Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Ninja FrostVault 30qt Hard Cooler with Dry Zone is quite the beast. When I say a beast, I mean that in many ways. This solidly built cooler boasts the ability to hold 48 cans, of whatever you pleasure, cold for an extended period of time. While impressive, this means you have very limited space for ice or anything else because those cans will take up every inch of the cooler and Dry Zone drawer. The best practice for the FrostVault is to use 15 pounds of ice to keep things cold, but this means you would leave less space for your items. If you have a lot to store and keep cold, then you probably want to lower the poundage on the ice. The really nice thing about this cooler is that you can use that ice in the main part while keeping things dry and cool in the Dry Zone drawer. While it’s not as cold as the main compartment, it still does a decent job. The Ninja FrostVault definitely holds the ice longer than any other cooler that I own. With the weather not as warm right now, it’s a little harder to put it through the wringer like a summer weekend of camping would. I look forward to testing its performance during the warmer days next year. Until then, I will be lugging this big guy around anywhere I can to keep our items cold because it does seem to last for a few days with a very little increase in temperature. The Dry Zone definitely starts to warm faster due to the disconnect from the ice, but it still does the job keeping things dry and somewhat cool. It’s obvious that Ninja developed the FrostVault line to compete with some others out there, I definitely think that it holds its own. I will say that this beast definitely packs on the weight with every little thing you add to it. It’s heavy to start, but adding ice, cans, and more makes this thing a workout and then some for most. The addition of wheels would be a godsend here. I won’t stop using it for that reason, but I’ll definitely make sure to have something with me to move it or only choose shorter distances to save my back. If you’re looking for a cooler that’s going to withstand some rugged adventures while keeping your items cold and/or dry, then the Ninja FrostVault is certainly something one should consider.

I've had several ninja devices from blenders to grills to ice cream makers and now I have the 30 quart cooler. I didn't even know they made coolers but I jumped at the chance to own one. When I think of the brand Ninja, I think of durability and quality because every Ninja product I have is still operational and in use. *Design & Build Quality* The first thing I noticed about the Ninja Frost Vault is the size. It's approximately 2 feet by 1.5 by 1.5 feet and feels like it weighs about 15 pounds, although its specs list that it actually weighs 20. The lighter weight feel might have to do with the ease at which one person can carry this cooler. Most coolers require either a really large person or most times two people, one on each side. There are 2 nicely built handles allowing one person to lift with no problems. The handles are also large enough to tie-down in the back of your truck or SUV to prevent sliding. The cooler design also prohibits excessive sliding The plastic feels tough and it's smooth without being slippery. There's the classic wet area on top that holds ice and is perfect for beverages or sealed goods. There's a bottom compartment that is designed for items that you want to keep cold but dry. It measures about 1 foot by 1 foot by 3 inches so it's great for a picnic, lunch or snacks. The cooler's walls are about 3 inches thick providing excellent insulation. There's a hand at the top center that operates much like a toolbox and it feels secure each time you close it. My one year old couldn't figure it out so it passed the toddler test. The dry goods compartment has a lock that keeps it secure from popping open. Ninja claims goods will stay a little less than 40 degrees in this dry storage area. There's a large drain plug on the side (a little larger than standard cooler plugs) that will literally drain out all the water in about 20 to 30 seconds. *Performance* I loaded it up with about 15 pounds of ice and a few beverages. The top compartment is a little smaller than I would like but if it got much larger it wouldn't be so portable. The dry good area is something I haven't seen before; it's a great idea. We have all had those experiences where something gets wet in the cooler or smashed by ice or other items. I found it perfect to throw a few sandwiches, cheese, and snacks. The ice melted a little faster each day until it completely melted 4 days later. Surprisingly I measured the dry compartment with a thermometer each day and it held at 40 to 41 degrees every day. That's impressive! Cleaning this cooler is a breeze. The dry compartment pops right out kind of like a dresser drawer. The top compartment is just as easy. The plastic is smooth and easy to clean or scrub. *Suggestions* A few tips I've learned after a few rounds with this cooler: 1.) The best way to keep the ice cold is to load up about 20 pounds of ice, and fill the top compartment full. The cooler performs much better and the ice melts much slower. If you fill it half full the ice melts faster. 2.) It's also important that you load the ice in straight from the ice cabinet. Don't let the ice sit around in your vehicle or outside. Get it in the cooler immediately. The Ninja Frost Vault excels at keeping ice frozen, but struggles with slushy or partially melted ice. 3.) The dry compartment will absolutely hold 40 degrees no matter how much ice is melted in the top compartment, as long as the water is ice cold. 4.) Make sure you put cold items in the dry vault, not room temperature, and it will help keep them cold *Final Thoughts* It's nice to see Ninja enter the cooler category. As I mentioned before, in my opinion Ninja makes products that perform and last. The strengths of this cooler are portability, ease of use, and the unique chilled dry compartment. I would recommend this cooler for picnics, road trips, and weekend camping, fishing, or hunting. If you optimize the setup, ice will last for 3 or 4 days. It's a fresh, innovative approach to the premium cooler category and I believe it's a great value in the medium to premium cooler category. I recommend it. *Pros* *Portability - One person can easily carry *Protects dry goods *Slick design *Solid handles and locks (You can one-hand open and shut easily) *Best drain plug I've seen on a cooler *Needs Improvement* *I would love to see wheels on this cooler *Ice melts a little faster when it's not full

