NorChill Soft Coolers Can Insulated Boatbag Extreme Soft Sided Cooler

I work outside all day in the summer in Georgia on weekends teaching motorcycle safety. It's HOT and HUMID. I have a cooling vest with several sets of ice pack inserts so I can keep one frozen and one in the vest. The bag that came with the vest is worthless - it doesn't keep the packs frozen for long and it leaks if you try to put more than one set in it. This bag is PERFECT. It holds the vest, 2 sets of ice pack inserts, several cooling towels and ice to keep it all cold/frozen. Even in the mid-90s, it keeps everything cold/frozen all day (and then some). Best of all, it's soft sided so it can be easily packed on my motorcycle when not in use. The perfect solution for my use case.

This was a tough one. Not a clear 3 or 4 stars...First off let me say most cooler reviews are terrible....the usual.....”I put 48 hot beers into my cooler with 3 pounds of ice. It all melted. This cooler sucks”...... I’ll attempt not to replicate those.The summary....Overall this cooler seems well made and pretty durable. I used it this weekend for my wife’s birthday party. I put 40 pounds of ice in it on Saturday around lunch and it was still 30-40 percent ice after 2.5 days sitting in the shade on my back deck. Day time highs in the 90’s and lows in the 70’s. That’s pretty good for a soft cooler in my opinion.Now for the nitty gritty.The things I don’t like....I don’t like that the bottom is nylon, not waterproof tarpaulin like the rest of the cooler. Sit it on the wet sand on the beach or in the bottom of my boat, it’s going to be a problem. I can’t see how they let this slide. Most premium coolers you’d a better bottom material.The foam insulation is open cell, not closed. That means it will take in water, gaining weight and loosing its ability to insulate...not to mention taking forever to dry out and posibbly developing odor. My rtic uses closed cell foam construction with no stitching. All heat welded seams and a semi rigid waterproof bottom . Yeti or Engel is similar construction to rtic.I don’t own the cheaper boat bag version of this cooler, but I’m not sure the xtreme model is worth double the price. It says it has waterproof zippers. I was expecting it to be airtight like my rtic softpac 30. They are not. I can literally stand on my rtic cooler without squeezing the air out of it. Air rushes out of the NorChill zippers which means water will too as well as cold air out, warm air in. The water will leak out of this cooler if it’s turned over. Not the rtic, yeti or Engel.Also, the ice reeked and tasted of plastic....horribly so....from the liner material. Now, this was the first use, perhaps it will get better in time. Not an issue just keeping things cold, but a huge issue if you want to use the ice. I don’t want to be drinking china plastic water....who knows what’s in it.This is a small complaint but the side pocket zippers are smaller than the main zipper and feel a little too small for such a beefy bag. Now granted, it’s not like they’ll be subjected to extreme use, but paying a premium over the standard boat bag cooler, how much more would it really cost to use a heavier zipper? Like most coolers, the shoulder strap is lacking....Especially for a 48 can behemoth.This cooler cost more than my rtic which is better constructed. So why did I buy this cooler?The things I do like....Plain and simple....the size of the 48 is perfect for my needs and neither rtic or yeti make one.This cooler is perfect for 24 bottles of water or beer plus snacks with room to spare. A 30 can cooler means about 15 bottles with little room for snacks.The side pockets are large and you can put stuff in them.... I don’t know what yet, but stuff....sunglasses, phone, whatever stuff you like.The build and quality of materials seem pretty good. Nice stitching on the seams (just keep in mind other premium coolers don’t stitch seams). The white tarpaulin material seems the logical choice for outdoors in the sun. It will clean well too. Other premium coolers come in dark colors. Go figure.The liner didn’t leak a drop in 2.5 days. But as I said, turn it over and all the water is coming outta there.I really wanted to like this cooler better than I do. I hoped I had found my perfect cooler. This one could be great with some refinement but it’s just not there especially considering the rtic 40 is about $25 less or more on sale. I was so close to returning it, but I really like the size. If you don’t need one this big, buy the rtic.The major selling point for me was its the perfect size for me....I’m going to give it a little more use and see.

Looks well insulated. Haven’t tried it yet but I have confidence that it will keep my beverages cold for at least 24 hours and that’s all I wanted..

I purchased this bag to mainly use on the boat. I wanted to be able to load it up early in the morning and still have ice cold drinks into the night/next morning. For that it appears to work well. It has held ice for almost 2 days in 70 degree weather, however I loaded it with less than the 2/1 ratio of drinks to ice, so it might do better if I had used more ice. Very pleased with the ability to clean it inside and out. I also have a Hopper, but this design is much easier to reach into and grab a beer. Overall the construction seems to be top notch and I don't anticipate any issues.

So between myself and many friends, we all have bought over 50 of these coolers from Norchill. Wedding, Christmas, Birthdays, and just kindness, we bought them. Between my daughter and I, we have 4 that leak. They are a few years old but I was always under the assumption that they stand behind their products and replace them if they leak. Well, they don't! Mine are too old to replace. Offered me 1/2 off but refused to replace them. Done with Norchill. They do not stand behind their products and some of them outright leak. Moving on to something else!