REI Co-op  Cool Trail Pack Cooler

I purchased this to replace car trips to grocery with Bicycle and for camping. Works as expected for both. Not as comfortable to wear as a hiking backpack but is tolerable for trips up to an hour with 30 lbs. loaded. Reason for one star deduction is top strap easily slides off if not careful. It mounts on a bead that's tapered at the bottom. Top strap will come off of the bead if too tight or too low.

I’m really happy with this bag. I’m sitting at the beach for year 2 with the bag. I love how I can also carry towels and blankets on it. Great options for dry pockets on tops and sides. I will buy another and have recommended to friends. It is NOT water right. I use cooler shock packs to keep items cold (no ice). Also, yes the top knapsack strong closure is sort of dumb. But overall, I love the bag. Can carry 18 drinks and beach stuff on a bike or foot with a strong waste strap keeping load off my shoulders and not changing my CG when trying to bike. Highly recommend even with my criticisms.

The zipper will leak, no surprise, I saw that at first look. Its $99.00, com'on. I use Freeze paks for overall cooling food/beer, and bring Drink Ice in a separate leak proof container if needed. Pak ALL DAY food n drink for two, easy. Straps, Ruk top, side pockets for dry stuffs. Remove the cooler insert = Ruk sak. Oh.....and the zipper snag thing....I get it. could be better. But just pull the shell down past the zipper, or lift the inner cooler up a tick. No zip snags for me. Its not rugged, its not water proof, and its not a $300.00 cooler. I like this a lot, especially for the price point.

Most of the reviews you will read state that this pack will leak. The first day I purchased this cooler pack, I filled it up with water and let it sit in my garage for 5-6 hours. It did not leak. Later that day, I filled it up with ice and let it sit overnight. The next morning there was one small spot on the cooler insert where condensation had built up. I had filled it to the top and about 8 inches of ice had melted overnight. The next day I took this pack out on the lake and was sitting in the shade and only a little condensation would build up. After getting home, I let it sit in the garage overnight again with cans and ice and water- when I woke up the next day it was pretty wet. I love the design of the pack and it serves its purpose. I have a dry bag from the military that I slip the insert in and then put in the pack. This keeps the outer shell of the pack dry. The cooler insert itself could use some more insulation and I give it a solid 3 1/2 stars. If you're looking for a fairly inexpensive cooler pack it's a good choice. There is room for improvements and I hope REI will come out with a better insert.

The backpack portion of this product is great, but unfortunately the soft insert isn't leakproof over time. We have been using this product for a year now. In the beginning, it contained all of the moisture inside. This summer, we have found that water from our ice leaks through to the backpack and is no longer self contained. Other than that, we enjoyed this for bring to bodies of water, as it can hold extra gear in addition to our drinks and snacks we wanted to keep cold. I wish we could return this, but our time period has lapsed. We will be investing in a higher-end soft cooler to replace this, and if I could do it again, I would have purchased a higher-end cooler from the start.

Bought for making trips to the beach and such less hassle. Our first time using it, it held 3 Pringle cans in the top pocket (easily). Cooler compartment held 5 large drinks, 2 12oz cans, 2 footlong subs and 2 large blue ice packs, with room to spare. Side pockets held dog food, large bottled water, dog toy, wallet and phone. I was so pleased at how much it held, and how heavy it was but no factor since it is a backpack with a waist belt. Blue ice was 50% frozen after 8 hours, most of that outside in 80+ degrees.

I was so excited about this pack the full size hip belt, multiple external pockets, removable cooler feature and the PRICE! So I tested it at home before taking it out on the trail. Put 3 bags of ice in it and let it sit in my house and it stayed below 41 degrees F for over 48 hours however it left severa huge puddles on the floor. I kept trying to figure out it it was condensation or a leak but after leaving it sit without ice for another day the puddles kept coming. Additionally it is a huge hassle to get into the cooler without taking the entire thing out of the pack. It's like a 5 step rube goldberg process and the zipper gets stuck on the lining every few inches. I'll be returning it. Maybe REI will improve their liner QC and refine the opening as this is a really cool concept.

I’m a 5’1” female with a short torso but this pack is comfortable. Flap pocket can hold my boots while weekend supplies sit atop a roll top wet bag inside the cooler. Great for epipens and insulin. Map, phone and smalls stow easily in side pockets plus water bottle access. I can even attach a picnic blanket, yoga mat and a camp chair to it without much problem. Win-win!

Keeps drinks cold well. Holds a 30 rack ( most important part ) leaks if turned on side ( zippers are not water proofed). Let’s be honest if you’re on the beach all you want is quantity and temperature. This cooler can provide that. 4/5 cause it leaks from the zipper.

It’s a good casual picnic backpack. It doesn’t hold temps very well and it’s absurdly tall. The dimensions would be better if it was wider and less tall and the bag would be more functional as well. Straps are better than any other backpack cooler and the extra storage is fantastic - better than anything else in its class. The dimensions really are the biggest downfall. I use it for carrying beer and wine bottles to share. It’s waaay taller than a standard wine bottle but not wide enough to fit more than 3-4 bottles with a cool-pack.