The Ninja FrostVault Cooler is a great cooler that offers plenty of storage, but it can get extremely heavy. The FrostVault cooler is one of the nicest coolers I’ve yet to see, in terms of build quality. The inside of the cooler is lined with a glossy finish, that keeps everything super cold for a long time. The lower half of the cooler has a dry zone compartment that is both very convenient and functional. The dry zone storage lets you store things in the cold, but it keeps it completely dry. This worked great for sandwiches, fruit and meats. The cooler has a great seal on it that keeps everything airtight which prevents leaking, it also has a very nice latch that creates a firm lock on both the main compartment and the dry zone. This cooler is pretty heavy, even without anything inside its still weighs a pretty good amount. The handles on the side are very sturdy and make it easy to grip, but having wheels and lever to pull it would have been nice, especially when it’s full. There is also a valve to drain liquids on the bottom side of the cooler, making it easy to empty without having to tip it over. When I first got to use the cooler, I instantly fell in love with how much I could store inside of it, and how well everything was able to keep cold. I also liked how I was able to store my cold meats and bread in the dry zone, to keep them from getting wet and soggy. The main compartment was the perfect size to store all my drinks and ice, plus some extra frozen foods. Needless to say, the cooler worked great. Overall, I really love the Ninja FrostVault cooler. The one thing I so with it had was wheels and a adjustable arm, as it does get really heavy. The quality of the cooler is superb, making it able to withstand the most extreme environments. There was the right amount of storage for my wife and I, and the dry zone is a great feature to keep foods cold, but dry. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a solid cooler.

The Ninja FrostVault is a great cooler. I brought it with me when I took it to a Las Vegas road trip. Before leaving, I was curious about what I could fit. I was able to fit a half gallon of milk standing up. I then took a wine bottle. Although it cannot fit standing up, you can lie it down and it does fit. I took photos and attached it to the review. I spent 3 days and two nights. A good amount of ice was still left partially melted. The temps were nice and cool. There is a dry compartment. This is great if you want to keep things cool but dry. I was able to fit two packages of bacon without any issues. Overall, this cooler is not bad. There are two things I want to mention. I would prefer the drain to be lower. It is not an issue but I notice I have to tip it more over than my previous cooler. The other thing is the weight. It is noticeably heavier than my previous cooler even when empty. Even heavier with stuff inside. Both wet and dry storage has a lock so it won’t accidentally open.

