Stanley 30 qt. Adventure Cooler

Super sturdy, size/shape is just right for a weekend trip in a compact car. Very well insulated. It is hard to find coolers in the 30qt range that have drain plugs. This cooler has one and it is great. The seal is air tight. I was unable to open the cooler after a trip to local mountains and returning to near sea level, due the vacuum created by the elevation change. I had to unscrew the drain plug to relieve the vacuum.

I was really into this cooler at first--its nice-looking, a great size and does not leak at all. It holds ice better than other coolers I've had, but when I took it on a 4 day camping trip, it definitely did not hold ice for 4 days. More like 2 and a half. That said, the real disappointment happened after I brought it home. I cleaned out my cooler and left it open outside to air dry. When I went to close it, it wouldn't close any more. The latches just won't connect. I don't know what happened but even when I put all my weight on this thing, I can't get it to close. Now without functioning latches its useless. I've had it for two months.

I now have all 3 sizes of this product which are offered and I'm impressed with the great job it does keeping things cold, as well as the quality of the materials. It's a lot more expensive than the typical coolers you see in the stores, though a lot less expensive than the premium ones. For me, it was worthwhile to pay extra to get a cooler that is much better than average without forking out a ridiculous sum of money and this product line was perfectly situated for that. I'm glad I went with this approach and I'm extremely happy with the cooler(s). They keep things way, way colder than a typical cooler.

First the bad: As others have stated, there are quality control issues with the drain leaking. Mine leaked at the drain, no matter how tight the cap. This renders the cooler useless. See pic. I suggest you keep the shipping box and fill the cooler with water immediately to see if your drain cap leaks like others have reported.The Good: Great height, solid construction all around. The one-piece gasket creates a vacuum tight seal. Some may find it annoying to have to pry the lid open to break the vacuum seal. I did not. It's proof that it's creating an air-tight seal and maximizing cold retention.The walls are fairly thick including the lid. The side handles are sturdy and were solid when the cooler was packed full. Easy lifting it and moving it around. The latches are nice as well. You have to push down slightly on the lid and they snap shut crisp and clean. This helps create the vacuum seal. They pop open with a pry and drop down out of the way.The exterior is semi-smooth and should hold stickers fairly well. This is important to some folks, including myself. The lid has detents on both left and right edges to allow a bungee or cord to not slide off when tied down.Overall, it has the ice retention of a premium roto-molded cooler without the weight. Picture a Coleman Extreme Cooler with a seal tight gasket on the lid.It's fairly tall and narrow. Almost a bucket-like design. Whereas most coolers are not as tall, with a chest design, thereby making it easier to locate items that are buried under the ice. This design may have you digging deep through the ice to find an item at the bottom.I really like the cooler design and performance but the leaking drain was an unacceptable flaw. Other reviews have mentioned the same drain leak so they still have quality issues. I'm sending mine back for an exchange in hopes of landing one that does not leak. We'll see.Only improvements I would suggest would be to make a model in very light color to not absorb as much sunlight and design some handles that would drop down and increase your ability to pack more items around it.I rolled the dice and am awaiting the arrival of the exchange. Hope I get a good one. I'll report back with an update.6/2/17 UpdateSecond cooler arrived a few days later. Superfast! Thanks Amazon.Functionally identical to the first. First thing I did was to snugly tighten the drain cap. Not cranked down tight because I wanted to see if it would seal with reasonable tightening pressure.I filled the cooler to the top so it spilled water over the sides when the lid was shut to ensure maximum pressure on the drain cap.No leaking initially. I left it in the garage overnight to see if extended pressure on the drain cap would produce a leak. Similar, but much more pressure than a typical cooler filled with ice and drinks/food sitting in a car for an extended period of time.Next day, no leaks. I then tilted the cooler back and forth rapidly. I saw a few drops of water escape from the drain cap.I then cranked the cap down tight. So tight, it would take significant effort to loosen it and drain the cooler. Swashed the cooler back and forth, no leaks. Additionally, I tightened the drain fixture with a pair of channel locks to see if that would tighten the drain seal. Still no leaks.As a further test, I turned the cooler upside down and, surprise..... no leakes from the lid seal. Very impressive. Full of water.While I had it full, I weighed it on my bathroom scale, (reasonably accurate) and it weighed 81.4 lbs. Normally filled with ice and drinks, it would not approach that kind of weight. The handles are strong and sturdy even with max weight.So, in conclusion, I'm keeping the second cooler. I just know I have to crank the drain cap down tight. Plus, I have the extra assurance if it does tip over, very little, if any, water would leak out. I think this cooler will fit my needs and perform way beyond it's price point.Upping the rating to only a 4 due to the spotty quality issues. Good luck with your purchase and test it out immediately upon arrival. Hope this helps potential buyers.

Horrible it leaks and doesn’t even keep the ice frozen for one day. I used it for a road trip and it leaked all over the truck.

It is quite heavy. Some more features would be nice for the price as well; built in bottle or can holders, cargo net on top to hold stuff, etc.

I bought this cooler when Yeti was the new thing to have. Didn't really have the wallet for a Yeti, but wanted something nice, so I splurged on this instead.I'm not a cooler snob by any means but there was a few things I had to have; I wanted a good air/water tight seal, sturdy latches to keep it shut on bumpy rides, a drain plug that isn't cheap and a point of failure, good durability and, obviously, the ability to keep stuff cold for a long period.This cooler covers all of that extremely well. I used it on a 2 month long road trip; no hotel rooms, pretty much roughing it. It fit perfectly in one of my empty seats, holds more than enough for 1 or 2 people to live comfortably out of for an extended period without being too big, and stays sealed and in good order at all times with no leaks or issues. If you drop it you aren't going to have a big mess. I only had to buy a bag of ice every 3 days or so, and probably could have gotten by with 4. I still have it and still regularly use it for my many hobo excursions and it holds up great to this day.This is absolutely worth a hundred bucks as it preforms so much better than your standard plastic wal-mart sporting goods section deal, those would not hold up to what I've put this one through. That said, the popularity of the Yeti type coolers has created a huge market of knockoffs that seem pretty good, so maybe at this point you can get something like this a little cheaper or better, but almost 2 years into beating the heck out of this one I have no reason to replace it yet.Bottom line, if you only use a cooler for the occasional day trip or backyard party, this is overkill. But if you plan to really depend on it, this is worth it.