Engel soft side coolers

Anyone have experience with these? I’m looking at the 22qt HD version they have for use on whitewater trips where hardsides are too heavy/bulky. The ultimate concern is ice retention and the testing I’m seeing has these at the top, but I have never seen one in the wild.

We’ve had mixed results with a yetti back flip 24, but over the years we have mostly dialed it in so we still have cocktail ice on day 5.

This one would probably primarily hold meat, maybe some ice. We completely top them with water and freeze the whole cooler solid before leaving.

I can’t see what would be better about the $200 Engel compared to the RTIC $89 20 model or $99 30 model of soft cooler..

I’ve had the RTIC 40 for 4 years and it lives in my truck in the summer and I’ve had it sitting in the boat in Canada in hte sun for days and keeping ice retention has never been a problem. Unless the Engel, is much, much thicker in terms of foam insulation, I can’t see what the extra 100 in price would get you. It isn’t going to be twice as good as an RTIC, if you really wanted to 2X your ice retention, you’d have to go hard side.

Grouse

Ive had good luck with outdoor gear lab reviews. They tested the rtic at two days and the engel at almost 4. 2 additional days, or even one is worth the $100+ to me. We should only open it once a day.

Rtic 20 was my thought until I researched more. It’s all about the ice.

I bought an engel soft side based on youtube tests and reviews. It doesn’t have a model number or model name on it. Measures 19 x 16 x 11. Gray with an orange interior. I think it is amazing. The only thing i can compare it with was a regular (not extreme or roto mold) hard side of aporoximately the same size. It keeps ice much longer than the hard side. After a day of fishing in the heat the ice cubes appear the same size and plentiful. My only complaint is that it is difficult to see inside because of the zippered opening. Probably all soft sided coolers are that way.

What happened to Yeti?

lindyrig79 wrote:

What happened to Yeti?

The yetis perform similar to rtic at 3x the price. Granted, they will probably last longer. I wonder if the engel performs better because they are all welded and not stitched.

Not sure if they make the configuration you are looking for but I found out about AO soft sided coolers here on IDO. They are mid-priced and very nice.

tindall wrote:

Ive had good luck with outdoor gear lab reviews. They tested the rtic at two days and the engel at almost 4. 2 additional days, or even one is worth the $100+ to me. We should only open it once a day.

Rtic 20 was my thought until I researched more. It’s all about the ice.

I think you got your answer in your own reply. If you can afford it and the $100 is worth an extra day or two of ice,trust the review site, go for it!

I personally don’t have experience with either of those soft sided coolers but I haven’t found one that even works close to a cheap hard sided.

If you are freezing the soft sided cooler solid (essentially making it hard), why not just use a hard sided cooler?

Good luck and let us know how well those works if you buy one!

I have a Yeti, that i just as well put my ice in a microwave, i hate it. I have had great luck with the Rtic’s, and even the walmart Ozark trail softside outperforms that Yeti 2 to 1.

I love a good cooler thread!

First, the Yeti equivalent softside is not 3X the price. It’s a hundred bucks more. I have the soft side Yeti and it’s excellent.

If the cooler is like a microwave it’s because you didn’t pre-cool. If you put cold stuff in a hot cooler the cool will dissipate. Any decent cooler needs to be cooled prior.

Freezing the whole cooler before you go is an excellent idea.

Ok all coolers now come with instructions on how you should cool it off first to keep ice for the amount of days advertised. But how are you supposed to do that burn a twenty pound bag first, or buy a walk in freezer? Obviously a soft side is different but how do you guys prechill them?

I keep a number of used plastic water bottles that I fill 2/3 of the way and freeze. Then I toss as many of those that I have or that will fit, into the cooler a day or two before I actually plan to load it for a long weekend or something. If I’m going somewhere with a sandwich and some beer for the day then I don’t worry about it.

The performance of a cooler has a lot to do with how you prep it. as Matt mentioned pre cooling is vital. To answer your question about ice john what i do is freeze 2 liters with water in it rather than waste money on ice. A few hours before i use the cooler throw a few of those in and when you are ready to put food in there it’s nice and cold. This will add considerable time onto your cold retention.

Other tricks are to put a towel on top of the items inside your cooler to keep the cold air down, keep the cooler out of the sun, and don’t open it often.

I have a cheap 60 QT igloo (igloo is a poor quality cooler IMO) I found on my neighbors curb a few years back. Performed these methods last weekend and a bag of ice stayed solid cubes for 3 days.

Idk why but I have a strange fondness for coolers as well as pickups. Ive often wanted to buy an expensive cooler but the cheap ones are working just fine for me so no need. If I did extended wilderness camping trips that would change

John Rasmussen wrote:

Ok all coolers now come with instructions on how you should cool it off first to keep ice for the amount of days advertised. But how are you supposed to do that burn a twenty pound bag first, or buy a walk in freezer? Obviously a soft side is different but how do you guys prechill them?