The Ninja Frost Vault 30Qt (48 can) cooler has one very unique feature, a dry drawer (which is about 10 Qt). The cooler itself weighs just over 20lbs. It has approximately 3" of insulation on the outer surfaces. They claim the dry drawer will keep the drawer's contents below 40 degrees, if there is 15 lbs of ice (or other frozen contents) in the main cooler. The top of the cooler is nearly perfectly flat (which I like). It has a single large (easy to open/close) latch. The drawer also latches. To test the cooler I put about 8 lbs of ice in the main container. I wanted to see how many days it would keep some of the ice solid. I've done this same test on other high end coolers. Anything over 2 days is respectable (4 days with 15lbs of ice). I put a single soda in the dry drawer, to test its temp (IR gun). After the first day about 1/2 the ice was left, and the can's temp was exactly 40 degrees. After the second day, maybe 10% of the ice was left and the can's temp was 40.9 degrees. It obviously would not make it another day, but I considered it to have passed my 2 day test. In a more fair test I would have cooled the cooler down before adding ice. I would have also used larger cubes. If I'd have filled the main compartment with a dozen or 2 cold cans, it would have better retained the cool. So I recognize the test was somewhat unfair. But I think the Ninja cooler did very well under the circumstances. The inside of the cooler is black, which I think makes it harder to see into it (and harder to tell if it's clean). On the left side there is an insulated valve to drain the cooler. The Ninja design works very well, the valve drains almost all the water from the main container very easily, better than most. The lid also has two holes you could use with long locks, or you could wire ties around the handles to prevent it from being opened (no locking option on the drawer). Campers often want coolers that can be locked (bears often look for coolers that can't be locked). Based on my testing the drawer did a good job, with a fuller cooler and fuller drawer it would probably even do better. I have to say I really like the appearance of the Ninja Frost vault. Weighing in at 20 lbs empty, I kind of wish it had wheels and a handle (although there are times that I don't want wheels no matter what). But for vacations, moving it across a parking lot wheels would be most handy. The big single latch on the top works very easily, much better than other high end coolers latching mechanisms. Except for the interior color I really like this cooler's design and functionality.

I was interested in this as I’m currently working full-time and going to school full-time which means I’m pulling 12 – 15 hour days. I’ve been trying to find a way to keep my food cool while I’m in class for 5 – 6 hours and away from a refrigerator so I don’t have to keep buying out. Using a normal cooler with constant plastic bags isn’t a good option, which is where the drawer for this guy comes into play. That way no more plastic bags and I can keep it in my car and eat between classes or on my way home. Unfortunately, the temps since I got this have been in the 50 – 60’s making it so I wasn’t able to fully test it. But I think it will perform fine seeing as they report 5 days of cool and I need a lot less than that. But from the testing I have done it’s kept my dinner cool for me and ready to consume whenever I want. Which is absolutely brilliant. Love the color too. OVERVIEW: As many others have mentioned, they report 20 lbs. weight. Recommend adding 15 lbs. of ice. That’s 35 lbs. before you add anything else to it. Making it quite heavy. Thankfully, the carrying latches are very robust and large making it a lot easier to move around. Additionally, both the top and the drawer have a locking mechanism. Making it so if it does tip you don’t dump everything. The insulin here is no joke at 3 inches. The top section is where you put the ice which obviously keeps that container cold. But also keeps the sliding door section at 40 degrees F. Allowing you to put food there without plastic bags and keep it dry and at food safe temperatures. This top section then has a drain. That I would assume fills some of the outside of the container (given enough water) adding extra thermal protection. As water is neat like that. The drain could be a bit lower, but I didn’t have a hard time emptying it out. Just near the end had to give it a little help. I didn’t notice any leaks either. Everything is lined in black plastic. Making cleanup easy if something were to spill. Based on specs they say it can hold ice up to 5 days. 30-quart capacity, 48 cans (no ice) or 26 cans with ice CONCLUSION: This thing is brilliant and I like it a lot. Drawer could be a bit more easier to lock/unlocking and smoother. But that is my only complaint.

Initially skeptical, I instantly greatly appreciated the medium-sized 30-qt ice chest/cooler when I put it to work for an all-day beach day. If filled with 15 lbs. (8.8 kg) of ice - which is what you want to do when in warm/hot climates - it holds 26 cans as advertised. What makes this ice chest/cooler stand out from ordinary ones is its built-in ice-free drawer, the "Dry Zone", cooled from above, the main container. We found this drawer feature a fantastic idea because it allowed us to bring food items (such as small lunch boxes, fruits, veggies, and cheeses) with us that needed cooling to stay fresh and dry without worrying about melting ice. By the way, Ninja sells FrostVault 1 lb. and 4 lbs. ice packs, which are reusable and refreezable. A nice alternative to buying ice packs from the grocery store or gas station. Throughout our hot beach day, we enjoyed nicely cooled coconut water, fruits, cheeses, and veggies, throughout the day (depending on the amount of ice you added, you may be able to add up to 12 x 1 Liter coconut water in the main container (see attached picture). In terms of mobility, the cooler is a bit on the heavy side (20.4 lbs. / 9.25 kg when empty). Thanks to the sturdy handles, it is relatively easy to carry it by one person, but definitely easier when carried by two people. In summary: It is a well-designed and well-insulated ice chest/cooler that keeps its advertised promises, I recommend it to my friends and family. However, due to missing wheels (which would come in handy for longer distances), I felt I needed to subtract one star.

