) and they can see what they can do about sending out a new one.
...

Hey Everyone,

I've reached out to the design team about the issue some of you have had with the drain.

In our testing we haven't experienced any leaks and the drains shouldn't require Teflon tape to seal them. Both larger size coolers are shipped with the small cap just loose enough to prevent a vacuum inside the cooler. As well, once they are on the shelves in the store, it's likely that someone could have loosened or inspected the drains when they were considering a purchase.

We'd really like to encourage everyone to check over the drain and the hose cap and make sure both are very tight and that nothing is cross threaded before packing their cooler. If you've done that and you feel there is still a problem with the drain/cap, definitely give us a call or email our support team and we'll send over a new drain cap.

Thanks again,
- Cam

 

[Hilldweller]

Hey Everyone,

I've reached out to the design team about the issue some of you have had with the drain.

In our testing we haven't experienced any leaks and the drains shouldn't require Teflon tape to seal them. Both larger size coolers are shipped with the small cap just loose enough to prevent a vacuum inside the cooler. As well, once they are on the shelves in the store, it's likely that someone could have loosened or inspected the drains when they were considering a purchase.

We'd really like to encourage everyone to check over the drain and the hose cap and make sure both are very tight and that nothing is cross threaded before packing their cooler. If you've done that and you feel there is still a problem with the drain/cap, definitely give us a call or email our support team and we'll send over a new drain cap.

Thanks again,
- Cam

They're very tight and leak, Cam.
They have a retaining tab over the threads that prevent the little cap from being tightened all the way; if you don't remove the tab the cooler leaks a very steady drip. If you remove the tab and tighten the cap more it leaks slower.

Trust us. We're all pretty bright and very experienced campers.

 

[CamFromCI]

They're very tight and leak, Cam.
They have a retaining tab over the threads that prevent the little cap from being tightened all the way; if you don't remove the tab the cooler leaks a very steady drip. If you remove the tab and tighten the cap more it leaks slower.

Trust us. We're all pretty bright and very experienced campers.

Thanks Hilldweller, it definitely sounds like it's not functioning the way it should.

If you haven't contacted us for a replacement drain already, you can PM me here with your shipping details or send the service team an email (email in my signature), or call toll free: 1-888-413-2665 and we can get a replacement drain sorted out for you.

Also, definitely no doubt you guys are experienced campers here -- it's awesome to see a community with a 33 page cooler thread and complete with video reviews and performance testing!

The tip about making sure everything is as tight as can be was more meant to be a broad tip/reminder for everyone who is considering buying one, those who have purchased one and have yet to use it, or those who are experiencing minor leaking. I fixed my quote in my initial post to better reflect my response as a general response to help with troubleshooting. I'll be sure to share if I hear any new info about the drain.

Thanks again and definitely feel free to reach out and we'll help get it sorted out for you.
- Cam

 

[Fireman78]

Excellent thread!! Thanks for he info and the chuckles! I saw another review of a 40 dollar Yeti Tumbler (which I have and love) vs a 10 dollar Ozark Trail tumbler. Both performed the same ice water coldness retention but the Yetis lid was way tighter, which is super important to me. But still that's a huge price difference! I think I'll be picking up one of those Ozark Trail coolers just to bang around in the Jeep.


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[Drift]

Costco has yeti style coolers. They are the Igloo 70qt coolers for $200.

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[Hilldweller]

PM sent, Cam.

 

[CamFromCI]

PM sent, Cam.

Awesome, thanks Bill!

 

[Hilldweller]

Awesome, thanks Bill!

No --- Thank you.
Got my replacement cap from CI about an hour ago, filled it with water, and am happy to say that it's not leaking. I'll go home and fill the cooler with ice water to be sure though.
Could be as simple as a batch of bad gaskets for the cap.

 

[perkj]

Cam, PM sent as well regarding leaks on the caps of both my 52 and 73 qt Ozark's

 

[Hilldweller]

Victory.

Did the fill test last night, half ice and half water. No leaks this morning. Condensation of course.

The new orange cap is a darker orange by a full shade. The small gasket is wider and fills the black cap better.

Note to Cam: include a pair of replacement gaskets with every purchase and offer them for sale at Wallyworld. They will wear out, probably on a trip, and it will piss people off. I looked for good hose gaskets at Home Depot when mine first leaked and all I could find were hard plastic ones. I seem to remember (a long time ago) a cork and rubber combo gasket for hose caps that would help mitigate the sweating.

Thanks again. Looking forward to cold beer and a dry drawer in the galley.

Pictures of it in use:

 

[CamFromCI]

No --- Thank you.
Got my replacement cap from CI about an hour ago, filled it with water, and am happy to say that it's not leaking. I'll go home and fill the cooler with ice water to be sure though.
Could be as simple as a batch of bad gaskets for the cap.

Glad to hear!

Cam, PM sent as well regarding leaks on the caps of both my 52 and 73 qt Ozark's

Thanks perkj

Victory.

Did the fill test last night, half ice and half water. No leaks this morning. Condensation of course.

The new orange cap is a darker orange by a full shade. The small gasket is wider and fills the black cap better.

Note to Cam: include a pair of replacement gaskets with every purchase and offer them for sale at Wallyworld. They will wear out, probably on a trip, and it will piss people off. I looked for good hose gaskets at Home Depot when mine first leaked and all I could find were hard plastic ones. I seem to remember (a long time ago) a cork and rubber combo gasket for hose caps that would help mitigate the sweating.

Thanks again. Looking forward to cold beer and a dry drawer in the galley.

Pictures of it in use:

Hey Bill,

First of all, seriously epic set up you have there! Thanks for sharing!

About the replacement / extra parts: Setting up something for this is definitely something we are discussing with the team. We're working on creating a better online system to field questions and warranty requests as well. I'll update the board as soon as I can for sure.

 

[Ole Nasty]

I drove probably close to 60 miles around DFW looking for one,

Hudson Oaks Wal-Mart, off of I-20 towards Weatherford, always has them in stock.

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