[Yorkie]

Full disclosure - I work for Pelican so I will try and provide some unbiased advice. If you are simply looking for a cooler for the weekend and are ok about replacing it every couple of years then buy an Igloo or a Coleman. They are good coolers and will be fine for light applications. If you are into sports fishing or like to buy "lifetime" products then look at the higher end coolers like Yeti and Pelican as they are built to keep your contents fresh for 7-10 days (depending upon how often you open the lid) and are made with quality materials. Those of you who have been in the service over the past 20 years may have used Pelican cases for your deployment equipment and we build our coolers to the same standards and build them here in the US. But they are not inexpensive so look hard at the Colemans and Igloos first.

If you want to build your own kick-ass cooler use Vacuum Insulated Panels. We have a division that supplies the medical market with coolers for biopharma applications and we use VIPs to really ensure that the contents stay within 2-8C for days on end.