This is a very well built hard cooler and it was just what I was looking for to keep my drinks cold and one benefit of this cooler is the FrostVault dry zone that this has, it’s basically a storage area that is underneath the main ice storage and the coolness transfers down, but not the water itself. So gone are the days of having soggy cheese or meats, you can store them here instead. Ninja claims this will keep your items cold for days, but I only tested for 24 hours with 20 lbs. ice and 10 soda cans, and 10 small water bottles and I had very little ice melt over that day. I kept it in the house since it was warmer than outside during this time of year. I really like how well this is built. The walls are very thick, and the lid has a nice rubber seal around it. The latch for the lid is very large and chunky and you can even attach a lock to keep your items safe. The bottom dry zone has a latch with a bright orange section that shows that it is secure. The easy carry handles come in handy, and you and a friend can share the load easily or you can carry it yourself. I appreciate that the drain plug has a lanyard attached so you won’t lose the plug, and you can unscrew it a little bit to just get a trickle of water draining if you wish. I am looking forward to using this on my next adventure and with the 5-year warranty, it will be around for a long while.

The Ninja FrostVault cooler is definitely made to be stationary. It is very big and heavy. It does not have wheels, a carrying handle or carrying strap. I suggest only filling up once it is in it's final resting spot. It does make for a very good travel cooler that will stay in your vehicle, such as camping or tailgating. As big as this cooler is, the main compartment is not extremely big compared to it's overall size. This is due to the dry storage at the bottom. Keep this in mind if you think you are getting a large capacity cooler. A lot of it's size is taken up due to the dry storage drawer and overall insulation. As far as performance is concerned, this cooler performs extremely well. It will literally keep your items cold for a few days. This is if it is not out in direct sunlight. Once you have the cooler loaded with your items and ice, you can load the storage drawer with items you want to keep cold, yet out of the ice and dry. This works very well as it kept my food nice and cool and dry, just as advertised. The overall build and quality of the cooler is very nice. It is very robust and the latch is very nice and easy to operate. The drawer has a sliding latch that is also easy to use. I must say that everything about this cooler is nice and you should be proud to show it off.

I'm just going to get straight into what makes this cooler so unique, and the main reason I wanted to get this Ninja Frost Vault, and that's the dry storage drawer. I'm happy to say that it works as advertised. Anything you put in this drawer, you can be rest assured will stay both dry, and cold. The way it's designed, there's no chance for water from melted ice in the upper compartment to make its way into the drawer. Yet somehow the cold from the ice above it does find a way in, and I'm honestly not even sure how the engineers at Ninja did it. I tested out the drawer by putting cheese snacks, yogurt, and juice boxes in and after 3 days, using a temp gun, all the contents were still reading between 38-41 degrees, while remaining dry. As for the upper compartment, it stayed even cooler, which makes sense considering that's where the ice actually is. After 3 days, using my temp gun, cans of beverages that I placed in there were still reading in the low to mid 30s, and there was even ice still present. By the 4th day, the last of the ice was melted but temps were still pretty low and only went up a few degrees. The down side to having the drawer underneath though, is that the upper compartment is pretty small, especially given the size of the cooler overall. That said, Ninja does state that it'll fit 48 standard 12 ounce cans, which I tested out and confirmed that 48 cans will indeed fit. Of course that is with nothing else and includes putting cans in the drawer too. Also, there isn't much room for ice if you did try to pack 48 cans. Having a cooler this size can get heavy, and it would be nice if they had a wheeled option, but alas, it doesn't have any, so you will have to lift it up to carry it around. The handles though are probably the best I've come across on a cooler. The way they're designed into the main body you don't have to worry at all about breaking them and they're comfortable to grab. The latches work good and I like the fact that they even included holes to lock the top lid if you wanted. The height of the cooler is just right too, so that it fits in the bed of my truck under my tonneau cover. Another really nice design feature that I appreciate is the rubberized feet on the bottom. Unlike other coolers I have, this one doesn't slide around in my bed the way others do. Then we get to its one achilles heel, the drain plug. Ninja really needs to re-design this part as it's the one thing holding the cooler back from greatness. After first unboxing and cleaning the cooler, I opened up the drain plug and screwed it back in until it was snug, with about the same force I'd use with any other coolers drain plug. On the 3rd day of my test, I noticed a wet spot on the floor on the side of the drain plug, I moved the cooler and there was a huge puddle of water underneath it. I checked the drain plug and it was still on tight, but I could see water very slowly coming out of it a small drop at a time. I ended up having to crank on the plug practically with all my strength to get it to fully seal and stop leaking water. This is a big problem as I've never had any issue with leaks on any of my other coolers. Good news is that the dry zone drawer remained dry, it's just outside of the cooler that didn't. So as much as i love what this cooler does, I can't trust it. It'll be fine for a day out at the beach, but for those times I need a cooler for several days where I have to keep it in my truck next to luggage and other items that can't get wet, I honestly don't trust it and will just opt for my old cooler instead. It's a shame about the drain plug, because otherwise this would be a 5 star cooler all day long. Normally, for something so good with just one problem, I would only drop a single star at most, but the fact that I'm still probably going to use my old cooler instead most of the time, I feel I have to take it down to 3.

