Engel HD30 High-Performance Soft Sided Tote Cooler - Durable, Leak-Proof, Portable Ice Chest for Camping, Fishing, Tailgating & Outdoor Activities - Long-Lasting Cold Retention

Bought as a gift. Very sturdy. Handles on both sides make it easy for someone to help carry when fully loaded. Keep ice for several days. Would buy again.

I'll be honest, I got this for ice cream transport. I spent days watching reviews, videos, and doing research months ahead of when I knew I'd be swinging by my favorite Ice Creamery for my biannual load-up on magically jersey-cow made ice cream. The fact that I needed a cooler to make grocery hauls in the summer, and for beach vacations and picnics and camping trips all came second.I wanted something BIG! I was planning on getting 12-14 quarts of ice cream plus at least 4 large cooler shock ice packs. I don't care how heavy it is and I don't particularly care if I can sit on it.I am 110% satisfied with this thing. It is rugged, attractive, reliable, and, if packed appropriately, can sit out in the beating sun for days.This sucker is THICK, the top opening does take some wrangling to get bulky objects in/out, but not a deal breaker for me. The zipper is so satisfying I know I could dive with this thing.The handles and straps and doohickeys are fine, I use the shoulder strap almost exclusively since I'm usually alone until I'm actually at a destination. I have narrow slightly sloping shoulders so it does slide a bit but it's comfortable. You can make this thing ridiculously heavy and there are no signs of straining of straps or stitching, only of your arm muscles.So I first got to test it out going up to our cabin for 4th of July. I put frozen and fridge goods in it with only 3 of the large cooler shock ice packs. For 4.5 days it was like an extension of our small fridge/freezer, I did have to refreeze and add in the 4th after day 2 though because it wasn't very full. Bonus: it was also puppy proof on my puppy Jordi's first vacation!Next step, the beach for a week. It worked phenomenally. I didn't use it as much on the beach because we lived so close to the beach and it was so hot it was pretty much only me most of the day down on the sand, but I was really impressed when it was trapped in the sun in my hot car for 16 hours on the first day and when I unzipped it smoke like frozen vapor came up and out.I would highly recommend this product

It is a pain to unzip and zip the thing. It fits behind the front seat on the floor, that is great, but I can not open it without taking off my seat belt turn around in my seat use two hand to try and unzip it, takes forever. We did put the ointment that was in closed on the zipper but opening it is hard, did not help.

It's hard to put things in and take things out because the opening at the top does not stay open. Other than that it's a wonderful cooler. Keeps things really cold for a really long time.

I spent easily a month going through reviews for various soft sided coolers and small rotomolded coolers as well as looking at them in person. I was looking for something easily portable to keep in a vehicle, carry on the boat, to the beach, or to cookouts etc. Although I know it's tough to compare the durability of a softside to a rotomold but the portability is no comparison. After ordering and returning 2 separate RTIC softside coolers due to quality issues, looking at yeti hoppers and roadies, watching several performance tests of dozens of coolers, I finally decided on the Engel HD30. When it arrived, I could immediately tell the quality surpassed the RTIC softside coolers and was on par with the Yeti Hopper. I find the design better than the Yeti with a larger opening due to the more rectangular shape over the conical shape of the hopper. It's easily carried with the shoulder strap, top straps, or side straps. The zipper seems heavy duty and leakproof although not as large and rugged looking as the one on the yeti. Overall the cooler seems very well thought out with high quality and finish in every seam. At over $100 cheaper than the same size Hopper, with equal craftsmanship from a reputable company like Engel, it's a no-brainer. I can't speak to performance yet but will update after use. According to one independent test, it is the highest performing soft cooler to date but we will see.

I purchased the Engel HD30 soft cooler after doing significant research including reviewing many comparisons with YETI and other similar coolers. Engel boasted a 4.5 day time period where ice remains frozen and the contents cold. I purchased the Engel HD 30 in July but did not use it until October. Taking the new product out of the box I used the vacuum attachment to remove any warm air in the sides, took it to the store and purchased soft drinks, bottled water and loaded the cooler with ice packing at least 15 pounds before sealing it. We then drove 8 hours to Naples, FL where the cooler was in an air conditioned car. About an hour after we arrived I opened the cooler to find it had already started melting. By morning there was significant melting. Engel has a 1 year warranty so I contacted them with my findings. The initially said I should have had at least 35 pounds of ice, soft drinks and bottled water should have been pre-refrigerated and I would have gotten 4.5 days. When I questioned how many beverages would fit with 35 pounds of ice? They stated that given that the drinks were not pre-refrigerated and much more that 15-20 pounds of ice used the result of 1.5 days frozen was what I should expect. They would not agree to replace this one cooler with another, allow me to select another cooler (hard model) and pay any differences as they said no exchanges after 30 days even when it was used on one trip. Don’t waste your money or belief the false promises of 4.5 days. Nor should you count on Engel’s warranty. They simply do not embrace customer service.