I would appreciate anyone who may be able to answer a fairly specific soft-sided cooler question. I am looking for a USA made cooler and have narrowed my choices to Bison or Hatch.

From everything I can see on their respective websites, the Bison 24 and the Hatch 24 Carbon appear to be very similar in appearance and construction.

Bison:

https://www.bisoncoolers.com/c...ducts/24-can-softpak

Hatch:

https://www.hatchcoolers.com/p...24-pack-carbon-black

However, the Hatch is about $45 cheaper. Even cheaper than that is the Hatch 24 Canvas series, which is only $90:

https://www.hatchcoolers.com/p...t-page/24-pack-black

I am wondering if anyone on here has real-world experience with any of these coolers and could give me an honest answer as to whether I should pay more for the Bison. And if not, whether I should pay more for the Hatch "Carbon" or just get the cheaper canvas.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. - if you have another USA made soft-sider to recommend that I haven't mentioned, great. But please don't recommend any cooler in this thread that isn't USA made. I get that the coolers I have linked won't have as good of ice retention as some others. That's fine. I know what I need this for, and 5 days of ice retention ain't it. I also have my mind set on USA made.

I have an AO cooler (12 pack) that has been my lunch box for several years and am quite happy with it.

I was under the impression that all their coolers were USA made but I just checked their website and they're tagging specific coolers as "made in USA" so I was mistaken years ago when I bought mine or something has changed.

They do offer US made models in the size you're after and your price range.

Dan

I have an AO soft sided cooler that is made in the states (or was many years ago when I purchased it). It keeps things very cold in a blazing hot truck cab for 48-72 hours based upon how much you open it of course.
Having this cooler I am looking for another but with an added requirement. The interior needs to have some sorts of solid plastic removable tub. One to help hold the coolers shape slightly but the biggest issue is the liner has so many folds and crevices water gets stuck in them it takes forever to fully dry the interior.
And inevitably you get mold and mildew on the interior. There is just no way around it.


And why don’t any of these companies actually show the inside of the damn things? That is the most important part.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

And why don’t any of these companies actually show the inside of the damn things? That is the most important part.

Thanks - I was wondering the same thing. The issue with the folds on the inside makes sense, I didn't think of that. The two I am looking at are basically the same design as the AO.

I have a couple of polar bear coolers I am very happy with .
Made in USA

They say u can pull the inside out to dry or clean

I bought an AO for use on my boat because they claimed they used closed cell foam. Unfortunately, it was not like any closed cell foam I ever saw, as the foam collapsed and compressed significantly under the weight of ice, water and contents, and, of course lost insulating properties as a result. They simply could not keep ice like I required, and when asked about their choice of foam, the company deflected. The liner was also fairly light weight and a bottle with cap would cut a hole in it pretty easily.

I'm very happy with my RTICs, Yeti clones at a fraction of the price using true closed cell foam and plenty of it with a really thick tough liner. Unfortunately I'm pretty certain they're made in China like the soft sided Yetis.

Ao Coolers Been using and beating the crap out of their coolers for at least 20 years. Best dang coolers I’ve ever used.

I've been using softcoolers.com for many years. Can't say enough good about them; haven't bought one for nearly ten years. They do get nasty inside over time unless you pull them inside out and clean them periodically.

https://www.softcoolers.com/online-store

I have a NORCHILL boat bag very happy and about 1/2 the price of name brand coolers. Found mine on fleebay
Amazon says they have them also if you still use them!