The Ninja FrostVault is an exceptional cooler. It will take over as my “go to” for any time I need high capacity and cooling longevity. It feels very well built, so it should be able to handle traveling and outdoors use well. There aren’t wheels, but at about 20 pounds, I think most will handle it fine using just the handles, though if you load it with the maximum can capacity I could see it become quite hefty. One of the key features of this cooler is that it has a dry goods tray that uses the cooling effect from the main ice chest area to keep foods cool without getting them wet with melting ice. Both this tray and the main area can easily be secured shut. There’s also a convenient drain on the side as well. Ninja recommends using 15lbs of ice; I tested it using about half that and with the full 15. It definitely stays colder faster if you use the greater amount. Even the roughly half amount of ice kept for a long time–I still had ice cubes over two days later. The larger amount goes even slower, and depending on environmental conditions and how often you are opening/closing it, I think the 5 days of ice Ninja estimates is pretty likely to work for most people. The dry tray is a genuinely clever innovation and also helps reduce waste, as you don’t have to use a bunch of plastic bags to keep food dry as you would if kept with the ice. The dry tray plus the ability to stay cool for extended periods I would think make this a decent short term backup in case of a power outage. I never thought I’d see much innovation in the realm of coolers, but Ninja has added a great feature along with a generally very high quality traditional cooler. It looks great and feels like it’ll last through years of usage. Recommended.

At first glance, the Ninja FrostVault Hard Cooler is very attractive and robust. The Lakeshore Blue is a very nice navy color. I can tell the quality of the cooler is at a premium and very comparable to other high-end brands. The construction is highly durable. It offers up to 3 inches of insulation to keep ice up to 5 days. The approximate dimensions of the hardside cooler are 24" x 18 3/4"x 17". The Ninja FrostVault weighs just under 20.5 pounds. It's a 30 qt capacity cooler, which will fit up to 48 cans, without ice. The stationary handles are very comfortable to lift, hold and carry the cooler around. Opening and closing the cooler has a latch that is very easy to operate. It has the ability to securely close the cooler with an additional padlock if desired. The cooler drain is easily accessible being located on the side. One of the biggest features the Ninja FrostVault Hard cooler offers is the Dry Zone, which is a drawer to store food and keep it dry and cool in a separate location. The drawer easily slides in and out and has a separate lock to keep the contents safely inside. It will work great to store anything from sandwiches, to cheese, or fruits and veggies or anything else you need. The size of the 30qt also makes this cooler very portable. It will be great to take on picnics, boating, camping or any other activities. I would definitely be interested in owning the larger size coolers of the FrostVault. I would definitely recommend this line of coolers to anyone looking for a high quality premium product.

