The Engel High Performance Hard Cooler is a heavy-duty, super-efficient cooler that’s capable of keeping contents cold for up to 10 days. Engel makes its High Performance Hard Coolers in 11 different size options, ranging from the day-tripping Engel 25 to the massive Engel 320.
To get us a closer look, Engel sent Man Makes Fire an Engel 35 High Performance Hard Cooler review unit for testing. Gear reviewer Chris Maxcer took the Engel 35 on several camping, hunting, and ski-trip weekends to test its performance in real-world situations. This is what he learned and are his buying recommendations:
Engel 35 Hard Cooler Review
The Engel line of rotomolded hard-sided coolers come in 11 different size options!Engel has been making rugged, high-quality rotomolded coolers for decades. In addition to the many size options, Engel manufactures lots of color options, too. Many of Engel’s most loyal customers buy Engel coolers for use on boats, which means they’re constantly exposed to direct sunlight. As you might expect, Engel’s color pallet tends to offer lighter color hues to reduce the effects of sunlight (because darker colors absorb more energy from the sun, resulting in a decrease in thermal efficiency in direct sun).
Even though Engel’s marine-grade coolers are often used on boats, they’re also rugged. In fact, the Engel High Performance Hard Coolers are so tough they qualify as IGBC Certified Bear Resistant Containers. What’s that mean? It means that when you padlock them closed, even grizzly bears struggle to tear them open.
Two Inches of Insulation!
The lid, bottom and walls all contain 2″ of insulation for awesome thermal efficiency.Some competing rotomolded coolers have designs that skimp on the thickness of the interior insulation, resulting in areas of insulation that are less thick than others. Engel’s High Performance Hard Coolers, on the other hand, have particularly uniform levels of insulation: You get a full 2″ of closed-cell foam insulation in the lid, sides, and bottom.
To keep the cool in and the heat out, Engel uses its trademarked ArcticVault Gasket, which is a freezer-grade all-silicone gasket.
Non-Skid Lid
One of the features I appreciate in Engel coolers is the texture of its non-skid lid and body. Lots of competing coolers have slick, shiny side walls and bases. While the slick edges are easier to clean, they tend to scar up more noticeably with scratches over time. The Engel coolers seem to hide wear-and-tear scratches better than most of the hard cooler competition.
Of course, non-skid lids are great for traction if you stand on your cooler.
Excellent Overall Build Quality
Engel offers its hard-sided rotomolded coolers in many different color options.The Engel rotationally-molded construction delivers outstanding overall fit and finish. The lines are precise, the lid fit is excellent, and the latches release and re-attach with ease.
The non-skid, non-marking feet keep the Engel coolers in place on moving decks or in the back of your vehicle. Better yet, they slightly raise the base of the cooler up off of potentially warmer surfaces, which helps keep heat from transferring to your cooler.
Shop all size and color options at Engel — and get Free Shipping on orders over $99!
Real-World Ice Retention and Performance
The freezer-grade silicone gasket is a key reason the Engel High Performance Coolers can keep ice for up to 10 days.In my experience and testing, every high-quality rotomolded cooler made from quality North American businesses has delivered excellent real-world ice-retention over multiple days. The Engel High Performance Hard Cooler performs just as well, if not slightly better than average.
What I like about the Engel 35 High Performance Cooler in particular is its size: It’s big enough to hold quite a bit of food and drink but it’s small enough to use on a day-trip or overnight outing. For relatively casual use, like camping or overnight hunting trips, I tend to go easy on the ice during spring, winter and fall. For hot summer days, I tend to go heavy on the ice. With a good cooler, you can use less ice and still have good results. The Engel 35 is a very good cooler.
In my experience, the Engel High Performance Hard Cooler is very thermally efficient — as expected. If you want to maximize cooling effectiveness over multiple days, though, you’ll need to understand your situational needs and your environment. If you’re unsure, check out Engel’s Tips for Maximizing Ice Retention here. If you follow these tips, the Engel High Performance Hard Coolers won’t let you down.
Why Choose Engel Over Cheaper Competition?
Engel uses stainless steel components in its latch system to avoid corrosion in marine environments.This is the real question you’re probably wondering about: Is an Engel cooler worth the cost compared to cheaper options? While most of the major hard cooler manufacturers produce high-quality competitive coolers, there are many new department-store rotomolded coolers available these days. While these coolers appear to have thick walls and include rubber seals, you might not be getting the quality you’re expecting. For instance, cheaper coolers sometimes have missed spots of insulation — or simply less insulation.
In my experience, there are a couple of other risks that support making a smarter cooler investment: The first is lid fit. Inferior coolers might leave the factory with ill-fitting lids. While they look like they fit, the actual seal might not compress well because the lid isn’t perfectly flat across the top. Or it can be warped — or warp slightly as the temperature changes. Tiny gaps can rob your cooler of efficiency — and maybe even ruin a camping trip.
