Ozark Trail 73-Quart & 26-Quart High Performance Roto-Molded Coolers - "Real World" Test

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Walmart sells them when you can find them.

 

End of Day 2

The 26 had a ball of ice surrounded by all water this evening so I broke it up and restocked the cooler. The 73 was still solid ice but I was able to take a bottle of water and chip away at the edges. Couldn't break into the center of it though. I restocked the 73 as much as I could down the sides of the cooler where I was able to see a little water and on top of the ice block just enough so I could cover the drinks with ice. Obviously I could pile more cans and/or bottles in there but I didn't see the point since they would only be sitting on top and not really being chilled.

73qt this morning:


73qt now:


26qt this morning:


26qt now:

 

Day 3

The 73 is beginning to show signs of mortality now as the ice melts. I'd be willing to bet it'll go at least another 3 days.



The 26 is mostly water now with a couple inches of ice floating on top. I think it'll keep things cold for the rest of the day but probably won't last the night.

 

@dan0mite Thanks for the reports/pics.
I'd say that 73 looks like a good deal.

 

Based on your observations why such a drastic difference between the two? Is it simply because the 73 is so much larger the ice is its own insulator or is it a design/structural thing? I have some cheapo 5 day coolers that last longer than the 26 but the 73 seems to be on a completely different level.

 

I agree! The 73 is doing a great job!

I'm pretty happy with the 26 too as my whole thought process in buying it was as a day trip cooler to the beach or something where I didn't want to lug around something massive.

 

I like the size of the 50 something, and would guess performance would be somewhere between these two? checking walmarts I pass in my travels

 

I'm sure it has to do with the amount of insulation as well as the size of the cooler. The larger the cooler the more insulation it has and the more ice it'll hold. More ice lasts longer than less ice.

 

And the beverages that you have in there will take up more space than ice, in the small one, compared to the large one.

 

They're advertising the 73 to hold ice 9 days, the 52 to hold ice 7 days, and the 26 to hold ice for 4.5 days.

I don't doubt these claims if you put ice in them and never open them which is why I wanted to test these out myself. Since Tuesday, my thirst has been quenched from these coolers only so I've been going in and out of them a lot.

 

Gotta quench man. No use having cold beverages in there just sitting in a cold pond.

 

End of Day 3

73qt this morning:


73qt now:


26qt this morning:


26qt now:

 

I'm still impressed with both. But like you said the 26 is much more convent for beach trips exc. if I was going on a road trip the larger cooler would be a better option due to the increased compasity.

 

You should do a "standard" test next. Fill both with ice to the top, keep it in the shade, and check it once a day. I bet both would be a 7 day cooler!

 

Day 4

The 26 is done. No signs of ice other than the very cold water. I've moved all the drinks from the 26 to the 73.



The 73 is still going strong with a solid block of ice that formed itself in the beginning. I've been restocking around the edges and am debating on breaking up the ice block. I'm leaning towards breaking it up tonight when I restock it again.



Anybody have any thoughts on if the ice block should be broken up or not?

 

I suggest not as the more surface area that you have the faster the ice would melt. One large chuck of ice should have less SA then many little pieces.

 

I agree with you there but let's say we're not testing the cooler but using for real on a weeklong trip. Would you break up the ice or not under that scenario?

 

I would have broke it up in a real world scenario, to allow for a more convenient restocking area.

Unless I knew I was going to be away from the ability to refill with more ice, then I would leave it alone.

 

And that's the fork in the road for me. I think I'm leaning towards breaking it up a bit to find the "worst case scenario" in my "real world" test.

If we know what the worst case is, we'll know it can only be better.