The best soft coolers

The Polar Bear H2O is the only cooler we found with full closed-cell insulation, which might be the reason it holds ice and stays cold longer than any other cooler we tested.

The Polar Bear H2O is one loud cooler. It comes in Laffy Taffy blue or fire engine red smattered with large white block lettering and polar bears, so this cooler would be hard to lose, and with the amount of insulation built-in and its remarkable ice retention capabilities, you certainly wouldn't want to.

I filled the Polar Bear with the small amount of ice I found in my father's freezer, and although it wasn't optimally packed, the cooler retained ice cubes for the better part of the day and into the night.

Despite the insufficient amount of ice with which I packed it, everything inside stayed extremely cold, I think in thanks to the generously insulated lining, which gives one the impression that there's hardly any room in the cooler. Upon filling it, however, you may find that it appears bottomless. Whenever I thought it was about full, there was room for another can. What the insulation does when it's not full is take up space that would otherwise be occupied by air, which I'm guessing would have allowed things to thaw much more quickly.

If it weren't for the zipper, which looks airtight and leakproof but in fact is not, this cooler would be giving the YETI a run for its money. And while the pattern is fun — if loud — I can't help but wonder if it doesn't drive away some potential customers who'd prefer to fly under the radar. I certainly caught the eyes of a few fellow subway riders in Manhattan.

All in all, this is a quality cooler with generous insulation — actually, it's the only cooler we've tested that's truly closed-cell. It stays cold and holds ice the longest, even in spite of the zipper that leaks. If the company would offer a logo-free version with an airtight zipper, I'd have an excruciating time choosing between it and the Yeti Hopper Two.

According to Wirecutter, the Polar Bear H2O bore 7.25 cups of ice melt at the end of a 24-hour test, three-quarters of a cup less than what the Yeti had. My slightly less scientific testing found about the same amount of ice melt in each, so it's probably safe to say that the difference in ice retention capabilities borders on being negligible.

Pros: The most effective, best-insulated cooler we've tested

Cons: Zipper leaks, the printed decal might be too busy for some (but also keep in mind it's a cooler)

The IceMule Pro is lightweight, compactable, essentially waterproof, and it won't break the bank.

I've been using a dry bag to store my catch for way too long. Whether just trying to keep a few beverages cold or hopping the subway with a load of live seafood, I'd never stopped to consider whether someone makes a cooler out of a drybag. Well, they do, and now my clams are not baked before seeing the inside of the oven, and my back is no longer cold and wet from long hikes home with my dry bag slung over my shoulder, sweating from the ice inside that's cooling my catch.

Enter IceMule and its wonderfully designed drybag-style coolers, which are insulated to the point of being just sufficiently padded to wear as a backpack without having fish spines or precariously packed beer bottles digging into your kidneys. They're also completely airtight thanks to the dry-bag-style design, which eliminates the fail point of a zipper.

The IceMule line has received a good deal of praise despite a few early hiccups with design, including torn inner lining, water getting between the exterior and interior linings, and a cheap, beach-ball-like air release valve. As far as I can tell, however, all of these issues have been addressed and resolved, and having an IceMule Pro to zip back and forth between the dock and the apartment with my catch has been an absolute delight. And, when you're not using it, it folds flat and stores easily. It also doubles well as a regular backpack.

The IceMule Pro comes in either vinyl or canvas, and after having tested both, I feel a little more confident in and comfortable wearing the canvas. On the other hand, the canvas only comes in black, which may not be the best color for a cooler.

Pros: Lightweight, fairly priced, stowable, "burping" valve to let out excess air, easy to clean

Cons: Insulation could be better

AO Coolers are less than a third of the price of our top picks, but they are still excellent at keeping food and drinks cold.

They may not be dirt cheap, but there's no way we're recommending any of the dirt-cheap coolers we've tried. They either have inferior insulation, stitching, or leak from the outset. AO's coolers are the most inexpensive soft coolers we'll stand by.

What makes this cooler our pick is the 3/4-inch insulation and the durable exterior lining, whether you choose the canvas, vinyl, or woven vinyl model.