I have freezer space; two deep freezers and two fridge/freezers. My garage fridge freezer is roomy and only used for freeze pops, snickers, and temporary staging of groceries occasionally. I can fit my RTIC soft cooler in there.

I keep half gallon and 1 gallon jugs of water in my wild game deep freezer. to pre chill my 45 QT 60 QT cooler I put the jugs in them. If I move some stuff around, I can put the whole cooler in the freezer if I wanted to.

Chalk me up as another guy who freezes gallon and half gallon jugs and uses that as block ice in my cooler. I have a chest freezer in my garage where I typically store my 1/4 side of beef and 1/2 pig that I get about once a year. Any extra space in the freezer is filled from the bottle with frozen milk jugs. It helps with freezer efficiency as well as my inventory of block ice I can grab at a moments notice for the cooler. If I go to the bwca and am bringing a cooler, I combo the block ice with dry ice.

Another tip for guys using hard sided coolers. If you don’t fill it all the way up, or even if you do I guess. Cutting out a piece of that pink insulating styrofoam to fit tight in the cooler to put over the top of your goods can really help also. Especially in a situation where you use it more like a fridge where ice goes in first and food sits on top of the ice.

Matt Moen wrote:

First, the Yeti equivalent softside is not 3X the price. It’s a hundred bucks more. I have the soft side Yeti and it’s excellent.

Yeti flip 18 is $300, rtic 20 is $80 – it’s more than 3x the price for similarly reviewed performance.

My roadie 20 hardside is huge, and 15lb empty compared to the softsides at around 3.5lbs. Bulk is bad, and at some point weight is problematic for the boats.

I usually can fit a cooler in my chest freezer, but we have access to a walk in also. Chest is kinda full of pig right now.

I guess I need another freezer cause the upstairs one is tiny with fridge, and the downstairs one is full of fish and deer. I remember as a kid we would save old milk or oj jugs with frozen water, we liked the carton ones cause you could just toss em when they got ratty.

tindall wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
First, the Yeti equivalent softside is not 3X the price. It’s a hundred bucks more. I have the soft side Yeti and it’s excellent.

Yeti flip 18 is $300, rtic 20 is $80 – it’s more than 3x the price for similarly reviewed performance.

My roadie 20 hardside is huge, and 15lb empty compared to the softsides at around 3.5lbs. Bulk is bad, and at some point weight is problematic for the boats.

I usually can fit a cooler in my chest freezer, but we have access to a walk in also. Chest is kinda full of pig right now.

You’re right – I was thinking compared to the Engel. I misread.

Let’s all be serious – coolers are kinda like really nice fishing rods. I have a Yeti because I wanted it….I didn’t need it.

I have a couple of really nice $100 rods that the do job very well. They aren’t *quite* as good as my $400 Loomis rods but the difference isn’t 4X when you compare price to performance.

I don’t agree Matt my 100 dollar rods do not compare with my loomis, is it 300 dollars worth better, not sure but its close! The only yeti I own I won at a liquor store. There is no way I would have bought it.

Yea I disagree too. People can catch huge sturgeon on a Walmart ice fishing rod with 4lb test – you can’t “make more ice” on day 3 with Walmart cooler. If what you mean is “The overwhelming majority of people spend tons of money on coolers with functionality they will never approach” then I agree.

An extra day or two of ice on a remote trip is a luxury that I will gladly spend another $100 on. We used to be 100% dehydrated meals, but as we get older more ribeye nights, salmon nights, and cocktails with an ice chunk have crept in.

I was being a little tongue in cheek guys – the point is we all buy crap we don’t need or won’t ever get max value out of. Coolers are like that for most people. BTW, you’re talking to the king of buying crap I don’t need.

Matt Moen wrote:

BTW, you’re talking to the king of buying crap I don’t need.

I’d guess more than a few dudes here would challenge your title.

Lol for sure my wife might argue with you Matt!!

Hahh….fair enough guys!

Well I pulled the trigger – I’ll report back how it works.

I couldn’t find a sale, but I did get a bed bath and beyond coupon (oddly enough) so it was 20% off and free shipping.

tindall wrote:

Well I pulled the trigger – I’ll report back how it works.

I couldn’t find a sale, but I did get a bed bath and beyond coupon (oddly enough) so it was 20% off and free shipping.

If you do a side by side comparision with your yeti l would like to hear the results. Thanks

This thread inspired me to sell my hardside 20 qt and pick up one of these Engels. I’ll report back once I receive it. I like my bigger roto coolers, but I’ve never loved how heavy and bulky the smaller one was. I’m not a big guy, but if you added a 6 pack and some ice it was almost a 2 person job to carry very far.