Ozark Trail 30 qt 42-Can Hard-Sided Cooler, Gray

​I recently picked up the Ozark Trail 30 Quart Hard Side Cooler from Walmart for a weekend camping trip, and it exceeded my expectations for the price. If you need a reliable middle-of-the-road cooler that isn't as bulky as a full-size chest but holds way more than a lunch bag, this is a fantastic choice. ​Personal Experience ​What I love most is the height; it's tall enough to hold 2-liter bottles or wine bottles upright, which is a huge plus. The carry handle is sturdy and has a comfortable grip, making it easy to haul from the car to the picnic table even when fully loaded with 42 cans. ​The top of the cooler is flat and solid, which actually doubles as a great little side table. I found the integrated cup holders on the lid to be incredibly useful—they kept our drinks secure while we were sitting by the fire, so we didn't have to worry about them tipping over in the grass. ​Performance %26 Useful Tips ​I was able to keep my food and drinks cold for a full 48 hours in 80-degree weather. Here are a few tips to get the best out of it: ​Pre-chill is Key: I kept the cooler in the house the night before and put a couple of frozen water bottles inside to bring the internal temperature down before packing. ​Layer Wisely: Put your heavy items and meat at the bottom directly on the ice, and keep delicate items like eggs or sandwiches near the top. ​Don't Drain Immediately: As the ice melts, keep the cold water inside! It actually helps insulate the remaining ice and keeps your drinks colder than air would. ​Final Verdict: For under $20, you really can't beat the value. It's lightweight, durable, and the gray color doesn't show dirt easily.

It's perfect. Not too big and not too small. I was afraid it would be too little to hold ice and a little food for a 4 day trip. Perfect size and clean as a whistle. Packed well, too. I've never had a problem with Ozark Trail in the many years I've been buying the products at Walmart.

Seems to be a good little cooler, though when it arrived one side of the handle had come out of the cooler. This cooler is not stocked in my store and I wasn't able to see it first hand, so I would caution buyers that have to order it that it may be quite a bit smaller than you thought it would be. For someone wanting a small cooler this should be a contender.

I am giving it five stars for the size %26 price. I'm not sure about the handle or how long the ice lasts because I just picked it up. I will update my experience when I do use it. I did see negative reviews about how long things stay cold and the handle. But I also have seen good reviews about how long things stay cold and the handle.

Very sturdy and kept my food frozen for hours! With ice packs and all, I needed my foods to stay frozen for the entire 8 hours trip before they get transferred to another freezer and they're still solid frozen. It definitely will keep things a lot longer than that. And I just recently realized that you can take the lid off too for easy cleaning. Very happy with my purchase!

The Ozark Trail 30 Quart Hard Side Cooler is decent in its design, construction, and materials, except for one thing: the lid hinge is weak. I left the lid open for a period of time, which distorted the lid plastic at the hinge until it failed. Now if I open the lid without some support to lean it against, it will fall off. The cooler is still quite usable, but the lid is effectively detachable and needs to be snapped onto the cooler body, which is an annoyance. A better design would improve the strength of the lid hinge or use a strap to keep the lid from tilting back too far and putting stress on the hinge. Otherwise, the cooler is good enough. It's well insulated, durable, and easy to clean. It's medium weight and of moderate strength. A child can sit on it, but it won't easily handle an adult's weight without deforming. I wouldn't try to fill it full of ice and drinks: the handle probably wouldn't support the weight where it snaps into the body. But with a bit of ice in the bottom and filled with a mix of food, it does fine. The inner liner is a single piece of plastic and is completely waterproof, so it won't leak so long as you keep it upright. There is no drain hole. Four feet keep the cooler elevated slightly above the floor. According to the label, the cooler is 37% polypropylene, 25% recycled polypropylene, 25% HDPE, and 13% EPS foam. The lid is a single blow-molded piece of white HDPE. The body is composed of a white polypropylene injection molded inner liner slid within a polystyrene foam insulation shell slid within a blue polypropylene injection molded outer shell. The inner and outer plastic are fused to each other at the seam around the outside. The lid snaps onto the body. The handle is white polypropylene and snaps into the outer shell. If you can find the cooler on sale, it's a good value. At the normal price, it's just okay. You might do better to spend a few more dollars on something better designed.

Overall, it's okay. Once you fill up the cooler with drinks and ice, the handle is a bit 'iffy' due to the weight of the cooler. Imy opinion, I think the handle will break off because of the weight being too heavy. May end up using it just to keep food chilled with a few ice packs during transport.

There is NO insulating foam between the outside and inside walls - just air space. As such it will NOT keep things cool for more than a day if not less than a day. I did a test and I packed it full of already refrigerator cold items and ice to the top. Less than 24 hours later all of the ice was melted sitting on my kitchen counter in 73 degrees air conditioned indoors space. Outdoors in the sun it would be far worse. This is really just a one day or half cooler. Again there is NO insulating foam between the plastic walls, just air space. It's more of a double walled plastic tub than an actual cooler.

I didn't want to spend nearly $40 for an igloo cooler of about the same size. So I spent $12 for a plastic box with a lid and handle. I pack my water and lunch about 4 am. I leave the house at 5, and hear my half melted ice sloshing around! My old (10 yrs) igloo only had about an inch of melt at the end of a 10 hour work day on a construction site in s. Florida. In the summer. This is junk!

The cooler does not even keep ice cold for half an hour. The manfacturers website and some other help websites I talked to me told me the ice would last longer if we added salt to the ice. That kind of defeats the purpose of ice, as I do not want salty ice in my soda or water.