Ozark Trail "High Performance" cooler - any good?

[JakeH]

One of my buddies (and his wife) are Walmart/Sam's buyers at the home office in Arkansas. I'm not sure if they do sporting goods, but I'll shoot him a text & see what he knows.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

True in general but here aren't we talking about the difference between medium density closed poly foam and open cell? The denser insulation is going to have a better r-value in this type of insulation and be heavier, and foam isn't a great transferer of heat to begin with. Kind of like going from lightweight fiberglass insulation in homes to sprayed in foam insulation now, it's denser but in the densities we are talking about it doesn't make a huge difference but you are gaining a lot of r-value.

I have two coolers I use generally, the Coleman extreme feels like there is nothing in the walls and my Yeti weighs 50 lbs. I dont' see that weight difference getting made up in rope handles and latches, not sure about the roto molded plastic. The foam makes up the majority of the thing, I still consider weight to be a decent indicator of the quality of the cooler, and that's all I was getting at there. The Yeti will hold ice for two weeks in the utah desert in the summer, and the coleman for 3 days. I've never cut open a Yeti to inspect the foam, but I always thought the "Pressure-injected commercial-grade polyurethane foam" was part of the equation. It has to be heavier than the lightweight open cell foam used in cheap coolers I thought.

Most of the weight difference between the cheap blowmolded coolers and the high end rotomolded coolers is in the thickness of the plastic shell and the better hardware and seals. Think about the difference in weight between the black rubber latches on a Yeti vs the simple plastic button latch on an Igloo, then add the hinges, seals, drain plugs, feet, baskets, etc. Another component of the weight is that the rotomolded coolers are physically larger than the blowmolded coolers in the same nominal size, because the rotos have thicker insulation cavities, so more of the heavy plastic walls and more of the actual insulation. Closed cell foam is a little bit denser than open cell, and it usually works better to encapsulate air and prevent air migration. It's not the foam material that provides the insulation value, it's the air that the foam traps. Quality blown-in foam from offshore manufacturers can be better than domestic foam because the EPA changed the chemistry a few years ago on the gasses used to expand polyisocyanurate foam, to protect the ozone layer, and the new formula gives up a few percentage points in R-value compared to the old stuff that is still legal in a lot of countries. It's legal here as long as you don't blow it here.

If you are getting two weeks of ice in a Yeti in Utah summers, then it must not be too hot in that part of Utah. I have a couple of rotomolded Orca 58s and a buddy has a couple of giant Yetis, and neither one will hold ice in Arizona for more than about three days when it gets real hot. Most of the comparisons on the interwebs show that Orca is slightly better than Yeti at holding ice, but I don't see any practical difference. I had my white Orca 58 in Yuma last week, in the back of a white truck with a white shell, and I was adding 10-20 pounds of ice per day to that one. Had lots of cold water, but the cubes were gone every afternoon that I did not add ice.

 

[Ricer_X_01]

My 52 went through 20 pounds of ice in 24 hours while I was on white rim road mid June... 100+ degrees. Cooler was still below 40 degrees, but was all water.

 

[t4runner]

My 52 went through 20 pounds of ice in 24 hours while I was on white rim road mid June... 100+ degrees. Cooler was still below 40 degrees, but was all water.

That's not a good sign..

 

[perkj]

My 52 went through 20 pounds of ice in 24 hours while I was on white rim road mid June... 100+ degrees. Cooler was still below 40 degrees, but was all water.

Did you prechill the cooler before hand? Were all the contents you put in the cooler already cold as well? What was your ice to content ratio? Was the cooler filled to the very top with ice and contents, i.e. No space left for an air pocket? How often was the cooler opened? Was the cooler in direct sun or in the shade?

The net here is there is a lot of factors that go into getting the best performance out of this or any cooler.


Also only 20 lbs of ice in 50 quart cooler is absolutely not enough and is a huge factor why you only saw it last 1 day. I for example use 20 lbs of ice in my 26 qt orzark which allowed for 18 beers and this lasted my 4 days, which is the claimed performance on the 26er. See my post #88 in the thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ce-quot-cooler-any-good?p=2062632#post2062632

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Did you prechill the cooler before hand? Were all the contents you put in the cooler already cold as well? What was your ice to content ratio? Was the cooler filled to the very top with ice and contents, i.e. No space left for an air pocket? How often was the cooler opened? Was the cooler in direct sun or in the shade?

The net here is there is a lot of factors that go into getting the best performance out of this or any cooler.


Also only 20 lbs of ice in 50 quart cooler is absolutely not enough and is a huge factor why you only saw it last 1 day. I for example use 20 lbs of ice in my 26 qt orzark which allowed for 18 beers and this lasted my 4 days, which is the claimed performance on the 26er. See my post #88 in the thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...32#post2062632

FWIW, my Orca 58 was filled pretty much to the top, first load of ice was 30 pounds bounced around to fill cavities between the drinks and leveled off at the top so the lid would compress the ice when closed. When that prechill load had melted, I drained and refilled back to the top when I got to AZ. That load lasted about two days, but at that point the whole truck had heated up to Yuma ambient temps and was radiating heat into the cooler, from then on we needed a bag of ice every day. Drinks were cold enough without the additional ice, but we use the ice melt for various washup tasks. Ambients were around 110F, and it was still 90F at midnight so no chance for things to cool off much.