Quality rotomolded coolers will be able to handle extreme heat and extreme cold while maintaining perfect lid compression and fit.
In addition, better coolers have stronger hinges that will likely never fail, as well as ultra-rugged and corrosion-resistant latches. Better yet, if you do manage to break a latch or, for example, lose a cooler foot five years later, you can count on Engel to stock replacement parts.
Check Your Quarts
Don’t assume the model name number corresponds directly to the interior volume. Fortunately, Engle reports its volume in quarts as well as illustrates both exterior and interior dimensions on its product pages.While Engel’s model numbers don’t quite line up to each cooler’s volume as measured by quarts, Engel does identify the volume on each product page. Not all manufacturers are as transparent, so this is something I appreciate about Engel.
For instance, you might think that all coolers that use a “65” in the model name hold about 65 quarts of volume. That’s often not the case. The Engel 65 — which is an excellent size for weekend camping trips — has a reported 58 quarts of volume. The YETI 65 Hard Cooler, for example, seems like an equivalent size due to the naming convention, but YETI doesn’t report its volume in quarts. To get it, you’d have to measure it in person . . . but you can get a rough estimation by using the reported interior dimensions of the cooler to calculate total cubic inches. And then you can use Google to translate cubic inches into quarts to make the math easier. Of course, cooler interiors are not perfectly square, so actual volume will vary a bit. Still, if you do the math, the YETI 65 Hard Cooler has about 49~ quarts of usable space. If you do the same math on the Engel 65, the Engel 65 has about 56~ quarts of usable capacity, which is pretty close to the reported 58 quart capacity.
Shop all size and color options at Engel — and get Free Shipping on orders over $99!
Competitive Options & Alternatives
If you’re interested in the Engel High Performance Cooler line, there are several other high-quality rotomolded cooler brands and options that might also fit your needs. I’ve personally used and tested these alternative options at Man Makes Fire and can also recommend them:
YETI Tundra Hard Coolers — The YETI Tundra Hard Coolers represent the biggest cooler brand in the business. YETI tends to offer bolder, brighter color options than Engel . . . at the expense of some thermal efficiency in direct sunlight. Even so, YETI offers white options if you tend to use your cooler in bright sun. Performance will be similar to Engel, but the biggest difference are the latch designs. YETI uses heavy-duty rubber latches that pull into place. The only drawback compared to Engel’s latches is that the YETI Tundra lid latches are a little harder to open and close, particularly for kids and aging adults.
RTIC Ultra-Tough Coolers — RTIC offers several sizes of rotomolded coolers offered at price points a bit lower than YETI and Engel. Are they worth it? Yes. Any drawbacks? In our testing, performance has been very good and competitive. Fit and finish is slightly less refined, but most people won’t notice. The biggest decision factor will likely be fewer size and color options.
Cabela’s Polar Cap Equalizer Coolers — The Cabela’s Polar Cap Equalizer Coolers are super-rugged, expedition-ready coolers. Man Makes Fire has two sizes that have been working hard for years. The biggest drawback is also its best feature: Rotomolded grab-through handles. When it’s time to carry or move the Cabela’s Polar Cap Equalizer Coolers, we like how easy it is to grab the handles. The drawback is that this design takes up more space when you’re trying to pack a lot of gear around your cooler. Still, when space isn’t an issue, the handles are great.
The Bottom Line
All-in-all, the Engel High Performance Hard Cooler line delivers outstanding cooling efficiency with a classic ultra-rugged build quality. With 2″ of interior closed-cell insulation and a durable rotomolded exterior, you get a cooler that will keep contents cold for days. Better yet, you can stand or sit on Engel’s Hard Coolers, and we particularly appreciate the anti-slip exterior finish. Very highly recommended.
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Our Gear Review and Tester’s Specific Related Experience:
Chris Maxcer has tested and reviewed more than two dozen coolers for Man Makes Fire over multiple years. He’s personally used hard-sided coolers, rotomolded coolers, wheeled coolers, and soft coolers in the field to understand how well they hold ice over real-world usage, how easy they are to pack, and how well the cooler designs work for different situations, including while camping, hunting, rafting, UTV riding, and kayaking, as well as on the beach and day-tripping. Of course, Maxcer has also written hundreds of in-depth outdoor gear reviews, including independent, first-hand reviews of fly fishing gear, camping gear, hunting gear, backpacking gear, and beach and water play gear. He believes the best way to understand a product is to use it in the real world for the kind of activity it was designed for.
Man Makes Fire publishes independent gear reviews, unencumbered by any requirements from any gear brand or manufacturer.
