I've used the cooler once, in the desert and it was great. Out for 3 days and didn't loose much ice. After 5 days, still had a bit of ice. 7 days, there was ice-cold water.

I love the sturdiness and quality components of the cooler The latches can be a bit annoying because they get in the way when closing, so you can't really do it one-handed. Best way is to close lid by the latches, so you can pull them out of the way.

I used the molded grips more than the ropes. The cooler is a bit heavy, especially loaded with 20 lbs of ice, plus more with food. Kind of comes with the territory, as it's not significantly heavier than competitors, but I had to go with the 50 over the 80 because there is no way I wanted to carry the 80 by myself loaded with food and ice. The 50 also fits in the back seat of my double cab Tacoma.

Overall, this cooler is an amazing value.

The cooler performed as advertised. I kept Ice for five days where at lake powell where the daytime temperatures were in the High eighties.

Haven't used it yet, but shipping was fast and it arrived in perfect condition.

The only thing that is holding back on that fifth star is the rubber latches that get in the way of closing the lid easily. You need 2 hands to hold the latches out of the way of the lip where the top comes down.

This cooler it's an amazing value for the price compared to other name brands. It stays in the bed of my truck 24 hours a day in the hot Florida sun most of the time. I fill it with ice about every four to five days and by that time there are still chunks of ice in the melted water but it is still cold. I love that it has a hole for me to pass a cable lock through so I can attach it to the tie-down cleat in my truck. It would get five stars for me if it weren't for two improvements that I think need to be made: the drain plug does not have any sort of tether on it and I have almost lost it several times when I forgot to put it back on after filling it with ice. They're also doesn't seem to be an easy way to order a replacement but I have not reached out to Monoprice under their lifetime warranty. I'm going to try to have to rig some sort of string or cable to it to keep it from getting lost. The second issue is what other people have commented on and that is the laches that get in the way when trying to close the lid. With those two things being said it is still a great cooler for the price.

Finally had a chance to use it for a day trip. Filled with some drinks and a 3lb bag of ice. Left cooler in back of truck in camper for a week and ice had melted but drinks were very cold still. My old cooler would have had everything at room temp or hotter.

... and without the leading brand price. Nice.

The build of this cooler seems to be very good. I cannot speak to the ice retention capabilities as of yet as it is winter. Some minor annoyances I have seen so far are the latches get in the way while closing. I have 2 options to remedy this. One being attaching something underneath the latches to prevent them from laying flat and the other is to wedge something like a washer on the sides of the rubber latches to prevent from moving so freely. The other small thing is the bottle opener does not allow for full motion to pry the bottle caps off a bottle because the bottle hits the cooler. It pries it enough to get it partially off but requires another slight spin of the bottle and another pry or finish it by hand. The rubber feet can be good or bad. The cooler won't even slide empty so better bring some muscle to lift and move because by design, it is heavy. I think I will be happy with this purchase and would recommend especially if purchased on sale.

My title says it all, but basically I would take this at it's price over the yeti three times its price all day. The Yeti or Rtic ones are a little lighter, they don't have the issue when you close it the straps fall into the way so you have to pull them out of the way every time you shut it, and the drain plug not being attached somehow so it doesn't get lost is downright careless, but overall it's so much of a better deal than the Yeti, that it's hard to care too much about those thing.

Best cooler for the price anywhere!!A true 5 out of 5 stars and I have shopped coolers