Seeking the best car camping cooler for a holiday gift

Seeking cooler advice for a holiday gift! ❄  What is everyone's favorite mid-sized cooler (ideal for car camping)? Bonus points if it has a drain plug and a storage rack inside. Thank you!!

I bought an Orca off craigslist before a big summer road trip. Kept ice for 4-5 days in the New Mexico desert/mountains. We probably bought ice once a week on that trip. Not bad.

I have the rtic 45 , which has been awesome. Bulletproof and it keeps stuff cold. It is also nice to have an extra seat/cutting surface/stepstool around camp. 

Pelican...made in the USA. You can order racks or pans that fit inside them. 

Homitt 30 Can soft cooler -  this is a pretty nice cooler for the money.

RTIC - 30L soft cooler - sweet colors, good insulation.

I have this one from Walmart. Maybe not quite as high quality as RTIC or Yeti, but for someone like me who's just getting into camping it seems more than good enough. Kept things cold for three days at Horseshoe in summer with plenty of ice left.

I have a Pelican 30 quart cooler.  If I pack it correctly (using frozen gallons of water and filling the cooler completely), it will easily stay cold for a week in full summer heat.  It has a drain plug and you can optionally buy a rack that fits inside. The rack seems like a great idea, but I hardly use it because I typically am packing the cooler full.  I think the Pelican latches are better than Yeti-style rubber things.

The only cons I see are:
Price - Pelican is expensive.  However, an American Alpine Club membership gets you a Pelican Prodeal, so you can effectively pay for your AAC membership and then some with the Pelican discount.
Size - these kind of coolers have thick walls that make the cooler seem like it takes up a lot of space for the capacity.  The walls are 2 inches thick on all sides.

What everyone else said except don’t get a soft cooler. Those are fine for schlepping to a festival or 4th of July fireworks but suck for camping. Hell, you cant even sit on them. Yeti is the gold standard but since they went out of patent there are ton of great options. I wouldn’t get one that has a tone off fancy outside and inside gizmos. They might look nice on a comparison list but I find that that stuff usually gets annoying pretty quickly. Small cup holders would be nice; deep ones will fill up with crap and you’ll have to turn the whole cooler upside down to drain them. Strap slots for a hold down would be nice. Make sure it’s strong enough to sit and stand on. They’re great for when you’re loading up your roof-top boxes!
Mal

Coleman 62 qt. Xtreme Cooler

Holds a bunch, weighs much less than the overpriced ones, and works 80-90% as well. Heck use the extra space that you have, fill that with ice, and I bet you'd keep ice longer than a roto-molded cooler of the same effective capacity (say a Yeti 45). Also, the wheels have come in way more handy than I ever imagined.

negative: the cooler isn't as "cool" - I mean no one puts Coleman stickers on their truck. If the gift receiver is more practical, they'll appreciate this, if more vain, they'll want a Yeti-type one.

Nick Sweeney wrote: I have a Pelican 30 quart cooler.  If I pack it correctly (using frozen gallons of water and filling the cooler completely), it will easily stay cold for more a week in full summer heat.  It has a drain plug and you can optionally buy a rack that fits inside. The rack seems like a great idea, but I hardly use it because I typically am packing the cooler full.  I think the Pelican latches are better than Yeti-style rubber things.

The only cons I see are:
Price - Pelican is expensive.  However, an American Alpine Club membership gets you a Pelican Prodeal, so you can effectively pay for your AAC membership and then some with the Pelican discount.
Size - these kind of coolers have thick walls that make the cooler seem like it takes up a lot of space for the capacity.  The walls are 2 inches thick on all sides.

Another vote for Pelican coolers, spendy for sure but super bomber.  And a vote for AAC membership and Experticity disount.  For the price I'd much rather spend it on a Pelican than a Yeti given their design differences.  Bear-proof as well (or as close to it as you can get) if you add a padlock.  I opt for CoolerShock packs for shorter trips, and block ice for longer outings.  Have yet to have issues keeping things cold.

I also have several Coleman Extreme series coolers.  They are a good option if you don't want to drop the coin on a Pelican.  Only con from my perspective is they don't have a locking/lockable lid.

Further to the above, certified bear proof coolers like the Yeti are not bear proof and the NPS in Yosemite will not allow you keep them out. The park service there has all kinds of photos and videos of destroyed super-coolers.

Malcolm Daly wrote: Further to the above, certified bear proof coolers like the Yeti are not bear proof and the NPS in Yosemite will not allow you keep them out. The park service there has all kinds of photos and videos of destroyed super-coolers.

I can easily see a Yeti being defeated by a bear, but are there pics of a Pelican cooler that's been secured with a padlock being compromised?  

It always puzzles me why people buy expensive coolers, when you can get a nice 12v fridge for almost the same price. Way more functional and holds more stuff because you don't need to pack ice. No more soggy egg cartons!

Malcolm Daly wrote: Further to the above, certified bear proof coolers like the Yeti are not bear proof and the NPS in Yosemite will not allow you keep them out. The park service there has all kinds of photos and videos of destroyed super-coolers.

An insta-blogger/influencer lady got her Jeep destroyed this summer in Ouray, because she left what she thought her "bear proof" cooler in it.

doligo wrote:

An insta-blogger/influencer lady got her Jeep destroyed this summer in Ouray, because she left what she thought her "bear proof" cooler in it.

Whether or not the bear can get into the cooler's contents, she's an idiot if she expected it to control odors of said contents and left it in her vehicle.  

12v fridges are great if you are traveling. Not so good if you are camping. I had one years ago when I spend a year traveling the U.S. & Canada, it worked great as long as I keep my batteries charged. 

C J wrote:

Whether or not the bear can get into the cooler's contents, she's an idiot if she expected it to control odors of said contents and left it in her vehicle.  

Oh yeah, there were lots of other dumb things she did like "pretending to be dead" instead of scaring the bear away while it was destroying her car. Ouray is not a grizzly country for those who are not familiar.

The Coleman 70 qt Xtreme Marine Cooler has been a winner for me.

Back in March I had this guy out at camp for 5 days at Joshua Tree and there was still ice left at the end of the week.

This video does a pretty good job comparing it against the top-of-the-line models. Bang for your buck, you can't go wrong.

Matt N wrote: Coleman 62 qt. Xtreme Cooler

Holds a bunch, weighs much less than the overpriced ones, and works 80-90% as well. Heck use the extra space that you have, fill that with ice, and I bet you'd keep ice longer than a roto-molded cooler of the same effective capacity (say a Yeti 45). Also, the wheels have come in way more handy than I ever imagined.

negative: the cooler isn't as "cool" - I mean no one puts Coleman stickers on their truck. If the gift receiver is more practical, they'll appreciate this, if more vain, they'll want a Yeti-type one.

Don't forget the importance of being able to carry them on a rack outside of your overlanding vehicle.  The overland crowd with their crap proudly displayed outside their vehicles (cooler, shovel, axe, fuel, tracks, trashbags ++++) always reminds me of climbers who like dangling their crap outside of their backpacks.

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-cooler

There's a ton of good coolers. You should state a price range, really. Also, outside dimensions are important. I like the Pelicans but they're much bigger, externally, than an equivalent volume Yeti or RTIC. I own both a Yeti 45 and  a much bigger Igloo. 

The thing about a bear proof cooler "failing" because someone's car got broken into is funny. Did the bear get into the cooler? Was it locked?