Otterbox Test
Etta Lesniak
Having cold food and drinks readily available is something we take for granted when in the comfort of our own homes. As an avid outdoorsman, I often find myself away from small modern luxuries like this.
Featuring a soft-sided nylon exterior with a durable bottom, the Trooper LT 30 is both tough and easy to carry. The cooler can be carried as a backpack or with a shoulder strap. Plus, its Realtree Edge Camo design (the Forest Edge color) offers hunters a unique and functional way to properly stock a hunting camp.
I was able to test the Trooper LT 30 cooler on a recent elk hunting trip in Colorado. Multiple days of elk hunting can take a toll on your body. Elk hunting in Colorado consists of hours of hiking in high elevation, moving from spot to spot to glass. This can cause you to lose energy fast. For me, making sure I eat a hearty breakfast and big dinner back at camp ensures I will have an enjoyable day in the field.
The OtterBox Trooper LT 30 Backpack Cooler made a great addition to my hunting camp. With its generous 30-quart capacity, I was able to bring all the food needed for the entire trip. I enjoyed eggs with bacon for breakfast and fresh vegetables with dinner. I was even able to bring venison from a recent whitetail trip to make a grilled venison quesadilla burger with guacamole.
The size of the cooler was also perfect on a recent fishing trip where I floated down the Colorado river. My friends and I were able to pack all of our lunches for the day trip without having to sacrifice too much space in the boat.
My favorite feature of the OtterBox Trooper LT 30 is the wide opening at the top combined with a latch. Most soft-side coolers only have a top zipper with a small opening. The wide top on the Trooper LT 30 makes it easy to fit oddly-shaped items inside. Its easy-to-use latch is zero-fuss and can be opened up with just one hand.
Many days in the salt start with catching bait, as success often depends on having fresh herring, pilchards, mullet or other forage. And once it's caught, bait needs to be kept lively to attract the attention of gamefish. In this episode, we discuss ways to accomplish both for a great day on the water.
A stable ride to offshore waters, comfort and smart design features developed specifically for fishing are what anglers can expect from a Caymas catamaran. Ride along in a Caymas cat and find out a bit about its build, history and what makes this boat design favored for saltwater pursuits.
Whether you're fishing nearshore or offshore, bump-trolling is a popular technique for a variety of saltwater gamefish because it covers water while presenting baits in a natural way. It's all about boat control, and this episode will show you just how effective bump-trolling can be when managing bait position.
When the temperature skyrockets in summer, bass go deep to stay cool. Here's where to look for them on your home lake, how to convince them to bite and how to cast efficiently to avoid becoming worn out.
It's not often we get to hunt turkeys in the snow, but when winter won't let go, you gotta be out there anyways. Thomas Allen takes his son and a buddy out for a rare opportunity, and the audio on this fine morning was second to none. A perfect hunt on four camera angles.
Thomas Allen takes good friend Todd out on his first-ever turkey hunt, and they almost didn't make it there. After a short sit, a group of birds show up and an angry gobbler confronts the decoy with ire.
Perhaps the best bite in bass fishing comes on a hollow-body frog in the extreme shallows, with the anticipation of the blowup from an aggressive bass only exceeded by the actual strike. Crash Course host Shane Beilue shows you how.
From learning the proper driving techniques to understanding proper etiquette while on the trail, it all begins with safety. The goal should always be to leave the trails and landscape better than you found it, and off-road safety is a huge part of that. Though off-roading naturally comes with some risks, Falken Tires' Jeremy Templeton and Game & Fish Editorial Director Adam Heggenstaller explain that there are several things you can do in advance to set your adventure up for success.
To test it, I took the OtterBox Venture 65 cooler to music festivals and on hunting and floating trips. I put miles on the cooler using the all-terrain wheel kit, side table, cutting board, dry storage tray, separator, and drybox.
OtterBox designs and builds the Venture coolers in the USA. And they come with a limited lifetime warranty. The sizes are based on the actual capacity of the cooler, which is extremely important when doing comparison shopping.
