outdoors
Best soft coolers that are not overpriced
Three soft coolers that handle a beach day, kids' tournament, or tailgate without charging YETI money for a lunch bag.
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Hard coolers are great when you are setting up camp for three days or hauling enough food to feed half a tailgate. For the normal stuff—drinks at the ball field, lunch on a job, a couple of steaks headed to a cabin—they are bulky, awkward, and somehow always in the way.
A good soft cooler should carry easily, keep ice from turning into sad soup before dinner, and cost enough that you will actually use it instead of treating it like a museum piece. These three cover the useful lanes: a tougher all-rounder, a big simple hauler, and a cheap cooler that can live behind the truck seat.
TL;DR picks
- Best all-around soft cooler: RTIC 20 Can Soft Pack Cooler
- Best simple big-capacity cooler: AO Coolers Original 24-Can Soft Cooler
- Best cheap grab-and-go cooler: Coleman Chiller 16-Can Soft Cooler
Buy for the day you actually have planned
Soft cooler capacity numbers are optimistic. A “20 can” bag may hold 20 cans if that is literally all you put in it, but ice, water bottles, sandwiches, and a couple of juice boxes take their tax. If you are packing for a family, size up. If it is just you and a passenger, do not buy a giant shoulder bag and then wonder why it weighs like a kettlebell.
Also, the zipper and liner matter more than a dramatic claim about how many days ice lasts. Most people open a soft cooler constantly. For that job, a cooler that is easy to load, carries well, and does not leak in the car wins.
1) RTIC 20 Can Soft Pack Cooler
- Amazon: RTIC 20 Can Soft Pack Cooler
The RTIC Soft Pack is the move when you want one bag that can do beach days, boat rides, tailgates, and the occasional overnight without getting precious about it. The 20-can size is a sweet spot: enough room for a real day out, but still manageable when it is loaded with ice.
It costs more than the basic fabric-bag options, but this is where the extra money makes sense. The tougher build and better insulation matter when the cooler is riding in a hot SUV or sitting next to a folding chair for six hours. It is not the cheap pick, but it is still a lot easier to justify than the premium-logo tax.
Pros
- Tougher, more weather-resistant build than a basic tote-style cooler
- Good size for a couple, a small family outing, or a serious lunch setup
- Easier to carry and stash than a hard cooler
Cons
- Costs more than a simple zip-top soft cooler
- Heavy when packed full of ice and drinks
- Overkill if you only need a few cans for an afternoon
2) AO Coolers Original 24-Can Soft Cooler
AO Coolers has been making this old-school canvas style for a long time, and that is part of the appeal. It is a roomy, no-nonsense bag with a useful shape instead of a sculpted spaceship full of pockets you will never use. The 24-can size makes sense for a family picnic, a day at the lake, or bringing food and drinks to somebody else’s place.
This is not the one to buy if you want a rigid bottom and a pile of organizer features. It is a big insulated bag. But it packs down when empty, carries a surprising amount, and gets the important thing right: it is built for people who need more than a lunch cooler without dragging a hard chest around.
Pros
- Big capacity without hard-cooler bulk
- Straightforward canvas-bag design is easy to load
- Great for family outings, tailgates, and grocery-to-cabin runs
Cons
- Less structured than the RTIC when it is only half full
- Not as polished-looking if you care about that sort of thing
- A full 24-can load is still a shoulder workout
3) Coleman Chiller 16-Can Soft Cooler
The Coleman is for the person who needs a useful cooler, not a lifestyle accessory. It is the right size for a work lunch, a couple of kids’ drinks at a tournament, or keeping meat cold between the grocery store and a long drive home. It is also the one you can leave in the trunk without feeling like you parked a mortgage payment back there.
Expect basic insulation and a simpler build. That is the deal. For a full hot-day event, pack enough ice and do not expect miracles. For short trips and everyday errands, though, it does exactly what a cheap soft cooler should do.
Pros
- Low-cost, practical size for everyday use
- Light enough to grab one-handed when it is not packed to the ceiling
- Easy choice for work, youth sports, and spare-trunk duty
Cons
- Does not hold temperature as long as the tougher RTIC
- Less capacity for a full family day
- Basic materials will not take the same abuse as premium soft coolers
What I would actually buy
Buy the RTIC if you want one soft cooler that will see real summer use and you are tired of replacing flimsy bags. Get the AO if capacity is the priority and you would rather have a practical hauler than a fancy-looking box. The Coleman is the smart cheap answer for errands, work, and short outings.
The mistake is buying a soft cooler based on a heroic ice-retention claim, then using it like a hard cooler. Pre-chill it, use actual ice or good ice packs, keep it out of direct sun, and close it between raids. Do those boring things and even the affordable options stop being disappointing.