Many of the charts & tables found on this site are PDFs.

The coolest cooler was the coolest: California Innovations, with its built-in stereo, won our ice-retention test. The $20 Zero Degrees is our Best Buy.

The winner of our ice-retention test, the music cooler from California Innovations, comes with a stereo.

Our recent test of hard coolers showed that there are sufficient differences in performance and price. In that December 2005 report, a $68 and a $445 cooler tied for best ice retention (slowest melt rate). Motivated to see if such differences might also exist among soft-sided coolers, we procured nine models from seven companies. Most are of the popular 24-can size, meaning you can cram 24 twelve-ounce cans of soda or beer into one of them. As we examined each, we were surprised to learn that some companies allow extra room for ice, and others don’t. So 24-can capacity doesn’t necessarily mean you can keep 24 cans cold. …