All of the coolers in the Venture line have 2 inches of refrigeration-grade foam. This is the main reason for the difference between its external appearance and internal dimensions. And it accounts for the added weight compared to traditional plastic coolers.
One downside to the handles is that they do add a little over 6 inches to the total length. This required Tetris-like organization in the back of my fully loaded pickup bed and could be a concern when space is paramount.
A sloped internal floor allows you to drain the cooler without tilting it, which is useful on level ground. The drain plug is attached with a plastic strap, which could be improved. On more than one occasion, the strap came loose from the cap, which risked losing the cap.
The lid was opened repeatedly during the five-day music festival. People reached in for food and beer all day and night. The cooler held enough block ice by the end of the show to keep all remaining food and drinks cold.
Until I loaded the Venture 65 onto the All Terrain Wheel Kit ($249.99), the idea of a rolling cooler had me thinking of the average American dad dragging one full of junk food into an amusement park. Not anymore.
The wheel kit is built equally rugged as the Venture coolers. This sturdy offering is easily assembled using the included Allen wrench. The All Terrain Wheel Kit is adjustable to fit the Venture 45 or 65 and includes two 3-inch-thick, 10-inch-diameter rustproof wheels with plastic wheel bearings. The wheels rolled smoothly over a wide variety of terrain.
The handle attaches in two ways, which you can choose depending on load weight and terrain. The handle attaches in two ways, which you can choose depending on load weight and terrain. In one setup, it gives you a grip close to the cooler. In the other, it is more of a long handle. I found the handle in the farthest position from the cooler to be easiest to maneuver.
The side table ($69.99) was a welcomed addition on my turkey hunt. Keeping food off the ground and drinks from spilling was a major bonus, but it was a bit clumsy to carry around. And although it does fit inside, it takes up way too much space to go inside the cooler when loaded up with food, drink, and ice.
The Venture series and accessories are smartly designed and highly durable. The ability to avoid wasting time to replenish ice, as well as money on ice and spoiled food, makes the Venture coolers great selections in the overwhelmingly populated cooler market.
Adrienne Donica tested hiking, camping, and other adventure gear as Popular Mechanics' outdoors editor, before going on to edit gear reviews for Popular Mechanics, Runner's World, and Bicycling as Expert Reviews editor. Find her on the trail, working on her latest cocktail project, or eating mint chocolate chip ice cream.
To pick out our favorites when it comes to portable chargers and battery packs, we did extensive research to see all the different models out there, then picked out the batteries that showed the most promise, bought them, and tested them head-to-head. You can read about the OtterBox's performance when it came to capacity, portability, convenience, and recharge time in the sections below.
The OtterBox delivered fairly run-of-the-mill results in our portability test, meriting a 5 out of 10. To determine this, we looked at how it felt to carry this battery pack around in your pocket compared to the rest of the group, as well as its volume and weight. In total, these tests are responsible for 40% of the total score for each battery.
For our next group of tests, which account for 30% of the total score, we assessed and scored the electrical capacity of each portable battery pack. To test this, we used a simulated charging load and electrical meter to extract as much energy as we could from a fully-charged battery at different discharge rates and we did real-world charging tests to test out the veracity of any manufacturer's claims. The OtterBox Power Pack 10000 again did fairly well, earning a 6 out of 10.
This power pack didn't have any claims regarding its performance charging devices a certain number of times, so we used the same claims as the Anker PowerCore II Slim 10000 to compare against. Using these, the OtterBox should be able to charge a Samsung Galaxy at least 2.2 times, an iPhone 8 1.8 times, or an iPhone X 2.4 times. We used a Galaxy phone to test with and found the OtterBox to well exceed these claims, able to charge this phone 2.49 times before it was completely depleted.
Next, we considered what features each portable battery has that make them easier and more convenient to operate. We looked at how many devices each battery could charge simultaneously, if it has built-in cables or plugs, if there is an integrated flashlight module, and if there is an included warranty. Altogether, these account for 20% of the total score, with the OtterBox earning a 4 out of 10 for its limited convenience features.
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