Also, you will find a larger variety of layouts and cooler types. For instance, you will have the small, simple coolers that are designed to hold people’s lunch for the day as well as higher-end premium coolers for those who are after longer ice life. Ozark soft sided coolers struggle to keep ice for more than 2 days, whereas the Yeti soft sided coolers can keep ice for 2-3 days and sometimes even longer than 3 days. We still spent more money than I’d like but at least we saved 20%. Just as with the other cooler test, we purchased four bags of ice and put the Coleman and YETI Tundra 65 in a head-to-head test. We ended up purchasing a YETI but let me tell you how we got there. We really tried to buy a cheaper cooler but the universe wanted us to buy a YETI. Remember last summer when we spent over $100 on ice for our two week trip to Montana? Not to mention, it has a built-in bottle opener and four drink holders on the lid, so you can have a good time no matter the temperature. So there you have it, when looking at just the ability to keep ice cold over a period of 6 days the Pelican has just slightly won, but we are talking about decimal points. I have to say that I am very impressed with the performance of the Ozark Trail 45Q cooler. This cooler is not only smaller in its overall size but also a fraction of the price of the competition. On the contrary, the premium soft coolers and particularly their hard-sided coolers have more of the traditional features we look for when we think of long ice life. So you can expect them to allow for much longer ice retention. We enjoy the premium soft coolers and hard-sided coolers the most. We’ve found that in cooler temperatures, it keeps things cool for about 4 days but there isn’t any ice left after 4 days. On hot summer days when you can’t get any shade or coverage for the cooler or the van you can count on about 48 hours where there’s still a little ice. (The less you open it, the longer it’ll last so keep the opening and closing to a minimum). All in all, it’s a pretty solid ice chest and a major upgrade from some of the stryofoam and even Rubbermaid coolers of yore. Everything from their bucket to their cargo box to their coolers are made super tough and their soft sided coolers are no exception to this. The Ozark Trail Soft Cooler lineup is a solid contribution to this ever-growing company. There are enough size options and configurations to make most people happy. When it comes to the handles, they have followed the same kind of pattern you see in other types of coolers. In the smaller cooler, the 26-quart one, the handle is overhead. Yeti has clearly set themselves apart as the biggest player in the cooler space. Since they launched, they have carved out an incredible market share delivering products across the board from coolers to dog bowls. Pelican is a newer entry in to the world of rotomolded coolers and have taken their own spin on design and function. The Yeti has the most streamlined design of the three coolers, staying true to the original Yeti look and feel. The overall product weight of this cooler is 37lbs empty which is inline with the Pelican, but 7lbs heavier than the Ozark Trail cooler. The Tundra Haul features rubber clasps, which I really like, and hard plastic wheels. I chose these coolers because they were the closest among the brands when it came to internal storage. My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review. To me, worrying about the temperature of the drinks I have on my boat is the absolute last thing I want to be thinking about when I am heading out on the water. To achieve the extremely attractive price point that they did, Ozark Trail likely had to sacrifice a few things in the quality department. The result is a cooler that doesn’t have quite the level of fit and finish as, say, a Yeti or an Engel. For the fishermen out there, you will enjoy the molded-in fish ruler on the lid of the cooler.