Cooler experience...

Depends on what features you need and what your price range is. Lots of good info in the thread that bird linked to. Does your cooler need to be watertight? Do you want hinges that will last forever? do you want to replace it every few years because the hinges and latches have broken?

I own a Yeti and love it. My needs required a watertight seal and hinges and latches that will last a very long time, and can be replaced if required. My cooler also need to be lockable to keep bears and wooks out of it. If I had to buy another cooler I would probably buy one of these because it has a lot of the Yeti features but at a fraction of this price. This thing will last you many years. Keep in mind with these rotomolded coolers that they have about 3 inches of insulation in the lid and sides which reduces the area inside of the cooler.

Regardless of which cooler you buy, ice management is key to keeping your stuff cold for any period of time. That subject deserves its own thread.

Anyone ever try the Coleman PowerChill?

goo.gl/b44JpD

Seems like it'd work pretty well with an RV hookup.

We found our roto molded coolers at Agri Supply. ICEBIN is the brand. icebincoolers.com/ We have two and they are heavy, but do a good job. We also tent camp, but lock them up pretty well. We also have a heavy duty wagon to haul stuff to site.

This is true in a festival situation. I require some brand of watertight cooler for my off the grid canoeing excursions where loss of ice is not an option. If you take a standard cooler, I don't care how good it is, and submerge it in the river all of your ice is gone and your beer and food are instantly river temperature. Ask me how I know...

I priced the Yeti and also couldn't make the math work. You can buy a helluva lot of ice for the price difference. And then I actually lifted an empty one and they are really heavy empty--I wouldn't be able to move a full one!

Here's what I do and have not had to put fresh ice in ever, even after seven days in Bonnaroo level heat. Also not cheap but worth the ease of not having to buy and tote festival ice:

1) Buy a good quality 5 day cooler. Mine is the Coleman extreme. About $80 at WalMart.

2) Buy and freeze plastic bottles of water, Gatorade or iced tea. I like Gatorade because paying for something you can get free out of the tap makes me crazy. You can drink them as they thaw.
  
3) Buy blocks of dry ice. Kroger sells it. Also not cheap, but this is for convenience rather than cost.

4) Pre-chill everything you will be putting in there--nothing warms a cooler worse than using it to cool off your drinks to start with.

Then pack thusly--dry ice on the bottom, a later of your frozen bottles on their sides on top the dry ice. Then a layer of newspaper between the frozen bottles and the pre-chilled foods. This is important because I have
actually had cans of pop get against the frozen bottles, freeze and then rupture! Then I like to throw one 10 lb bag of ice off the the side (still in the bag) to add to drinks and make iced tea.
Try not to go into the cooler as little as possible. Don't store your cooler in the sun.
I do this every festival and have great results. It wasn't hot at FloydFest this year and while the dry ice had already evaporated the Gatorade bottles were still frozen!

My friend has the sportsman and loves it. He gets good results when we canoe together. That is the only test that I need. YMMV

I have purchased 2 k2 coolers. Similar to the Yeti. Best money I have spent in a long time. Last year at lockn, put two cases on beer on ice Wed before leaving. The cooler sat outside the entire Lockn Fest. When I unloaded on Monday, still have cold beer floating in ice water. They are heavy but not having to buy ice. We camp in the outerbanks at least once a month so over time it paid for itself. The one thing with these is pre-cool them the night before. I like using block ice. Found some tupperware containers that make ice blocks that fit my cooler perfect. Check out the k2 coolers. I have the small 20qt k2. I actually drove over it with my cj5 on the beach. A few nicks but held together.

also under his process you save money by avoiding the expense of coozies or other devices to keep it chilled while you drink it.

Damn, that's a big hole. Did you just happen to notice it or did you know to inspect it w/ flashlight?

No way you would notice the missing insulation without a light on the inside. The cooler looks perfect on visual inspection.

I have seen some coolers that are missing 12 inches of insulation via this method.

***JRT Mom runs out into garage with big ass flashlight to test her cooler***