The Food Standards Agency recommends you keep your fridge set at 5°C, so that cold food stays at around 8°C. You'll want to keep your bag below 5°C, especially if you have perishables, for as long as you want to keep eating and drinking stuff from the bag. With Arctic Zone rolling out a premium hard-sided cooler lineup, we are in a much better place to compare the brands.

Oftentimes, you are only paying for a name or logo when you pay extra for a cooler. For some, having the words “Yeti” or “Orca” printed on their ice chest is worth the increased price of admission. But for others, if they can find a cooler that performs as well (or sometimes better!) than the big brands then they are all for it. The lineup of hard-sided coolers available from Arctic Zone right now is a bit limited. At the time of this writing, there are only 2 sizes available: 20 quarts and 55 quarts. These sizes fall into our “ small” and “ medium” cooler sizes.

Value

Pros:Great build quality, Excellent warranty, Good ice retention, On the lower end of the “premium” price point

All the cool bags we tested so far perform decently, but the best ones keep water cool all day, whereas in the worst, the water is closer to room temperature by the end. Leakproof But what is missing is the popular “large” sized cooler. Where are the 70 to 80-quart options that most other premium cooler brands offer? This is a gap that we hope Arctic Zone will fill in the future. This type of scenario is more aligned with our real-life testing. We will fill the ice chest approximately halfway up with ice, leave it in a semi-warm environment, and occasionally open the lid. This better emulates real-life use. Ways to keep your family living costs down, and kids of all ages happy Get our Family newsletter – it's free monthlyLayer strategically Put things you need last at the bottom, so when you go rummaging in the bag, it's for the shortest amount of time possible.

With this level of ice numbers, you will be able to use the coolers at the lake, on a camping trip, while tailgating, and many more applications. Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze Cooler Aesthetics

Performance Comparison

Ice retention is one of the most discussed metrics of a cooler. No matter how many fancy features a cooler has, its build quality, or how attractive it is, all of that is a moot point if the ice chest can’t retain ice for long periods. For helping to seal the cooler lid, you will find a strong rubber T-latch similar to what you see in other cooler brands. This, in conjunction with the oversized rubber gasket, results in a strong seal that helps to retain cold air inside. This is especially important for those who live in the South and experience 90+ degree temperatures in the summer. I got this white version because often my cooler ends up in the sunlight while working each day. I try to keep in the shade but inadvertently it ends up in full sun at times. This white version seems to remain cooler on the outside than darker versions including the blue and gray versions. Completely empty, the Titan weighs 3.4 lb, which is on the lighter side of the models we tested. We measured its capacity at 21 quarts (20 liters) and a maximum of 30 cans with no ice, just like it claims. Filled to the brim with those 30 cans, this cooler is less than pleasant to carry, as expected. But, it still works to transport your cooler and its contents wherever you're heading, just with less finesse than more expensive models.

The best cool bags are leakproof and easy to clean. The worst leak. Some have water dripping out in a matter of seconds and are impossible to clean, as spills soak into the bag. Comfort Build quality is equally similar. And with Arctic Zone’s lifetime warranty, we may have to get a slight edge over them over Yeti.While both colors look great, we do wish there were more to choose from. In addition, there are no other specialty color options or customization options that we can find. Cost – These are pretty straightforward coolers in their design. If it wasn’t for the Arctic Zone logo printed on the face of the cooler, you would be hard-pressed to be able to tell it from the masses of other premium coolers on the market. In addition, there are very few color options. At the time of this writing, we could only find 2 colors to choose from Gray and Titan Blue. Compared to other similarly sized coolers on the market, these ice numbers are quite good. They will compete with most of the other premium brands such as RTIC, Yeti, Engel, etc. While we have come across a small number of coolers that have slightly longer ice life, the differences may be negligible to many people.