Pelican 45QT Elite Wheeled Cooler

These things are not cheap to be sure, but I wanted something that would hold up for several days at a time without replenishing the ice. This cooler from Pelican definitely handles that request. The skinny: 1) held ice and keep things frosty in 90F+ temps for 4+ days. Temperature in the cooler never rose above 36. We opened it about 4x a day on average but never for very long. We topped off with 1 more 1/2 bag of ice late on day 4 but it could have gone even longer. 2) holds a lot with still room for your ice; we had: 8 small tetra-pak smoothies, 2lbs of carrots, 12 bottles of Mexican coke, 14 cans of beer, some medication, 6 cups of yogurt (individual), qt. sized zip-lock of sliced turkey, 8 pudding cups, & 3 cycling water bottles and two pints of hummus. 3) the wheels are a big help as this cooler is heavy (+/- 40 lbs) even before you load it up. Plan on two people to lift in and out of the vehicle when full. 4) sturdy as can be. Stand on it, sit on it, cut on it, drop it, etc. It will handle it all with only minor nicks 5) the latch system works well and is easy on everyone's fingers The "bad", tho not really bad: 1) weight, see above. The wheels make this manageable though and they roll over grass, gravel and even sand with ease, but plan on two people to lift it once you fill it up. 2) the drain valve on ours leaked at first (not sweating but an actual leak.) However, with some rubber-handled channel locks you can use the handle of your pliers to slot into the notches on the drain plug and give it some extra torque without damaging the plastic cap. This worked fine and never had a leak after that. 3) the pull handle is, to my taste, a little short for long-legged strider, like me; it occasionally clips your leg when pulling it. However, the wheels roll well enough and the handle is sturdy enough, that you can push it instead which I found easier. 4) bulky--this is not small cooler, plan on it taking up a lot of space in your car or back of your SUV--think medium sized pet kennel I recommend this cooler whole heartedly if you take the above factors into account!

Awesome cooler, 10 days later and its contents were still cold.

Great cooler. Why competing brands that rhyme with shmeti don’t put wheels on large coolers I have no clue. Kept ice 4 days in garage at approximately 80 degrees no problem. Only potential issue is handle seems a bit flimsy but time will tell. Upside is that pelican has lifetime warranty and made in the USA unlike shmetis. This pelican does fit in truck bed w a top. About 2” to spare. Will update with any issues. So far happy with purchase.

Online reviews seem to never include things people really care about. I don't want to know how much ice is left at day eight. I don't want to know if a bear can open it or not; are you going to interrupt a bear trying to open your cooler because you know it isn't bear safe? What I do care about in my cooler is will the ice last a few days, is it rugged, what are the real internal dimensions (not Yeti's made up 46 cans of beer and some random amount of ice BS), what's the warranty, and for the love of God, please tell me if regular cans, as well as today's common slim cans, can stack and the top still close. Starting with the most important, and why I posted a photo of it; YES, the top will close even with the thing filled with slim line cans stacked two-high around the edge. It may look like it's going to be close, given the cans pop up above the ridge of the base of the cooler, however, the interior of the top is recessed and this puppy will close just fine. No more fussing around with getting ice around the edges, or trying to lean cans inward just to get the stupid top to close; there are no problems here. So, stack it with your White Claws, your Michelob Ultras, etc., you're good to go. Lifetime warranty; nuff said. Pelican has been around a LONG time, I use them for gun cases, they have never let me down on warranty claims. I don't do extended treks into the wilderness with this, so I can't comment on ice longevity beyond the five day mark, but I can tell you it works fine for four or five days no issues at all.

Great cooler. The only thing ive noticed with it is that the outer portion of the lid has swollen up and it does not seem to hold ice as well as my 5 year old 85qt pelican cooler. Since the cooler does come with a lifetime warranty i will be contacting support in regards to the lid swelling up

I was looking for something to keep food fresh at my camp where I live most of the time. I looked into refrigeration and all other options. For the price and my circumstances, I decided a good cooler was the best way to go. I determined that I wanted a cooler on wheels, with a sturdy handle, latching closure, and long term cooling retention. This fits the bill! As they explain in their accompanying paperwork, to get the longest cooling effect you have to follow certain guidelines such as filling the thing with ice rather than have empty air space, and other things. You're not going to get 7-10 days of coolness without following all the guidelines, but I'm very happy with it and it serves my needs well. It's not light, especially with ice blocks in it, (but I am a strong 52 year old woman). I was able to lift it into my truck bed without too much difficulty.

