Coolers, ranked
Every Car-Camping Cooler Ranked by Cost Per Day of Cold
The Coleman Chiller 48-Quart Cooler costs $0.27 per quart-day of advertised ice retention; the YETI Roadie 24 Cooler costs $2.60 - 9x on the same job. Every cooler we list on amazon.com, ranked; prices checked daily.
The three worth buying
From the ranking below, in stock on amazon.com today. Affiliate links: we earn a commission on Amazon purchases at no extra cost to you.
48 qt · 3 days of ice
Coleman Chiller 48-Quart Cooler
Best value: the most cold per dollar of anything we list.
~$39.58 · $0.27 per quart-day
Check price on Amazon50 qt · 5 days of ice
Coleman Xtreme 50-Quart Wheeled Cooler
The step up: better build than the budget picks, well under the YETI.
~$74.99 · $0.30 per quart-day
Check price on Amazon24 qt · 4 days of ice
YETI Roadie 24 Cooler
The durable one: rotomolded, five-year warranty, holds its resale.
~$250 · $2.60 per quart-day
Check price on AmazonHow the number is built
- · Which coolers. Every cooler we list on amazon.com: 15 of them.
- · Prices. amazon.com prices, checked daily.
- · Ice retention. The makers' advertised days. Real life is shorter for all of them; derate them together and the ranking does not move.
- · Formula.
price / (quarts × ice days). Lower is better, and greener in the table. - · Not measured. Durability, warranty, resale, whether you can stand on the lid.
The full ranking
| Cooler | Capacity | Advertised days | Price | Quart-days | $/qt-day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coleman Xtreme 52-Quart Coolerout of stock | 52 qt | 5 | $49.99 | 260 | $0.19 |
| Coleman Chiller 48-Quart Cooler | 48 qt | 3 | $39.58 | 144 | $0.27 |
| Igloo Profile II 50-Quart Cooler | 50 qt | 3 | $44.09 | 150 | $0.29 |
| Coleman Xtreme 50-Quart Wheeled Cooler | 50 qt | 5 | $74.99 | 250 | $0.30 |
| Coleman 50-Quart Xtreme 5-Day Wheeled Coolerout of stock | 50 qt | 4 | $69.99 | 200 | $0.35 |
| Coleman Classic 52-Quart Cooler | 52 qt | 3 | $54.99 | 156 | $0.35 |
| Coleman Xtreme 28-Quart Coolerout of stock | 28 qt | 3 | $29.99 | 84 | $0.36 |
| Igloo BMX 52-Quart Coolerout of stock | 52 qt | 5 | $99.99 | 260 | $0.38 |
| Coleman Classic Series 62-Qt Wheeled Cooler | 62 qt | 3 | $73.00 | 186 | $0.39 |
| Igloo Marine Ultra 30-Quart Cooler | 30 qt | 3 | $69.99 | 90 | $0.78 |
| Coleman Pro 45-Quart Hard Cooler | 45 qt | 4 | $150 | 180 | $0.83 |
| Coleman Excursion 16-Quart Coolerout of stock | 16 qt | 2 | $28.00 | 32 | $0.88 |
| Igloo Marine 25-Quart Cooler | 25 qt | 2 | $66.99 | 50 | $1.34 |
| Goplus 16-Quart Hard Cooler (24-Can) | 16 qt | 3 | $73.00 | 48 | $1.52 |
| YETI Roadie 24 Cooler | 24 qt | 4 | $250 | 96 | $2.60 |
Green is the best value, amber the worst. Prices checked daily; a linked name is in stock on amazon.com today.
Why this ranking is not just YETI-bashing
The YETI Roadie 24 Cooler is the most durable cooler here: rotomolded, five-year warranty, and a used one still sells for $150+. None of that shows up in cost per quart-day.
The YETI is the right answer when:
- You camp 20+ times a year (over ten years the per-trip cost nears the Coleman's)
- You also fish, tailgate or beach-day with it
- It rides in a truck bed or on a roof rack
- You sit on it (the rotomold lid takes an adult; the Coleman's does not)
It is the wrong answer for two or three fair-weather weekends a summer with gas-station ice. That camper gets the Coleman Chiller 48-Quart Cooler for 9x less per quart-day, and it still lasts five to eight years.
What to do
- Count your trips for the next three years, honestly. Under ten: buy from the top of the table.
- Over twenty: buy durability. The YETI earns its premium.
- In between: the Coleman Xtreme 50-Quart Wheeled Cooler - $0.30 per quart-day, a step up in build from the budget picks above it, 70% less than the YETI.
- Either way, the kit builder picks the cooler size for your group and your car.
Common questions
Where do the ice-retention numbers come from?
The makers' advertised days, from the Amazon listings and brand sites. Real-world retention is shorter for every cooler here; advertised days are the one figure every brand publishes, and derating them all by the same factor leaves the ranking alone.
Where do the prices come from?
amazon.com prices, checked daily. They move; the listing has today's.
Does this mean the YETI is bad?
No. It means the YETI Roadie 24 Cooler costs 9x more per quart-day of cooling than the Coleman Chiller 48-Quart Cooler, when you measure only price-versus-advertised-retention. YETI buys you durability (rotomold construction, near-indestructible), warranty (5 years), and resale value (used YETIs hold their price). If you camp 20+ times a year, fish, or use the cooler as a seat, those matter. For a casual car camper doing two trips a summer, they do not.
Why use quart-days as the denominator?
A cooler is worth how much it holds and for how long. Quarts times days puts both in one number; price divided by that is the fairest comparison public data allows.
What about ice cost?
Ignored: you pack the same ice into a $50 cooler as a $250 one, so it moves every number and none of the ranking.
How can I reproduce this table?
Price in dollars divided by quarts times advertised ice-retention days, for every cooler we list on amazon.com. The table is rebuilt from the same figures on every deploy.
Get the cooler that fits your trip
The right cooler size for your group and your car, with the rest of the kit around it. Six questions.
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