RTIC 45 Quart Ultra-Tough Cooler review - Super durable cooler for adventures

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REVIEW – Good outdoor gear can really extend and improve your time outdoors. While a simple premise, a good cooler definitely fits the bill and can make a big difference in outdoor fun. The RTIC 45 Qt Ultra-Tough cooler, today’s review, is designed to meet that requirement and give you the capability to keep your stuff cold even in harsh environments. Keep reading to see if it held up!

⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $239.00
Where to buy: RTIC and Amazon

What is it?

The RTIC 45 QT Ultra-Tough Cooler is a solidly built cooler with a 60 can capacity and the ability to store ice for up to 5 days.

What’s included?

Cooler

Tech specs

Exterior Dimensions: 26.35” × 18.19” × 15.75”
Interior Dimensions: 18.90” × 11.42” × 10.98”
Can Capacity: Up to 60 Cans
Ice Capacity: Up to 41 lbs. of Ice
Empty Weight: 29.5 lbs
Insulation: 2.8’’ of closed-cell foam insulation

Design and features

The design of a cooler is pretty simple. It’s an insulated box that you put ice and things you want to keep cold in. The design of this insulated box, however, has some very nice features. First off, the insulation consists of 2.8 inches of closed cell foam insulation, so it should be very resistant to wear and punctures. There are several recommendations for optimum use also included.

Second, the box itself is made using rotomolded construction to ensure consistent wall thicknesses and very few seams to worry about.

The handles are made with marine-resistant materials and can definitely take a beating.

There are a few other nice additions like integrated lock holes in the corners so you can secure your goods, dual drains on each side, silicone T-latches to keep it sealed tight, interior silicone cargo net, and a built-in bottle opener.

Performance

The true test of a cooler is can it keep your stuff cold! First step, fill it up with ice. I was wondering if it hold two full bags and it did!

The disadvantage of putting two full bags of ice in the cooler is that it doesn’t leave much room for supplies, but I threw a few drinks in and let it rip.

About a day later.

A couple of days later:

About 6 days later. It was about this point that I realized that there wasn’t much water left over from two very large bags of ice. Confused, I realized that one of the drains wasn’t quite tightened all of the way and there was a very small leak. Lesson Learned: Check the drains before use. Still, after almost a week there was still ice in the cooler.

Final thoughts

This is a very solidly built cooler. It is not light, coming in at almost 30 pounds empty, so that may be a bit daunting for some. Loaded, you will easily top 50 pounds once you put ice and other stuff inside. It’s definitely going to be a balance between the extra insulation capability and the added weight of the insulation. The marine handles are very nice and help with hauling it around, but depending on the load you may need assistance. As I learned after testing for a week, make sure that you tighten the drains well. The price point is pretty high for a cooler, but the extra insulation and the build quality are very good, so it should last for a very long time. Overall, I recommend if the weight and price aren’t going to be an issue for you.

What I like about the RTIC 45 QT Ultra-Tough Cooler

Fantastic insulation and ice retention
Solid build that should be able to take a lot of use and abuse
Silicone gaskets and latches are great at giving it a good seal

What needs to be improved?

It’s heavy. Not sure if other materials would make for a lighter build while keeping the insulation capability

Price: $239.00
Where to buy: RTIC and Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by RTIC. RTIC did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.