There is a design flaw to this cooler so we returned it. Here are all the details: 1. No light can be seen through the sides, they are insulated. 2. No water leaked out while sitting, which means the drain hole and plus are good. 3. Trouble is the rubber-like seal does not go all the way around leaving a 1 inch gap for air to exchange. The rubber seal needs to be continuous, a complete circle with no gaps. Overall, for the price of this cooler, you would expect there to be no blatant design flaws. I am so done trying to find a more expensive cooler that actually works. This is our 2nd or 3rd return.

UPDATE 21-May-2021 REVIEW This cooler doesn't fit in any car trunk, so I purchased a Yeti 45 to replace it. I thought I'd do the ice test with both of them to see how they compare. For the huge size of this cooler - it looks like you gain maybe half a day of ice retention. I measured the actual internal capacity of this with water. It can hold about 35-26 liters of water and still have the lid close (but also has a little lift in the lid that would allow a bit of extra dry space over the Yeti). For comparison, the Yeti 45 measured in at exactly 32 liters . New Pros * 10.5 day ice retention seems great, especially in a compact size. * Solid: doubles as a seat, step stool, etc. * My favourite cooler lid closures by far. Cons * Price. * Such a beast, doesn't fit in any car trunk at any time for any reason. Well, at least not a 2004 Civic Sedan or a 2015 Kia Optima! :) THE TEST I wanted to know how long this cooler will keep ice before I did a review, but I didn't want to wait for next summer, so I set up another indoor test. Test conditions: * 23 degrees Celcius for ~12 hours a day and 18-23 degrees Celcius for the other 12. * Lid opened briefly once a day at the same time to check ice level. * Cooler pre-cooled with icepacks for one hour before starting. * Cooler filled to the top with large ice cubes (you know: the kind your grandma/great-grandma made manually in the freezer trays), these cubes are much larger than store bought cubes and will last longer as a result. Test Result: Still had a little ice after 10 days and a couple cubes left in the cold water was all that remained on day 11. So I give this cooler 10.5 days, since usually the coolers have a fair float of ice on the last day. I don't like other tests where they "simulate real world useage" by opening the cooler multiple times a day and digging around in it. I want to know how long a cooler keeps ice, not how long ice takes to melt in a cooler that is open...so I kept opening to a minimum. I know the cooler will keep for a shorter time if I'm opening it and keeping food in it instead of solid ice, but that isn' the point. See pictures for the start of the test and the various milestones (Starting, two days, six days, eight days, and 10 days). ORIGINAL REVIEW We bought this as our drink cooler to supplement our food cooler (an Igloo Yukon 70). I haven't used this for a trip yet, so here are my initial thoughts. I'll try to come back to update after I've used it. If is retention is good, I'll leave this at five stars, otherwise it will drop. Pros - 10 day, should save us money on ice. - Built like a truck, with no visible flaws. - Love the closures; easy one handed use. - Solid molded handles are always nice. - Very straight sides, will avoid more fitting at the top than the bottom. - Big enough to hold two gallons of milk and a number of other drinks with our ice. - Wheels don't expand the footprint of the cooler much. Last cooler with wheels needed 10% more space just for the wheels. Neutral - Wish I could have gotten one without wheels. Cons - As with all coolers of this type, this is heavy. - This cooler is huge! The outside dimensions equals or exceeds my Igloo Yukon 70 liter in but one direction - height. The price you pay for 10 days versus 5. - Handle for dragging on the wheels seems just okay.

Heavy use for 4 years and still loving it!!

I just received this cooler and as of yet I have not used it and I will provide a review(s) when I start using it. However I can comment on the fact that the quality came as advertised as I have several Pelican cases for optics and firearms, these cases I trust to protect my gear.

Look like a good quality cooler, the latches are pretty slick, the wheels are pretty big, rugged and seem to move well. However it is missing the pulling handle and there is a gap in the seal at the top. I will try to update after usage. Update: Works amazing and the dealer satisfied my issue.

Even if you're already a Pelican fan, this will probably impress you. It's a little overkill for typical car camping usage, but it's better to over solve this problem than under solve it. Pre-chill or pre-freeze everything and this one will treat you right.