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Old 09-29-2020, 11:48 PM   #1
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RTIC Softsided Cooler

I hope this saves someone from wasting their money..
My BIL has an RTIC hardside cooler and it performs well. I needed a new softside cooler for my 10 day trip we just returned from. I purchased a 30 qt. softside directly from RTIC. They advertise that it keeps ice for 3 days.
Don't be fooled! This is a day cooler. It hardly keeps ice for 12-15 hours. A styrofoam cooler would perform as well. We kept it in the air conditioned trailer with pre-chilled sodas and it was a joke.
RTIC told me I was too late to return it but could try a warranty claim. They had me do a 3 day "ice test" which it failed completely. I was then told I could send it back at my expense and they would do an "ice test". Are you kidding me?... I guess I have a new $110. day cooler
Don't waste your money!!!
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Old 09-29-2020, 11:54 PM   #2
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Well, that's a rip off.
That being said, we've never had good luck with 3 day coolers. Is that what your BIL has because they make 10 day ice coolers too? We've found that our 10 day cooler keeps ice for around a week if we don't open it much.
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Old 09-30-2020, 11:29 AM   #3
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I believe BIL's is a 10 day and it last for about 4 or 5. I wanted something lighter so I went with the soft sided 3 day cooler. Now they are telling me the cooler needs to be filled to the very top with ice and only occassionally opened. I guess it's a storage cooler not for regular use?
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Old 09-30-2020, 11:38 AM   #4
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I have the chest not impressed for what I paid for it
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Old 09-30-2020, 11:46 AM   #5
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If you read the instructions and/or research on any of these high price coolers you discover the advertised amount of time it will keep ice is if you precool the ice chest, fill it with chilled products, top it off with ice, then never open it again
I have a Yeti (given to me), and when doing the above, it does perform as advertised. But if you are using it as a beverage cooler and opening/closing it often, it performs exactly the same as my 20 year old cheap Igloo cooler.
So when boondocking for weeks, we do like the outfitters and put frozen food and ice in the Yeti as described, then don't open it for a week. We use my old reliable Igloo for beer and sodas. Perfect
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Old 09-30-2020, 12:26 PM   #6
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I have an RTIC 20 hard side. It performs as advertised and we are very happy with it. I cant for the life of me figure out why YETI removed the drains from their small cooler. I cannot comment on the soft side cooler, but it should not be advertised as a 3 day cooler. for what its worth, the RTIC20 hard side is only $130.
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Old 09-30-2020, 01:14 PM   #7
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That shouldn't have been a surprise, you can tell by looking at any premium soft-side cooler they're not going to keep things cold for 3-days..come on! We have a Yeti soft-side and use it for it's intended purpose, picnics and lunches.
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Old 09-30-2020, 01:42 PM   #8
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I admit I was mistaken in what I thought I was getting. I was trying to avoid the weight of the hard sided cooler but it appears if I want longer ice times the hard side is the way to go.
I do have a Coleman Extreme that was around $50 that keeps ice for days but it is a large 65 qt. model. Bigger than I wanted for this application.
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Old 09-30-2020, 02:50 PM   #9
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We have found that lining the inside of the cooler with Reflectix doubles the useful life of the ice. We also cut a piece of Reflectix to put under the lid (on top of everything in the cooler. DW's idea. While camping in Waco, Texas in May ice wasn't even lasting 24 hours.

Learned about how much Reflectix can help when I used it to line the outside fridge compartment, and bring the top of the compartment down to the top of the exhaust grill. Prior to Reflectix, adjacent cabinets were getting hot to the touch because the fridge exhaust heat was being retained in the compartment. It's about $15 a small roll at Home Depot, and cuts with scissors.

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