Pelican ProGear 65 Quart Elite Cooler, Tan

This thing is a TANKI have many pelican products and all of them have been great quality and very durable. They do run a little more money than competitors products but they are all made in the USA and worth the extra money. In the case of this cooler. It is actually cheaper than most of the competition and superior... Go figure.I purchased the 65 quart. This thing is a beast. Empty it weighs nearly 40 lbs. Full of ice and drinks... Forget about it. You are going to wish it had wheels. I usually put in about 40lbs of ice and maybe 30 various drinks of different sizes. I Can get a good 5 days out of it before I add more ice, at that point it is probably 2/3 melted. And this is with regular store bought aerated ice cubes. 10 days is optimistic under real world conditions however with pre chilled drinks or just plain filled with solid ice cubes not the regular store bought ones I can see it happening.this fits perfectly in the back of my jeep TJ with the seat and seat hardware removed. (the 65Qt)If you plan to fit it in a bear box at a campground be sure to know what size they are. This will not fit into the bear boxes at yosemite unless you remove the lid completely. Which is easy enough to do. there are two metal rods about 12 inches or so each that you need to drive out of the hinge. With a piece of metal round bar and a hammer drive out one side out about 6 inches or so then pull it out then hammer out the other one from the other side so you are not driving it across the entire length of the hinge. This thing will hold ice just fine for a few days even with out the lid on.The rubber feet can also be removed by prying them off. They are simply pushed into 3 holes in the bottom of the cooler. They are not easy to get off, or back on for that matter. But not impossible.Pros- Built very tough. You could not crush the lid sitting on it. The handles pretty much could not be broken under normal circumstances. The latches are very strong. Good looking! I got the desert Tan. Compared to the yeti the pelican is a steal. It is built better. has a better warranty. Better handles. Better latches, Looks better. and costs less. The tie down loops and fixed handles are substantial and can be used to secure the cooler so it does not grow a pair of legs.Cons- It is heavy. It is big!. When carrying it from the front the lock hasp digs into your body. The drain plug is not insulated and will allow condensation. The sealing surface on the top of the cooler is not perfectly straight and does not create a perfect seal with the lid. It still seals... But it could be better if it were perfectly flat. No wheels or accessory option for wheels.The stainless steel half of the lock hasp is just screwed into the lid so it could relatively easily be pried open. If it were molded into the lid instead it would have been stronger.

Excellent product in both function and design. Another reviewer included images showing a minor rise at one corner and stated the manufacturer responded this was normal and of no importance. While the unit I received was perfectly level, a slight unevenness doesn't make any difference due to the fact that the gasket collapses when the lid is closed. At most, a rise in one corner might mean a millimeter or two difference in the overall width of the flattened gasket contacting the surface of the lid. The important thing would be that the gasket is still sealed with more than an adequate surface sealing the unit without leakage.I use a large sheet of gel packs, so I can't comment on possible leakage from the drain.Like the Yeti we use when working in the field, this cooler is exposed to direct sunlight and frequent opening throughout the day. It is used to vend from at a local farmers' market and I can pack it the night before, use it for the day, and when I return the vast majority the cells in the gel packs are still frozen. It's proving to be an excellent solution and value for us.The rubberized feet are large, sturdy and keep the unit in place. If you need to better secure it, the molded tie-down tabs are strong and able to stand the job. The lid will stand upright without folding over due to design, and not using the straps which always eventually break on the cheaper coolers. The lid offers some extra headroom so items can be packed a bit above the height of the interior of the unit. Despite the width of the 65 quart version, it can be carried by one person (apart from weight considerations) thanks to the handles which fold a bit inward when raised upright. Further, a rubberized grip is embedded in the handle for comfort.I can't say enough positives for the seller, ABCD Sales, as I placed the order late one evening and it arrived less than 72 hours later. That's a better record than I've had for most of my orders shipped from the Amazon Warehouse!Made in America, backed by a no-nonsense guarantee and rates higher in evaluation tests than the Yeti at a better price, what's not to love?

I've read many reviews on this cooler before buying. I didn't ever see myself precooling a cooler with a 20lb bag of ice, ever... with that said I'll describe what I experienced, you can judge for yourself if it's good enough. From my standpoint it performed incredibly.I had left the cooler in my basement so it had reached a core temp between 65-70 degrees F. This past Sunday We had a last minute cookout so I added a 10lb bag of ice to the cooler along with a case of beverages at room temp. After the cookout I had most of the ice left and decided to do an experiment. From my freezer I pulled out a frozen 1 gal milk jug, (2) 2 liter bottles, and pool Chem (baking soda) bottle that is approx 1 gallon, all with ice in them. I opened the cooler a few times per day and the original bag of ice was finally gone Friday morning (4.5 days). There was still some ice left in the containers and the water was cold. Temps were close to 90 every day. Pretty impressive to me.

Pre Labor day weekend it arrived. On Friday afternoon it was loaded with 12 12oz bottles chilled and 12 cans chilled into the unprecooled cooler with 16 lb of crushed ice( Temp 76 inside house). Opened repeatedly thru the evening. On Saturday it was taken to a work site where it was loaded with a 12 pk of warm cans and 8 bottles of warm water and no additional ice. With temperatures from 85 to 105 it still had 1/3 of the ice and the contents were very cold at the end of the day. Sunday the chest still had a couple of pounds of ice and icy water. It was loaded with more chilled cans and 16 pounds of ice. It was opened constantly thru Monday evening after being outside in temps up to 97 degrees. On Wednesday after being outside there was still some ice and on Thursday with a few floating pieces of ice only the cans were still very cold. With block ice this keep even better. No complaints. With the Walmart chests you would have put three times that much ice in.

Top of the food chain. It's funny how pelican and yeti have gone two routes. Yeti is tall enough to get two stories of stuff and pelican is longer and wider. I like the pelican latch locks better than the rubber pull straps on the yeti. The yeti's rope handles come in handy may a times while the pelicans can be a pain when moving a heavy ice chest over and upwards. As far as cooling ability they both are top of the food chain. Just remember it's not a freezer. Pre ice as best you can will maximize performance and use enough ice to maintain. They make great camp tables and foot rests as well as step ladders.I use cardboard boxes to line the interior of both this and the Yeti when using dry ice. No troubles and EFFECTIVE! Ice cream stays frozen in a hot car for up to four days.