Why You Can Trust CNET Rovr Rollr 60 Wheeled Cooler review: Take frosty beverages anywhere with Rovr
It's the most expensive cooler we've ever tested, but the Rovr Rollr 60 is a worthy upgrade pick if you want a rugged cooler capable of tackling tough terrain.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
At $400, the Rovr Rollr 60 is the most expensive cooler that I've tested, and there's a reason for that. Aside from the durable, rotomolded design, the Rollr is built around a rugged aluminum axle that supports a pair of heavy-duty, 9-inch rubber tires. That's a considerable step up from the competition, as most other rolling coolers, including the more budget-priced Igloo Latitude and Coleman Xtreme wheeled coolers, use cheap, plastic wheels and axles that might as well have been borrowed from your kid's Tonka truck.
Rovr Rollr 60 Wheeled Cooler
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Rovr's rugged design even stands out among its most high-end competitors. Yeti has a wheeled version of its popular Tundra cooler coming later this summer that'll also cost $400, but that cooler won't offer as much capacity as the Rollr 60, and its wheels are all plastic. Orca and Bison don't offer wheeled coolers at all, though Bison does offer a $130 "hauler" cart accessory for its nonwheeled coolers. That cart brings your total cost up to $460, though -- and again, the wheels are plastic.
Both Yeti and Bison try to put a positive spin on their respective wheel designs by calling them "Never Flat" wheels. That's a nice try, but thick, inflatable rubber is what you want for the smoothest off-road towing.
That's why the Rollr 60 is my top mobility pick among hard coolers. It didn't hold the cold quite as well as other rotomolded coolers I tested, particularly the Yeti Tundra 45 and the 58-quart Orca Classic, but it's still well worth saving up for if you need a cooler that can keep up with an active outdoor lifestyle.
Rovr's wheeled cooler makes a great first impression. As I rolled it around using its aluminum handlebar, I was struck by just how sturdy and smooth the thing felt, and others in the office agreed. Our photographer and video editor Chris Monroe, who spent lots of time lugging all of the coolers I tested around, said it was his favorite design by far.
At any rate, it's an obvious upgrade over flimsy wheeled coolers like the Igloo Latitude and the Coleman Xtreme that use all-plastic designs to roll around like cheap suitcases (and in general, I prefer wheeled coolers like the Rollr 60 that offer lift-and-pull, wagon-style rolling instead of the suitcase approach, which forces you to tilt the cooler at an aggressive angle). My only complaint: I wish there was a rubber grip in the center of the handlebar, since that's where you'll want to hold it when you're towing the Rollr 60 behind you with one hand.
In addition to the upgraded wheels, the design uses "rotomolded" plastic for the walls of the cooler, which means that the mold is rotated while the plastic is poured in during the manufacturing process. This helps make plastic that's tougher and more uniform in density, which in turn can also help improve insulation.
The Rovr Rollr 60 (orange) didn't get as cold as other rotomolded coolers in this test, but it warmed back up more slowly than either Bison or Orca.
That said, the Rovr was actually the weakest performer of the four rotomolded coolers I tested. In one test, I loaded the coolers into a 70-degree, climate-controlled room, then filled each of them with a measly 3 pounds of ice -- not even half of a small bag from the gas station. From there, I tracked the minute-by-minute ambient temperature inside each cooler over 48 hours. The goal was to get a granular look at how each cooler performed relative to one another.
The Rollr 60 actually holds 52.8 quarts when the lid's closed, so it's not quite as spacious as the name suggests.
In the end, the Rollr 60 wasn't able to bring its internal temperature down quite as low as the other rotomolded coolers (Yeti, Orca and Bison), and it even got beat by two nonrotomolded coolers -- the $100 Lifetime High Performance Cooler and the Igloo MaxCold, which, at $45, is my top value pick.
The Rollr 60 fell short in my capacity tests, too. Like the name suggests, Rovr claims it'll hold 60 quarts, but I was only able to fill it with 52.8 quarts of water before the lid wouldn't close without overflowing. I'd have liked to have seen a better result there given that Rovr puts "60" right in the product name.
All of that puts Rovr right in the middle of the pack a far as performance is concerned, which isn't what you want from a cooler that costs $400. Still, the strong mobility, sturdy design and the option for extra attachments like a mountable cutting board and a hitch that lets you tow the Rollr behind your bike all help to set Rovr apart from the pack. I'll let you know if I find a better value pick, but if you love the outdoors and want a cooler that can go wherever you go, then the Rollr 60 is worth the splurge.
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