Best Soft-Sided Coolers Comparison: Polar Bear 24-Pack vs AO Coolers Canvas 24-Pack
Most of us are probably familiar with the bulky and heavy design of the best hard sided coolers on the market, like the YETI Tundra 45. Although they provide exceptional insulation performance and shock resistance, they can be a hassle to carry around, especially when you don’t need the ice frozen for weeks at a time or aren’t going anywhere bears could prove to be a problem.In that case, a good soft-sided cooler is a fine option. These
best coolers are incredibly lightweight while still having the ability to keep all of the contents
ice cold for up to
24 hours at a time.
In this article, we’ll be comparing the two most popular soft-sided coolers on the market at the moment: the Polar Bear 24-Pack and the AO Coolers Canvas 24-Pack.
Check This Out: What Is The Best Cooler
Polar Bear 24-PackFor the price that it is being marketed under, the Polar Bear 24-Pack is a great performer.
When compared to the other soft-sided
coolers on the market that we have tested, the
thick insulated walls of the cooler are markably thicker, which explains the great ice-keeping ability. The extra thickness is due to the open-cell insulation construction.
The cooler has very clean stitching and is made from high-quality nylon fabric, which makes it a lot more durable than other coolers in the same price range. Additionally, instead of slumping and deflating like other coolers that use softer fabric, the Polar Bear still stands upright when empty. This lends it a fairly stylish flair and makes it easier to load and unload contents, too.
The
heavy duty YKK zippers are designed to be air-tight to keep the cold air inside.
Inside, the cooler is lined with a 0.77 mm-thick layer of thermoplastic polyurethane, which makes it feel more substantial and solid in the hand. The liner also helps somewhat with insulation and is easy to clean. However, beware that there have been some reports that the liner can be punctured by sharp edges of crumpled aluminium cans. Another thing worth keeping in mind about the liner is that it is not user-replaceable, but the company’s warranty does offer repair for the lining if it is damaged.
Finally, the
shoulder strap is a little bit on the smaller side, which can be a problem when the cooler is fully loaded up.
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AO Coolers Canvas 24-PackIf you need a slightly cheaper soft-sided cooler than the Polar Bear, or if the other cooler is temporarily out of stock, the AO Coolers Canvas 24-Pack is a pretty safe fall-back.
Performance-wise, the AO Coolers Canvas offers more or less the same degree of insulation as the Polar Bear. It can keep the
ice frozen inside for up to
24 hours at a time. This ability is due to the open-cell insulation foam padding that is about 0.75-inch thick by our measurement.
The stitching on this cooler looks great, and judging by the lack of cold air seeping through the zippers, the zippering has also been well thought out. But the one concerning thing about the design of this
best ice cooler is that the internal volume doesn’t seem to be quite accurate. Even though it’s marketed as being a 24-can cooler (and it did manage to fit about 24 cans in our test), there was little to no space left for ice. As a result, you might find it a little problematic trying to pack the cooler correctly with enough ice to last the contents through the day.
Realistically, we think it would fit about 20 cans at best.
ConclusionThat’s our selection for the
Best Coolers For Camping 
on the market today that are soft-sided! We hope you have found the article to be useful.