In this Rugged Road Outdoors cooler review, Andy Grossman examines an ice chest made for outdoors-minded folks including hunters, fishermen and campers. There are a wide range of specialty coolers on the market, and that benefits consumers by driving innovation and lowering costs. How does this one stack up? The cooler was provided to the author by Rugged Road Outdoors for the purposes of this review.
I absolutely love the outdoors. I love hunting, fishing, camping, hiking — literally anything outside. Being outdoors a lot requires different equipment to ensure a successful trip no matter what it is I am doing. One of those items I have bought way too many of over the years is coolers.
You wouldn’t think it is hard to find the right cooler, but with so many options on the market now which one is going to be perfect for your needs? Well, I finally found the answer to that question for myself when I got my hands on a Rugged Road Outdoors cooler for the first time.
What I Want
The cooler industry has exploded in the past 10 years, transforming from the old metal-sided coolers that everyone’s grandpa had to these thick, heavy plastic brand-name coolers that seemingly cost as much as a gun. Personally, I don’t care for some of the well-known brands of heavy plastic coolers because I think they are overpriced and just not that impressive when it comes to features and usability.
I don’t need to look hip with my cooler. I just want the dang thing to function well and be usable for my needs. This is why I have been on a constant lookout for a cooler that was going to do everything I asked of it no matter how demanding the situation. Basically, a cooler that would just simply keep stuff cold and carry everything I needed without costing me an arm and a leg. And if it wouldn’t break my back due to an unreasonable weight, so much the better.
That is when I came across a Rugged Road Outdoors Facebook ad. The ad showed a woman holding a large cooler up with one hand in the air and another photo of the cooler floating. I instantly was intrigued.
Company Mission
I think it is important to understand a company’s mission before even looking at their offerings. This provides insight into their motivation when designing new products.
Rugged Road has a very good mission, in my opinion. They use 10% of their profits to build wells around the globe to provide clean drinking water to people in need. Through their Rugged Road Foundation, they have broken ground on two water projects in Niger and are looking forward to many more to come in the future. The humanitarian efforts wouldn’t work without making a solid product, though.
Rugged Road 85 V2 Cooler
Rugged Road Outdoors makes a bunch of different models of their coolers, but I am going to talk to you about the biggest one in the lineup, the 85 V2.
The number indicates the number of 12-ounce cans you can fit inside the cooler, so the 85 means you can fit 85 cans inside. However, unlike the competition, the company’s measurements account for ice. So, the 85 can fit 85 cans plus ice to keep them cold. Other companies list can capacity, but do so without taking ice into account.
The Rugged Road Outdoors 85 V2 Cooler appears to be bigger on the inside than the outside due to it using straight-wall construction instead of the interior tapered walls used by some competing coolers.
Source Materials
Rugged Road makes their coolers out of a proprietary foam called Fridgite. According to the company, this is an “ultra-thin, high-density” insulation that allows the company to provide both superior cold-retention and an overall light weight.
The insulation is coated in a polymer-like substance called Rigorite. Rigorite forms a hard shell exterior for the coolers. It is supposed to be extremely durable for its weight, and the company states that it is “the same material used to bombproof the Pentagon.” That outer shell is textured for a slip-free design while still allowing the cooler to be easily cleaned.
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The coolers boast a classic cooler look while maintaining a very modern feel with an extremely high-quality look. This material is what makes the Rugged Road 85 only weigh in at 17 lbs. Yes, it’s a cooler that is comparable to the most popular ones on the market but weighing nearly 50% less than anything around the same size and capacity.
In Practice
The same material and some ingenious engineering create a lightweight cooler that even floats upright no matter what. Even the lid can be removed and used to float drinks over to friends on the lake or even doubles as a cutting board. The lid also can be reversed on the cooler.
The latch is the best-designed cooler latch I have seen since the old metal hooks that turned to lock down the lids on the old-school metal coolers. It is a simple single heavy-duty metal and plastic pressure lock. Simply flip the handle out which releases the hook on the top and pull the hook part out of the way to open it. The latch can easily be worked with one hand and creates a seal so tight that ice will last easily up to seven days inside in my experience.
The Rugged Road 85 V2 also features a double-handle design that gives the user the ability to carry it with the rope handles to get a little more distance from the cooler when carrying or with the heavy-duty plastic handles attached to each side of the cooler’s exterior. The bottom of the cooler features a screw-in drain for easy draining of melted ice when it finally melts as well.
Additional Features
Inside the cooler, you will find a really nice snack tray that will keep your food you don’t want to get wet out of the water. The snack tray can be moved to either side of the cooler for convenient storage.
The 85 also comes with a divider that can be moved to any place inside as well as an 18-ounce water bottle with a top that screws on and seals. So not only do you get an incredibly light cooler that is packed with features, you also get accessories that are extremely useful.
The coolers are reasonably priced for what you get at $399 and are offered in several different color options. In addition, a lifetime warranty on all their products ensures you can count on this product for the long run.
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