Rtic Backpack Cooler Review

Specifications

• Exterior Dimensions:
  • Height: 20 ¼” 
  • Width: 15”
  • Depth: 10”
• Interior Dimensions:
  • Height: 17” 
  • Width: 13”
  • Depth: 7”
• Empty Weight: 8 lbs
• Internal volume: ~27 Quarts
• Materials: Fully waterproof
• Carrying mechanism: Over shoulder expedition quality backpack straps, 3 single hand handles.

Features List

• Roomy: Rtic states that the thin premium insulation used in this backpack leaves enough room to hold 30 cans with a bag of ice easily. 
• Hands Free: With the high quality backpack straps the cooler sits comfortably and securely on your back, leaving your hands free to hold the hand of your loved one, your fishing pole, or even a second cooler.
• Accessible: The top of the cooler flaps open so that you can access everything you need to without having to reach through tiny zipper holes. 
• Compact: When empty the cooler packs away fairly compact so that it doesn’t take up all the room a solid cooler would. 
• It Floats: Because the Backpack Cooler is designed to be waterproof it not only keeps your wet beverages and ice inside but also any water; from a pool or the ocean, out and away from its contents. The insulation foam makes it extremely buoyant so you can float down a lazy stream without having to leave your drinks behind. 

The main job of a cooler isn’t actually to cool things down, rather it’s to keep them cool and use ice packs or bags of ice to keep the internal temperature lower than the ambient temperature of its surroundings.

You could say that the main function of a cooler is to insulate its internal contents from the environment.

We can call this metric ‘temperature retention’ and we’ll measure it in time. Well, the Rtic Backpack Cooler has amazing temperature retention and can keep pieces of ice solid for up to 3 days.

This is with the backpack kept outside, out of direct sunlight, so as long as you keep the cooler out of direct sunlight you’ll be able to keep your drinks and food crisp and fresh for a full day trip or even a weekend camping trip. 

Keep in mind that this is a best case scenario and probably won’t be applicable for high heat beach trips or canyon hikes.

For this kind of environment, we’d half that temperature retention time to around a day and a half especially if you’re taking it out on trips in the middle of summer where it isn’t rare for the temperature to hit 100° and above. 

These numbers are subjective to a single test with only some loose ice, if you’re looking to elongate the temperature retention adding more ice or even dry ice packs could double your time.

Ice extender products like the KoolerKube can also help to elongate the life of your ice but it will render your ice inedible.

So for general day trips and camping trips, this cooler will be more than adequate and you can guarantee your refreshments will stay refreshing.

In terms of size, the Backpack Cooler is a behemoth of a wearable cooler. The next important feature of coolers is their capacity, it’s great if your cooler keeps your ice solid for a week but if it can only hold 1 can then it isn’t very practical. 

Rtic states that their cooler has a maximum internal volume of around 27 Quarts which is fairly accurate but they state on their website that the Backpack Cooler can only carry up to 30 cans with ice.

If a standard can is 12 Oz then that means this cooler should be able to hold at least 69 cans.

Accounting for the lack of uniformity in the shape of the cans you should still be able to handily fit 40 or even 50 cans into this bad boy with some room for ice.

The Backpack Cooler is more than big enough for a day trip, if you are good at Tetris and know how to pack oddly shaped things then you’ll be able to fit more than enough drink and foot in the cooler without having to worry about space for ice packs or loose ice. 

The Rtic cooler is the largest backpack cooler we’ve seen and is significantly more spacious than the more expensive Backflip 24.

The internal volume of this cooler is very impressive but that means the external dimensions have to be big enough to fit everything inside, and they are.

The Rtic Backpack Cooler is a bulky backpack and when fully packed would require someone sturdy enough to move it around. 

You’ll want to weigh up whether you want to have more stuff in your backpack or whether you want it to be moveable.

You definitely won’t be as confined as a traditional hard cooler but you’ll want to work on your endurance if you’re going to be carrying this full; through a hike. 

Thankfully Rtic has put a lot of thought into the comfort of the backpack, even when completely packed you’ll still be comfortable enough carrying this for hours (if you’ve got the muscle power to haul it). 

With all the handles and lifting points, someone can easily help to place the bag on your back so that you don’t strain yourself. 

The backpack straps themselves are extremely well padded, they are quite wide and have a mesh covering on the bottom to ensure that it is still breathable.

The rear side of the backpack is covered in 3 large comfort pads, 1 that secures to your lumbar and around your waist and 2 that sit on your shoulder blades leading down.

This 3 point contact system means that the cooler and most of the weight will be pressing against you with soft, breathable padding.

The straps have harness clips around your chest and your waist to ensure that you don't have to keep shrugging the straps back into place or that the bag all of a sudden becomes loose.

You will have full confidence in the fact that the cooler is secured to you and that you won’t be losing your refreshments today.

The extra handles we mentioned before also allow the cooler to be carried as you would with a traditional cooler so the versatility is unrivaled with this. 

With all that thought being put into comfort and cooling you might be worried that the backpack cooler doesn’t rate too highly in the durability and ruggedness category.

You would be wrong, Rtic has designed the Backpack Cooler to last years and it really is evident in the build quality.

Through extended usage most customers report absolutely impeccable performance, months and even years after the initial purchase. 

Rtic states that all seams have been welded and that the bag is completely waterproof, this is totally true. Even if you were to keep unpackaged liquid inside the cooler you wouldn’t really know because it all stays contained.  

This extra care into waterproofing works both ways. While the cooler is great at keeping its contents inside and completely isolated from the outside, it also does a good job of keeping the outside out.

By that, what we mean is that the cooler is completely waterproof externally as well so it actually works as a floatation device, the waterproofing combined with the heat insulation foam make this cooler extremely buoyant. 

Stylistically the cooler isn’t a stunner, you get a choice of either tan or blue/grey, it is always going to look like a cooler but it definitely isn’t an eyesore.

The extra design choices that we appreciate are the 4 gear attachment points that let you attach a rope, water bottle, carabiner, or climbing gear to the backpack itself.

We like the bungee secure system on the front of the bag that can be used for camping gear or external wear like a waterproof parka or jacket. These little touches show the consideration that has gone into the design of this cooler.