If you've been shopping for a soft cooler lately, you already know the options are everywhere. Cheap ones, expensive ones and ones that look great in photos but fall apart after two camping trips. So what actually separates a good soft cooler from a bad one?

It comes down to a handful of things: the insulation, the materials, the construction and how well the whole thing holds up over time. Once you know what to look for, picking the right soft sided cooler gets a lot easier.

What Is a Soft Sided Cooler?

A soft sided cooler is exactly what it sounds like: a flexible, fabric-bodied cooler built for portability. Unlike hard coolers, which are rigid and bulky, a soft insulated cooler folds into your life a little easier. You can sling it over your shoulder, toss it in your trunk, carry it on a hike or bring it to work as a lunch bag.

The trade-off has always been performance. Soft coolers used to sacrifice ice retention to stay light. That gap has closed a lot in recent years, especially among top rated, soft sided coolers built with better foam and smarter construction. It’s important for them to retain the cold, though, to keep food safe.

The Insulation Is Everything

If there's one place a soft cooler can really earn or lose its worth, it's the insulation. Most soft sided insulated coolers use some form of closed-cell foam inside their walls. The keyword there is closed-cell.

Closed-cell foam traps air in isolated pockets, which blocks heat transfer much more effectively than open-cell foam (which lets air move around freely). The denser and thicker that foam layer is, the longer your ice is going to last.

Higher-end soft coolers also pair that foam with a reflective interior lining that bounces heat back out. That combination, foam plus reflective liner, is what separates a soft insulated cooler that keeps things cold all day from one that gives up by noon.

At Cordova, our Backcountry Class soft coolers are built with hard-cell foam insulation throughout. It's not flexible, flimsy filler material. It's firm, dense insulation designed to actually perform.

The Zipper and Seal

This one gets overlooked a lot. A soft sided ice chest can have great insulation and great materials, but if the zipper leaks, you've got a problem. Either you're losing cold air out, or you're getting water in.

Watertight zippers, sometimes called waterproof zippers, use a special construction that compresses when closed to form a nearly airtight seal. They keep ice melt inside the cooler and keep outside moisture out. If you're taking a soft cooler near water, on a boat or anywhere it might get wet, a watertight zipper isn't a luxury. It's necessary.

The zipper also needs to be durable. Cheap zippers crack, stick and fail. A quality zipper on a good soft side cooler should open and close smoothly for years with basic care.

Size and Capacity: Getting It Right

One of the most common mistakes people make is picking the wrong size soft cooler for how they actually use it. Too small and you're leaving things behind. Too big and you're lugging around dead weight.

Here's a simple way to think about it:

• Small soft coolers (roughly 4 to 12 cans) are lunch bags and solo-use coolers. Great for work, school, short day trips or anyone who just needs to keep a meal cold.
• Mid-size soft coolers (roughly 12 to 24 cans) are the sweet spot for a couple of people heading out for the day. Plenty of room for drinks, snacks and food without being cumbersome.
• Larger soft coolers and backpack-style options (24 cans and up) are made for full-day outings, hiking, fishing or any situation where you need more capacity and want your hands free.

Cordova's soft cooler lineup reflects this. The Backcountry Class Lunchpack is built for single meals and daily use. The Daypack is sized for 1-2 people at the park, lake or beach. The Backpack cooler handles all-day adventures and longer outings where you're carrying more and moving more.

Construction Details That Add Up

Beyond the big stuff, good soft coolers have small details that make real daily differences:

• Comfortable carry options. A soft cooler you dread carrying is one you'll stop bringing. Look for padded shoulder straps, reinforced handles or a backpack harness, depending on how you plan to use it.
• External pockets. A cooler that can hold your sunscreen, keys, phone or a small dry bag alongside the food saves you from needing a second bag.
• Stable base. A soft sided insulated cooler that tips over the moment you set it down is frustrating. Structured bases and flat-bottomed designs keep your cooler upright when you need it to be.
• Durable hardware. Zippers, clips and buckles take as much wear as anything else. Cheap hardware fails. Good hardware doesn't.

Packice vs. Loose Ice

This isn't exactly a cooler feature, but it affects performance a lot. Loose ice works fine, but it melts faster, sloshes around and soaks everything in the cooler. For soft coolers especially, Cordova Packice is a smarter option.

Packice is a reusable ice pack designed specifically for Cordova soft coolers. It keeps things colder longer, doesn't create a mess and you can freeze and reuse it instead of buying bags of ice every trip. Pre-chill your cooler before packing it, add Packice and pack the cooler as tightly as you can. That's how you get the most out of any soft insulated cooler.

Hard Cooler vs. Soft Cooler: When to Use Each

Hard coolers are the better choice for multi-day trips where maximum ice retention matters most and weight isn't an issue.

Soft sided coolers are the better choice for day trips, work, hiking, fishing, beach days and anywhere portability is more important than keeping ice for three days straight.

A lot of people keep both. Cordova hard coolers handle the extended trips. Cordova soft coolers handle everything else.

Why Cordova Soft Coolers Hold Up

Cordova Outdoors is a veteran-owned company based in Idaho. The people behind these products spend real time outside in real conditions, and that shows up in how the coolers are built.

Every Backcountry Class soft cooler uses ballistic nylon, hard-cell foam insulation and watertight construction. The Daypack holds up to 24 cans. The Backpack holds around 36 cans and has been tested to keep ice for close to three full days. Third-party reviews comparing Cordova soft coolers to Yeti's comparable models have found that the ice retention is about the same, with Cordova offering more external pockets and comparable or better value.

Cordova also backs its soft coolers with a one-year warranty from the date of purchase. Register within 30 days, and you're covered.

To Sum Up

A high-quality soft cooler starts with real closed-cell foam insulation and doesn't cut corners on the outer materials, the zipper or the hardware. The best soft sided coolers are the ones that can actually take the conditions you're putting them in, keep things cold all day and hold together over years of regular use.

Cordova's Backcountry Class lineup checks all of those boxes. If you're looking for top rated, soft sided coolers that are built for real outdoor use, take a look at what Cordova has in the lineup.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best soft cooler on the market?

The best soft cooler depends on what you need it for. That said, the top rated, soft sided coolers all share a few things: dense closed-cell foam insulation, a watertight zipper, durable exterior materials like ballistic nylon and solid construction throughout. Cordova's Backcountry Class soft coolers consistently hold up in third-party comparisons against high-end brands like Yeti, often matching ice retention while offering better storage features.

What soft cooler holds ice the longest?

Soft coolers with thicker, denser closed-cell foam insulation and a watertight zipper hold ice the longest. Pre-chilling the cooler before packing, using block ice or quality ice packs like Cordova Packice, and packing the cooler as full as possible all help significantly. A cooler that's packed tight with less empty air space will always outperform one that's half empty. Cordova's Backpack cooler has been tested to retain ice for close to 72 hours under real-world conditions.

What size soft cooler do I need?

It depends on how many people you're feeding and how long you'll be out. A small soft cooler in the 4 to 12 can range works well for one person and a single meal or a short outing. A mid-size cooler, around 16 to 24 cans, is good for 1-2 people for a day. If you're heading out for a full day with a group, or you want hands-free carry for a hike or fishing trip, a larger backpack-style soft cooler in the 30+ can range makes more sense. Cordova's three-model soft cooler lineup (Lunchpack, Daypack and Backpack) covers all three of those use cases.