AO Coolers Sportsman Vinyl Soft Cooler with High-Density Insulation

This cooler does everything I could ask for in a soft sided cooler. It's waterproof, durable and keeps ice for a long time. I've loaded this thing down before with beer and ice and had no fear of the handles ripping or anything like that. The outer body and liner seem very durable and so far I haven't had any problem with either. You can also turn the liner inside out, which makes it really easy to clean. This is handy so the cooler doesn't wreak after putting fish in it. As for the ice keeping capabilities. I mostly use the cooler to pack beer and snacks on the boat and realistically, if I toss beer and a 20lb bag of ice in it in the beginning of the day, I would say about 70% of the ice will be melted by the end of the day. Now, realize that's outside in the TX heat, with people in and out of it all day grabbing beers so that's pretty amazing! Even with most of the ice melted the water will still be plenty cold enough to keep your beers cold. The longest I've kept ice in there is about 3 days, but the cooler was closed most of the time and was indoors (there was still ice in it but I dumped it out). In my experience, no matter how good the cooler is, the more people are in and out of it (i.e letting hot air in), the faster the ice is going to melt. I own hard sided yeti coolers that won't keep ice for more than about a day and a half if it's summer time and people are constantly in and out of it. Pro Tip: If you want your ice to last longer in your coolers, use block ice. My only complaint about this cooler is a very minor one. It's that although this cooler is waterproof and does not leak, it will sweat a good amount if it's nice and warm and humid outside. This really is not a huge deal but just something to be aware of. I don't think you'll find a better value for a soft sided cooler. Time will tell for durability, but I have no reason to doubt it UPDATE: 11/09/2016 So after having this cooler for about a year and a half, the inner liner has torn. I'm not sure what exactly happened but I loaded it up with beer and ice one afternoon and the next morning there was water everywhere. Upon closer inspection, I found a roughly inch long rip in the inner liner. I didn't fill it more than usual and I had cans in it so there wasn't anything sharp to puncture it. I'll be sending it back to AO to get the liner replaced. I'll report back on how that goes

Bought this vinyl cooler right before an annual scalloping trip where we leave in the morning and come back right around dark... in other words, we need a cooler that's going to be able to store a ton of stuff and then keep it cold in the hot Florida sun all day. With a few rotomolded (hard sided) coolers, I couldn't justify the $350 to spend on a Yeti Hopper or even the $150 on the RTIC version, but I needed something that didn't take a team of clydesdales to load it on and off the boat. This cooler fits the mold very well! It's made of a durable, tough vinyl that I think will hold up very well over time. The zippers are substantial and so far this thing has been leakproof. I placed a case of beer in it, about 15# of ice and some lunch meat, bread, etc into it and it did great! The beers were a mix of cans and bottles and, with the ice and food, the bag was so heavy that one of the beer bottles ended up getting crushed and broke inside the bag. I thought for sure that I'd find the liner ripped to shreds but to my surprise it's completely in tact! The cooler kept the food and beer cold all day long in ridiculous July Florida heat and I left it outside overnight. In the morning, I was surprised to find that it was still ice cold! We had to add ice, of course as 90% of the ice was now water, but after dumping it out and adding another 10 pounds and more beer, it worked great for the second day as well! Since that trip, we've taken it out several more times on boat trips when we have friends over and it's performed flawlessly. I'm reviewing the 36 pack version and it's rather large, so that's why I said "when we have friends over." The cooler is cavernous, even with the flaps folded over. Overall, for the price I don't believe it can be beaten and I even plans to buy a smaller version for the trips that we won't be out all day on. If this review helped you out, please hit the "Yes" button below, thanks!

All of the other reviews on insulated cooler bags i read were ok, but noone really mentioned EXACTLY how long, as in hours.....or, at what temperature, any of these insulated bags could go thru. The product ad did say it can go thru 120 degrees but i wanted to see a review to make sure it passed the test before buying it. So, i went with my research and crossed my fingers. So, here it is, I searched high n low for the perfect insulated bag .........and SIZE was also important to me cuz i had made so much food to send , and I decided to go with AO COOLERS SILVER 48 PACK SOFT-SIDED FISHING COOLER. I am sooooooooo happy that i did. I sent off with home made food, frozen (for a few weeks) in a 98 degree temp. from Downtown, L.A., in a GREYHOUND BUS GOING TO LAS VEGAS for 6 hours !!!!!!!!!!!!! You can imagine how much hotter it was going to get later that day. I PUT 2 BAGS OF ICE on the bottom of the bag, and packed all of the frozen food it could possibly hold (it took 2 people to zip it, it was so packed) and when my son arrived at Vegas, he called me to say "IT'S A GREAT BAG". All of the food is still frozen !!!! I am VERY HAPPY with my purchase and if i remember correctly, ....the bag arrived very quickly, since i decided to purchase it at the last minute before my son went back to school. O, also, the bag weighed about 70 LBS and it held up, very sturdy !! I hope this review was helpful !!!