 

[Ricer_X_01]

Did you prechill the cooler before hand? Were all the contents you put in the cooler already cold as well? What was your ice to content ratio? Was the cooler filled to the very top with ice and contents, i.e. No space left for an air pocket? How often was the cooler opened? Was the cooler in direct sun or in the shade?

The net here is there is a lot of factors that go into getting the best performance out of this or any cooler.


Also only 20 lbs of ice in 50 quart cooler is absolutely not enough and is a huge factor why you only saw it last 1 day. I for example use 20 lbs of ice in my 26 qt orzark which allowed for 18 beers and this lasted my 4 days, which is the claimed performance on the 26er. See my post #88 in the thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ce-quot-cooler-any-good?p=2062632#post2062632

I was on a month long road trip... this was about 3 weeks into it. Cooler was prechilled and full of beverages and food. We may have gone into it a half a dozen times through out the day. Cooler was strapped into my Xterra the entire trip and I wasn't using the a/c the day we were on white rim. 20lbs of ice is all I could fit with contents inside.


This was the only time it blew through ice this fast. I did the Mojave road the week before and we saw temps of 112 degrees inside my Xterra and still had ice when we completed the road.

 

[Ricer_X_01]

The whole trip I would add ice every couple of days, about every other day in the desert. I got a thermometer I kept inside and never let the temp exceed 42 degrees.

 

[davis31052]

Thanks Xrunner! I dropped an order. We'll see if it get processed. I have my doubts.

Got my 52 quart coolers today. Both look really good. Drain plug gaskets, one large and one small in place, lid seal works good, and no damage anywhere. 26 qrt arrives on Monday. That'll square me up for coolers for a good long while.

 

[fredgoodsell]

If you are getting two weeks of ice in a Yeti in Utah summers, then it must not be too hot in that part of Utah. I have a couple of rotomolded Orca 58s and a buddy has a couple of giant Yetis, and neither one will hold ice in Arizona for more than about three days when it gets real hot.

I run commercial river trips in the summers. We run a variety of these rotomolded brands of coolers, including a bunch of yetis. Every one of them will still have 1/3 - 1/2 the initial ice remaining after five or six days of sitting out in the 100 degree sun. We don't precool them, but we do use block ice.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

river trips

I would guess that is the key. Lots of cool/cold water, plenty of splashing and evaporative cooling, maybe some shade when you are camped. If you are using inflatables, the bottom of the boat is a lot cooler than the bed of a truck in the desert. Different conditions, different results.

 

[Shlaytim]

Hello all, just wanted to pass along to everyone here on Expo a little tid bit on getting one of these coolers. Go to dailysavesonline.com, it is walmarts hidden web site I guess, anyways type "ozark trail 73 quart cooler" in the search bar, when it pops up it will show $194.00, click on add to cart, comes up $155.95 with free shipping on orders over $50. I looked up the 52quart and it shows it for 147.00, click on add to cart, pops up as $117.95. I ordered the 73 quart, paid with pay pal, order processed. Hope to have it in a couple days. Hope y'all found this useful, I like getting a good deal, thought I would share with the rest ya's!

edit: just checked the 26 quart, it $96, click on it and it drops to $76.:victory:

 

[HenryJ]

Hello all, just wanted to pass along to everyone here on Expo a little tid bit on getting one of these coolers. Go to dailysavesonline.com, it is walmarts hidden web site I guess, anyways type "ozark trail 73 quart cooler" in the search bar, when it pops up it will show $194.00, click on add to cart, comes up $155.95 with free shipping on orders over $50. .... I ordered the 73 quart, paid with pay pal, order processed. Hope to have it in a couple days...

Boy hope this works! Been watching for a 73 qt for a while now.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

Hello all, just wanted to pass along to everyone here on Expo a little tid bit on getting one of these coolers. Go to dailysavesonline.com, it is walmarts hidden web site I guess, anyways type "ozark trail 73 quart cooler" in the search bar, when it pops up it will show $194.00, click on add to cart, comes up $155.95 with free shipping on orders over $50. I looked up the 52quart and it shows it for 147.00, click on add to cart, pops up as $117.95. I ordered the 73 quart, paid with pay pal, order processed. Hope to have it in a couple days. Hope y'all found this useful, I like getting a good deal, thought I would share with the rest ya's!

edit: just checked the 26 quart, it $96, click on it and it drops to $76.

Site looks legit, but I sent the link to a friend and he tried to order a cooler. According to him, they only accept PayPal and BitCoin. Red flags abound! Anyone else seeing that?

Edit: I just tried to call their "contact us" number on the website and it has been disconnected. I'm staying clear until somebody has better info.

 

[Shlaytim]

Forgive my ignorance, but why does using Paypal or bitcoin present a red flag? I've used Paypal for years hassle free.