Greatest Backpack Coolers of 2024

In the present day’s fashionable backpack coolers for the outside resolve a elementary drawback campers, hikers, and fishermen and girls have struggled with for years: conserving your drinks and meals cool with out carrying a cumbersome, hard-sided cooler for miles into the wilderness. Old skool coolers simply aren’t nice for prolonged hikes. Plastic coolers are cumbersome, heavy, and awkward to hold for lengthy distances. Thankfully, at this time’s cooler backpacks have higher insulation and might even retain ice longer.

Before you purchase one thing on your subsequent backcountry tenting journey or a day of fly fishing, examine our picks for the very best backpack coolers that can make your outside adventures much more gratifying.

Greatest Backpack Coolers

Specs

• Dimensions: 15.3” x 9.9” x 18.1”
• Weight: 5.6 kilos
• Capability: 36 cans (with out ice)

Execs

• Superior ice retention
• Comfy and light-weight to hold
• Massive capability

Cons

• Dearer than others we examined

Yeti is the gold normal of coolers, and the Hopper M20 isn’t any exception. I’ve been utilizing the Hopper for years now as my go-to backpack cooler, whether or not I’m going tenting, heading out on the boat, or simply spending a day on the seaside or pool. It’s sufficiently big to carry drinks for an in a single day journey but sufficiently small that it doesn’t really feel overkill for a day outing.

What actually units the Hopper—and any Yeti cooler for that matter—other than the others is its ice retention. Due to the distinctive closed-cell foam insulation, it may well maintain ice frozen for not less than 24 hours. I can personally attest to this. I left it exterior in the summertime with ice inside in a single day and woke as much as still-cold drinks.

Different highlights are the leakproof liner, double-stitched building for sturdiness, and exterior grid design that permits you to hook different gear and equipment to the skin for straightforward entry (I exploit this for bottle openers and towels). I additionally love the MagShield magnetic closure which is simple to snap open and shut but is robust sufficient to remain securely closed whilst you’re carrying it or tossing it within the truck.

Specs

• Dimensions: 12.5” x 9” x 25”
• Weight: 6.6 kilos
• Capability: 24 cans (with out ice)

Execs

• Wonderful ice retention
• Dry storage pockets are useful
• Comfy to hold

Cons

• Value
• Space for storing is diminished by insulation

Most backpack coolers don’t have compartments which can be designed for multi-day ice retention. Nevertheless, the Boss 30L is the exception. It has among the thickest polar plus insulation available on the market. All that insulation reduces the storage capability, after all, however that is the one to think about in case you are searching for one thing for a multi-day tenting journey. It could additionally perform as a daily backpack in a pinch.

We like this cooler for surf or pier fishermen as a result of it has two dry facet pockets and a big entrance pocket—nice locations to soundly stow a cellular phone, digicam, or different digital gadget you don’t need getting moist. There are additionally loops for holding a pair of pliers, a internet, gaff, or different fishing equipment. Our solely knock in opposition to it’s that it’s a somewhat costly cooler. Nevertheless, it’s good for individuals who want one thing slightly extra rugged with wonderful ice retention qualities.

Specs

• Dimensions: 14” x 9” x 20”
• Weight: 3.5 kilos
• Capability: 24 cans

Execs

• Easy design with quick access
• Beneficiant storage capability
• Vacuum vale is a pleasant added characteristic

Cons

Not many gentle coolers have the beneficiant 25-quart storage capability of the Engel. This cooler has a quite simple roll-top design and welded seams that assist to maintain the chilly trapped inside and makes the cooler leakproof. The closed cell foam insulation permits for 2 to a few days of ice retention.

We like this cooler for anybody who’s tough on their gear. The outer shell is constructed of 840 denier material that can stand as much as an actual beating if you happen to toss it on the bottom, in a truck mattress, or wherever. As a bonus, this cooler has a characteristic many different opponents don’t: a vacuum valve that permits you to suck the air out and enhance the effectivity of the insulation. It’s a pleasant little characteristic to have for a multi-day tenting or kayak journey.

