Cooler Throw Down: Can the Ozark Trail 45QT Rolling Thermocooler Hang With the Competition?

When it comes to buying a rotomolded cooler, is price a good gauge on quality?

In this review, we are going to put the Ozark Trail 45QT High Performance Rolling Thermocooler to the test in a head to head cooler throw down.

Cooler’s have become somewhat of a status symbol in the outdoors and many equate the bigger brands with better quality. A higher price tag should mean a higher quality product, right? No, that is not always the case and any outdoorsmen, gear junkie, or general abuser of products will tell you the same thing. Every so often a brand will fly under the radar producing products that are not only a great value but also great quality as well.

Our sister site Alloutdoor.com recently reviewed a hiking backpack sold by Ozark Trail that had an overall stellar performance and it triggered a question among our staff. Is Walmart’s Ozark Trail brand a true sleeper, putting out products that deserve much more attention among outdoorsmen? With that question being floated, we decided to travel down the path of discovery and start to take a closer look at Ozark Trail and some of their products. We just completed a review of the Ozark Trail Tumbler line, which is not only budget friendly but also well performing.

I spend a great deal of time on the water every summer boating and fishing in Northern Michigan. I will often load a large cooler up at the beginning of the week and leave it on my Pontoon packed with drinks and ice. If you have a boat and bring kids or friends on the water, you know that once you leave the dock the requests for drinks start rolling in fast and furious. Sure, you can load a cooler out each morning packed with fresh ice, but it is just so much easier to cut down all that work with a cooler than can keep ice for days on end.

My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review. To me, worrying about the temperature of the drinks I have on my boat is the absolute last thing I want to be thinking about when I am heading out on the water. To that end, I thought I would put a couple of the most common rotomolded coolers up against what is arguably the most budget friendly option on the market, the Ozark Trail 45QT Rolling Thermocooler.

In a sheer stroke of luck for this test, we are having a very aggressive heatwave in Southeast Michigan with temperatures around the 90’s during the day and staying in the 70’s overnight. I’m using my North facing deck as the staging area which receives direct sunlight at almost all hours of the day. I also placed a small weather system on the deck rail to help get a sense of how hot surface temperatures are in the area. On one of the hottest days, the remote sensor reported temperatures exceeding 107 Degrees Fahrenheit while the air temp was in the high 80’s.

The coolers in competition were the Ozark Trail 45QT Rolling Thermocooler, The Pelican 45QW Elite Wheeled Cooler, and the Yeti Tundra Haul. I chose these coolers because they were the closest among the brands when it came to internal storage.

1. Ozark Trail 45QT High Performance Rolling Thermocooler With Microban®, Greystone 2. Pelican 45QW Elite Wheeled Cooler 3. Yeti Tundra Haul Test Results FAQs

1. Ozark Trail 45QT High Performance Rolling Thermocooler With Microban®, Greystone

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Head on View of the Ozark Trail 45 Qt Rolling Thermocooler

I’ll be totally honest, I was not expecting this cooler to be as nice as it was. It’s easy to get caught up in brand perception and often times very difficult to break away from what you think you know about a brand. I used the word “think” intentionally, because what I thought I knew about Ozark Trail was not correct. Ozark Trail is proving to be a really solid competitor for outdoor products. This cooler has a number of features that you would find on more expensive coolers and a few that you won’t find.

First, we’ll take a look at the exterior. This cooler, when compared to the Pelican 45Q Elite and Yeti Tundra, has the smallest profile while still providing 45Q internal storage. It features rubber latches which I am a huge fan of for boating applications. When you are out on the water, people often sneak over to grab something from the cooler and may not latch it back up. With a hard plastic latch, you run the risk of brushing by the cooler and hitting your shin, which I have done and is awful. One of my favorite features though is the rubber wheels vs. the hard plastic wheels on the Pelican and Yeti. Not only will the rubber allow for a slightly smoother roll when you are pull this cooler along, but it will also be quieter. You won’t wake the neighbors up when you are pulling this down your dock. Rounding out the exterior is a lid that features 4 cup holders and inch notches for measuring your catch of the day.

When it comes to the seal, I was again very impressed by this cooler. Cracking this thing open sounds like you are opening the airlock on a spaceship. You can tell there is a serious seal established when you latch this shut. The Ozark Trail 45 Qt Rolling Thermocooler also comes with an internal tray, which the other two do not.

As far as color options go, you can purchase this in one of two colors, Greystone which is the one featured in this article and a lighter grey. The constant color feature among the two are the orange rimmed wheels which I don’t love but, it is not a deal breaker.

Pros/Keeps ice for an incredibly long time, compact design, rubber wheels, strong seal

Cons/One of the biggest drawbacks in my opinion is the lack of color options.

Bottom Line/In my eyes, this cooler is one of the best options on the market for those who want a budget friendly and high performing cooler.

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2. Pelican 45QW Elite Wheeled Cooler

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The Pelican 45Q Elite Cooler

Pelican is a newer entry in to the world of rotomolded coolers and have taken their own spin on design and function. Overall the Pelican coolers have sharper edges and a bit more of an industrial feel than the competition. One of the first things to note about it’s design is that it has a larger drainage hole and a tethered drain cap, which is a nice feature. I have lost a couple of drain caps in my day which makes the cooler unusable until a replacement arrives.