While the company claims that the 3/4-inch is closed-cell, one of Wirecutter's reporters sliced an AO canvas coolers open in 2015 and found that it was open-cell. It seems like the company may have stepped up the insulation because there's something different in 2018's Carbon Series cooler. Still, I can feel a lot of cool air escaping from the cooler beside me, but it's not enough to cause my ice to melt at an alarming rate.

The stitching throughout is not exactly marvelous, and out of the box I've made note of a couple of loose sections that don't bode well, but it wouldn't be the end of the world, or the cooler, even if they did go.

Several buyers reported trucking around with these coolers for several days in mid-summer heat and still finding cold contents inside, and many compared its function to the Yeti Hopper.

On the other hand, a small group of reviewers also found inconsistencies and loose stitches, which I'm now convinced happens with some frequency, and the basic YKK zipper also leads me to believe it doesn't quite stack up to the Yeti.

Still, within the price range, this is the best cooler we've found. And if you're not storing things for days at a time, there's really no need to spring for the Yeti, which, again, is six times the price. For those that already have a Yeti, or are planning on picking one up, this is the best inexpensive secondary cooler in which to keep sandwiches and drinks.

Pros: Price, thick insulation, durable exterior lining

Cons: Cheap zipper, inconsistencies in stitching

Packing (and using) your cooler

Firstly, is there a good ice-to-stuff ratio? If you start out with minimal ice, you're heading into a losing battle. YETI recommends reserving two-thirds of your cooler's space for ice. If that's unrealistic, you might at least consider shooting for a fifty-fifty ratio.

Secondly, the more regularly you open your cooler, the more hot air you're letting in, meaning you could have the fly-est, most expensive chilly bin on earth, but if you're cracking it open to fish out a brew every half-hour, it's no better than the cheap, disposable styrofoam coolers on offer in the freezer section at the grocery store.

How you pack your ice and deciding which ice to pack are just as important as how much ice you pack. Are you going on a short trip? Do you have food packed in bags that are liable to let ice melt seep inside? Maybe cooler packs or frozen water bottles are your better option. Just toting drinks or beer cans? Cubed ice, especially as it melts, does a superlative job of keeping beverages cold. If you're shaking out the sails for a long voyage, block ice is the only way to go, difficult as it may be to find.

Always do your best to stagger your ice so that it's evenly chilling everything. If ice is just on the bottom the contents in the top of your cooler may be high and dry, but they could also be less than cold, which is not why you put something in a cooler in the first place.

The best backpack coolers you can buy

Backpack coolers are a convenient and comfortable way to carry cold food and drinks with you when you're camping, hiking, or wandering about the wilderness. Yeti's Hopper Backflip 24 backpack cooler sets a high standard of quality for backpack coolers with a durable, insulated, leakproof design and a comfortable load system that evenly distributes weight.

Here are our top picks for the best backpack coolers:

• Best backpack cooler overall: Yeti Hopper Backflip 24
• Best backpack cooler for easy access: Hydro Flask Soft Cooler Pack
• Best multi-purpose backpack cooler: OtterBox Trooper LT 30
• Best heavy duty backpack cooler: IceMule Boss
• Best budget-friendly backpack cooler: Barebones Backpack Cooler

The best coolers you can buy

Whether you're heading out for a weekend camping trip, an afternoon in the park, a tailgating party, or you're grilling in the backyard, you'll need a cooler if you like cold drinks and fresh food.

The coolers we chose are all distinct from one another in multiple ways. There's a good chance that a few of them will be the outright wrong choice for some people, but there's a great chance that at least one will be the absolute best cooler for you.

Here are our top picks for the best coolers you can buy:

• Best overall: Coleman Performance 48-Quart Cooler
• Best backpack cooler: Igloo Marine Backpack Cooler
• Best for longterm use: Yeti Tundra 75
• Best soft cooler: Pelican Elite Soft Cooler
• Best cooler bag: CleverMade Cooler Tote
• Best cooler with wheels: RovR RollR cooler