Specs

• Dimensions: 14.49” x 16.97” x 21.5”
• Weight: 8 kilos
• Capability: 20 cans and a bag of ice

Execs

• Inexpensive
• Floats
• Water- and leakproof

Cons

For many who love the sand between their toes. The RTIC incorporates a welded design with a zip-top to seal your meals and drinks within the chilly. It’s lengthy sufficient to retailer a full-size wine bottle. We like this one for anglers too for the easy reality that it’s going to float. No extra worries about shedding an costly cooler over the sting of a pier or out of your boat. That $170, this cooler packs in most of the leakproof options of a model like Yeti at a fraction of the price of different choices available on the market.

The one actual draw back to this cooler is the zipper, which a good quantity of shoppers say has points with sticking. Most report they wanted to lubricate it to make it simpler to tug and to maintain it from sticking. For the value level, that’s a small drawback to beat.

Specs

• Dimensions: N/A
• Weight: N/A
• Capability: 20 cans and 10 kilos of ice

Execs

• Latch seal opens with one hand
• Waist belt and sternum strap
• High quality YKK zippers

Cons

• Some customers might not just like the ridigity of the lid

There are cheaper backpack coolers available on the market, however not many that supply the identical capability because the Coldsnap Latch. This cooler has a somewhat distinctive lid so far as backpack coolers are involved. It’s a inflexible plastic with a single massive snap that opens the inside for straightforward entry. There’s a bottle opener and a few good mesh facet pockets for slightly added worth. Bass Professional Retailers included some massive, high quality YKK zippers which can be massive, and straightforward to function, and set this cooler other than among the others on this listing. You should not have any points with these zippers getting caught.

Another good options embrace a waist strap and a chest strap to assist maintain the cooler safer throughout a tough hike. For $129, this cooler presents a substantial amount of worth that make it nice for basic function outside makes use of.

Specs

• Dimensions: 14” x 11” x 24”
• Weight: N/A
• Capability: 24 cans

Execs

• Extraordinarily massive capability
• Air valve for added insulation
• Straightforward to entry contents

Cons

• Might not maintain ice so long as different choices

The Ice Mule Professional Xtra Massive is the cooler for anybody who’s searching for bigger storage capability. At 33L, this cooler will maintain as much as 24 normal 12-ounce cans with ice. This makes it a superb alternative for anybody who plans to take sufficient food and drinks for the whole household. The roll prime design makes every thing within the massive storage compartment simple to entry rapidly.

Ice Mule added an air valve to this mannequin to assist with the insulation this one gives. Nevertheless, the draw back to this cooler is that it could not retain ice so long as among the different fashions on this listing. We see this one as a fantastic day mountaineering or boating choice for bigger teams.

How We Examined Backpack Coolers

When selecting the right backpack coolers, we thought-about our personal hands-on expertise with many of those manufacturers. We additionally checked out different vital components when deciding which cooler is greatest for every situation. Primarily we thought-about the next:

• Supplies: What’s the cooler comprised of? Is it sturdy? Is it sustainable? Waterproof?
• Storage Capability: Simply how a lot can the cooler maintain? Is it strictly for food and drinks, or can or not it’s used as a daily backpack?
• Ice Retention: How lengthy is the cooler rated to carry ice?
• Worth: How budget-friendly is that this backpack?

Shopping for Information

The cooler you select is often greatest mirrored based mostly on how you intend to make use of it. Everybody desires the very best ice retention, however you don’t want one thing that can maintain for a number of days if you happen to solely plan to take your cooler to the seaside often.

If you’re planning on doing some severe mountaineering along with your cooler, you’ll need to get one thing with the very best padded straps. Your shoulders will thanks when the straps aren’t slicing in with the majority of twenty kilos of ice within the again. The inside of the cooler should even be bolstered to be waterproof. The very last thing anybody desires is to really feel chilly melting water down their again from a leaky cooler.

Why Belief Us

For greater than 125 years, Subject & Stream has been offering readers with sincere and genuine protection of outside gear. Our writers and editors eat, sleep, and breathe the outside, and that zeal comes by way of in our product evaluations. You’ll be able to depend on F&S to maintain you updated on the very best new gear. And once we write a few product—whether or not it’s a bass lure or a backpack—we cowl the great and the unhealthy, so you recognize precisely what to anticipate earlier than you determine to make a purchase order.