Like the Ozark Trail 45 Qt Rolling Thermocooler, the Pelican 45QW Elite Wheeled Cooler includes a lid with inch notches and also includes centimeters for those outside of the United States. Similar to the Ozark Trail cooler, the Pelican features orange wheel rims and also has orange clasp accents. You can get this cooler in three colors, Tan which is featured here, as well as graphite and white. The other two colors will have different rims and accents, so if you don’t love the orange you have options.

The Pelican also features a different pull handle than the Yeti and Ozark coolers as well. I do think the Pelicans pull handle is the lowest on my list of the three.

Pulls — From left to right: Pelican, Ozark Trail, Yeti

Pros/Industrial look with sharp lines helps this cooler stand out, large reinforced locking hole, Molded handles, non-skid feet

Cons/Ice stays colder for a shorter period than stated on the website, latches can be difficult in tight quarters

Bottom Line/If you love the Pelican brand, this is a great option to maintain your case and cooler collection.

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3. Yeti Tundra Haul

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Yeti Tundra Haul

Yeti has clearly set themselves apart as the biggest player in the cooler space. Since they launched, they have carved out an incredible market share delivering products across the board from coolers to dog bowls. While they have solidified their place as a brand, they have not gone beyond some of their original design features which has allowed competition to come in and provide a few more core offerings.

The Yeti has the most streamlined design of the three coolers, staying true to the original Yeti look and feel. The overall product weight of this cooler is 37lbs empty which is inline with the Pelican, but 7lbs heavier than the Ozark Trail cooler. The Tundra Haul features rubber clasps, which I really like, and hard plastic wheels.

You can get the Tundra Haul in 4 colors and Yeti has been know to introduce more colors across their cooler lines throughout the year. The haul can hold more ice than the other coolers in this test which sets it apart.

Pros/The Yeti brand will have your friends jealous, rubber clasps, larger ice capacity, the most color options

Cons/Ice may melt faster than expected, plastic wheels, limited features

Bottom Line/If you love Yeti, the haul is a great option and will be much easier to manuever than their non wheeled coolers.

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Test Results

So, I have to say that I was really surprised with how this test turned out. You can see from the images below that there was consistent ice melt, however two of the three were better performing.

The conditions for the test were, in my opinion perfect. The heat wave we were hit with in Southeast Michigan was less than enjoyable and I have included those details below.

The coolers remained in the same location for the duration of the 6 day test, only being opened to snap daily progress pictures.

Day 1

Temperature High – 84 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 72 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 107 Degrees Fahrenheit

Day 2

Temperature High – 88 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 68 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 109 Degrees Fahrenheit

Day 3

Temperature High – 88 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 72 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 106 Degrees Fahrenheit

Day 4

Temperature High – 88 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 68 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 109 Degrees Fahrenheit

Day 5

Temperature High – 86 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 72 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 100 Degrees Fahrenheit

Day 6

Temperature High – 72 Degrees Fahrenheit
Temperature Low – 63 Degrees Fahrenheit
Peak Surface Temperature – 85 Degrees Fahrenheit

Final Water Temperature

Pelican 45Q Elite – 33.6 Degrees Fahrenheit
Ozark Trail 45Q – 33.9 Degrees Fahrenheit
Yeti Tundra Haul – 44 Degrees Fahrenheit

So there you have it, when looking at just the ability to keep ice cold over a period of 6 days the Pelican has just slightly won, but we are talking about decimal points. I have to say that I am very impressed with the performance of the Ozark Trail 45Q cooler. This cooler is not only smaller in its overall size but also a fraction of the price of the competition.

For anyone in the market for a cooler that works and won’t break the bank, I would absolutely take a serious look at what Ozark Trail has to offer.

How is a rotomolded cooler made?

The rotomolding process entails heating plastic pellets which coat the interior of a mold while it is spun around in a number of different directions at a very consistent pace. The mold is kept on the move during both the heating and coating phases as well as the cooling phase.

If you can imagine a bowl of cake batter that you are moving around in a number of directions with the goal of coating the interior, the rotomolding process is very similar.

As far as coolers go, there is not a ton of innovation that can be done to enhance the rotomolding process itself, so most companies will focus on their end product’s design to set them apart from the competition.

Will cooler performance change when adding drinks?

Yes, you will most likely see differing results when adding cans or bottles into the mix. If you are adding warm drinks to your ice, you will see reductions in the overall length of time your ice will stay cold.

Does Ozark Trail offer a Warranty?

Yes, the Ozark Trail coolers have a limited 5 year warranty.

What kind of plastic is the Ozark Trail 45Q Thermocooler made from?

The Ozark Trail cooler is made from polyethylene, which is the most common kind of plastic in use today.

Is the Ozark Trail 45Q Thermocooler bear resistant?

Yes, the Ozark Trail 45Q Thermocooler is certified bear resistant by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

Ben Ryder

Ben currently leads the editorial staff for Outdoorhub, Alloutdoor, and The Firearm Blog. He is an avid outdoorsman and has hunted for large game across the United States including Alaska, Texas and his home state of Michigan. Ben also has a deep knowledge and passion for firearms and has participated in various civilian courses focusing on precision rifle shooting, carbine, pistol, ammunition reloading, and hunting focused firearm applications. Outside of work, Ben pursues a number of water based activities spending his free time in Northern Michigan boating and fishing on Lake Charlevoix and Lake Michigan.

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