I haven't tested this in high heat ,but here's how it's gone so far. I put ice in this cooler on a Friday night so it would be cool on Saturday when I needed to put groceries in it. The ice barely melted overnight, but the cooler was inside my air conditioned house. The cooler rode in the back of our truck for several hours until we stopped for groceries. When I openend the cooler to add frozen goods the ice was still barely melted. We drove for another hour or so, and I removed the frozen items which were still quite cold and zipped the cooler back up. Overnight the ice melted somewhat and the cooler did leak some of that water onto my floor. (Apparently the seams were leaking.) I threw room temperature drinks on that ice and we took it on the boat. ( I will repeat its not super hot out). After an hour and a half we checked and all but a few chunks of ice melted, but the drinks were super cold, and the cooler wasn't leaking as bad. I then left that ice cold water in the cooler for several more hours. Just before I was ready to leave, I dumped the water and put refrigerated items in the cooler with no ice. 3 hours later the stuff is still cool enough to get by. SO...that being said, I think the cooler performed fairly well considering how poorly I managed the ice. I do wish it hadn't leaked, but I would say it definitely out performed our Coleman coolers. The only other major criticism I have is that the zip open top can be a bit narrow putting things in, or taking them out.

I am really enjoying my cooler. Keeps the drinks nice and cold. Used it on a 5 day trip it kept 20lbs of ice and drinks cold for about 3 days for my use. It spent most of its time inside my van. It was just very cold water by day 5. I'm really liking the fact that its a soft-body cooler for a couple of reasons. It's not bulky for storage. Its soft body mitigates any injury or impact damage when the vehicle comes to a sudden stop. Update 9/29/18 As for the "it doesnt sweat" claim. It DOES. I went on a three day trip and took out only a couple of drinks and covered the cooler with some automotive grade Thinsulate insulation. I did this to prolong the cold. Id also placed some 4 5lb ice packs inside with the 20lbs of ice. To my astonishment when i pulled of the thinsulate covering the entire to portion of the cooler was covered in condrnsation. I provided some photos and a video explanation.

The 36pack cooler is perfect for a 3-5 person family. On a side note, I like taking 4 day camping & canoe trips. Food/drink/cooler maintenance is a big part of the planning, so I did a lot of research with this cooler. I don't plan on taking it on those trips, I was looking for something for car & beach trips with my family. It doesn't leak - I filled it with water for 24 hrs. We pack it full of beer, water, tupperware, etc. for road trips & the beach. It'll hold a 10 lb bag of ice & drinks cold for 2 days at the beach - I always add cold drinks, not warm drinks, to the cooler. The side pocket can hold things like bottle openers, koozies, cash & credit cards - nothing that has bulk to it. The shoulder strap isn't uncomfortable, but I would love it if they used some of the same cooler material to make a soft shoulder pad for when the 36 pack cooler is full of drinks, food, and ice. Its not too big and its not too small. It has to be the best cooler value out there right now.

I tested several soft sided coolers this year and the AO Cooler is the best for the money. The Yeti soft side is nice, but I am not paying $350. I bought two of these; the 24 can and 48 can. I use the 24 for drinks and the 48 for food while camping, boating, traveling, etc. AO Cooler's warranty appears to be great, lifetime on the zipper and liner. I have not needed to use that yet so let's hope the company backs that up over the coming years. I've travelled with frozen foods for 8+ hours with no thawing. I love the shoulder straps and the ability to collapse when not in use. They will keep ice packs frozen in direct 90f+ sun for most of the day which is enough for me. I try not to use ice anymore for convenience, cost and reusability. Try the small packetized ice packs in sheets, they line these coolers nice around the bottom and edges and take up practically no space. Be sure to dry the cooler thoroughly after use. Any soft sided cooler can grow molds if stored wet. Ice packs help with this too - less moisture in general.

Hold ice for 24 hr in 120 deg heat? I don't think so. I had this cooler at an outdoor tailgate in 97 deg heat and a 20lbs bag of ice melted pretty quickly over several hours. I was a little disappointed there was so much water in the cooler to dump out. Everything I packed in the cooler was cold from the start, came right out of the refrigerator. The beverages and food that I brought to cook did stay cold enough throughout the day. This cooler is plenty big for it's size. That's the main reason for purchasing this cooler. I downsized my vehicle, so I needed something to fit inside a trunk, yet hold plenty of items for tailgating. This definitely fits the bill. This cooler is well made. The vinyl outside seems very durable. I had this thing LOADED with food and drinks and the straps and zippers easily beared the weight. The cooler does not sweat either. There is nothing worse that having a soft sided cooler sweat and soak wherever it sits. No leaks either. Overall I'm very satisfied with the cooler. I would have given it 4 stars if the ice claim would have held up a bit more. The compact size is great, and it holds plenty of items. If you are looking to get away from a big bulky hard sided cooler, this one is worth the money.