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

Nice review so far. I would love to find a 52 qt, but they are out of stock everywhere. Ozark Trail is basically Walmart's house brand so there is no reason they should be this hard to find!

 

me too, havent seen one in walmarts I have checked, hickory, boone, wilkesboro, charlotte, concord, kannapolis

 

Break it up to put more beverages in. Ain't no one got time for hot beverages. #realworldtest

 

Asheboro Walmart had some last time I looked online.

 

Already did it about 30 minutes ago after thinking the exact same thing!

 

Maybe you answered this already but I'm lazy and didn't read all the posts. I know you didn't precool the coolers but did you precool the drinks or put them in at room temperature?

 

They went in at ambient temperature since I had the cases of water and soda on the balcony with the coolers; however, the cases were pushed back in the corner and never in any direct sunlight.

 

Oh OK. So fair to say the ice should have done better than that but the ice had to cool the drinks 1st.

 

I've had the 26 quart for a few months now that I take with me on the Rzr. Great cooler for just a weekend trip. After normal in and out usage, by the end of the 2nd day you are digging through mostly water. For the price and how its built, I've been pretty happy with it. After seeing this thread, I'm really impressed with the bigger cooler.

 

That is correct. Nothing was precooled so the cooler and ice did all the work.

 

Actually have mine precooling right now with an old apple juice bottle filled with frozen water for this weekend. Will add drinks and ice to it when I get home and should last me through the weekend with ice!

 

Haha, I think we are competing for a cooler at the same walmart locations. I checked winston-salem, kernersville, lenoir, mocksville, & every other part of western NC, but they are all out too.

Not anymore, just checked.

Might have to suck it up and spend a little bit more to get the RTIC 45 qt if Walmart doesn't get any 52 qts in stock.

 

I'm gonna get one of each I think. Really impressive for the price. I have a couple of the 30oz Tumblers and 1 20oz and you can't beat them for the price.

 

Can't go wrong either way

 

End of Day 4

The 73 is hanging tough.

Morning:


Now:

 

Went to Walmart for some milk and came out with this instead. 73qt
And yes I did forget the milk

 

Day 5

I feel the 72 is going to last at least a few more days. When I went to open it this morning, I noticed the hardware on the lid holding the latch was loose so I ended up tightening all the hardware as it all needed it. Now I'm not sure it was right to begin with as I didn't check. Everything is snug now so I'll report back at the end of this test as to whether everything stayed tight or not.

 

I've also noticed for the last few days that while the 73 cooler was in direct sunlight, the top deformed a bit then went back after being back in the shade. This is something I'll have to keep an eye on because I wonder if it'll end up cracking. The 26 doesn't have this problem...

I'll snap a pic today of what I'm referring to.