This cooler is well worth the money. It is made of heavy thick plastic. Feels very very sturdy and well made. Very durable as well. Both handles on the side are also thick and solid. No give to them. Feels like it could hold up to a beating, carry on well and last for quite a while. Plus what is not to love about the color! It feels and looks very modern. Like a slate blue in real life. The stock picture looks like a darker blue, but I think it has some gray undertones to it. The cooler itself is very convenient. It has a section on the top, secured by a flip down latch, that holds all the ice and keeps everything very cold. Advertised on the outside to keep ice for days. It has a decent space inside to store whatever you want. I’m sure it would have no problems keeping things cold. The cool feature here, is that it has a separate compartment below, also secured by a latch, that is advertised as the frostvault dry zone. This section can keep food you don’t necessarily want frozen up above, but still want to keep cool. Packaging says fridge temps, under 40 degrees for days. The trick is that the ice from the above section cools the bottom of that section, so the coldness trickles down into the smaller compartment below, keeping things cold. I am very much looking forward to using this next time I take a road trip or go for a picnic. Definitely worth it with this. Everything is made of high quality. The Ninja brand has really become a mainstay in the products they produce.

Other coolers I own contain a basket to keep food cool and out of the ice. The issue I have with the basket is that it takes up a lot of room in the cooler and some foods, which you want to avoid moisture, still ends up wet and soggy. The Ninja FrostVault claims their separate drawer will keep your food cool while avoiding this moisture. Ninja recommends this cooler for cooling up to 20 cans with 15 pounds of ice for maximal efficacy. The materials used are of a nice quality and covered by a 5-year warranty. Since it is fall, I was unable to use this cooler in extreme heat, but kept it inside at 70 degrees. It is recommended that the cooler be precooled, but I just added ice directly to it at room temperature. I checked in on it for over 24 hours and noticed not much ice has melted. I also noticed the empty drawer temperature was at 34 degrees with no noticeable condensation. With my results, I can completely believe the claims Ninja states about this FrostVault. Ninja was able to create a portable, no electricity needed, refrigerator using only ice. I was amazed with this cooler’s performance and am looking forward to using it next summer when camping. I highly recommend giving this cooler a try. The cooler part performs as well as the top tier coolers, but the added drawer makes this cooler stand out from the competitors.

Loved the cooler just found it to be very compact when it comes to filling it up

We didn't need another cooler, but I was intrigued by the cooling drawer in this one. One thing that has always bugged me on camping trips was items such as American cheese slices getting wet and soggy in the melting ice. I had tried putting it in gallon sized bags, but eventually they all leak. This is the perfect solution for that. We placed 14lbs of ice in the cooler on Sunday afternoon; come Friday evening, there was still about 3lbs of ice left. I have many of the other name brand coolers of a similar style; most of those say they hold ice that long, but never last more than 2-3 days. So to say I was impressed is an understatement. The drawer is also as neat as it sounds. It really did stay nice and cold and dry for days also! The color of this cooler is also appealing. I also really like the style of latches on this cooler. Most coolers in this style have the hook and ball rubber latches you have to pull down into a grove. This can be difficult l, especially one handed. This cooler has plastic breakover latches. These you can latch one handed. The handle style is super comfortable for carying.

I love the versatility of this cooler. Packed with ice it stays cold for days. The drawer keeps things cold and dry. It’s seen more usage than any cooler I’ve ever had. At the house I use it around the BBQ. I can set it up early in the day until I’m ready to fire up the grill. Dry rubs and spices are within an arm’s reach. On short day trips, the drawer keeps sandwiches dry while the cooler section holds plenty of cans. With ice I’ve had 24 cans in it. On a camping trip it really worked great. The drawer kept food cold, it was a lifesaver to keep other incidentals that needed to be kept cool like medications. The pads on the bottom stop any sliding in the car. With an empty weight of roughly 20 pounds, it can get a little heavy fully loaded. It has large handles, and I'd suggest a second person if you're going any distance with it. It has a nice drain plug on it for easy cleanup. The only thing to make this even better, would be wheels and a pull handle. For me it was time to upgrade to a more functional cooler. I can strongly recommend this one.

The Ninja - FrostVault 30qt Hard Cooler with Dry Zone is a very nice, advanced cooler with a truly unique design. It is very sturdy and has great ice retention but is a little bit on the heavy side even when completely empty. This is the only slight drawback I have noticed and it is something that I suppose should be expected given how well-built it is and how great of a job it does keeping things cool. One of the most unique and cool things about the Ninja FrostVault cooler is its FrostVault Technology and Dry Zone. The FrostVault Technology takes the cold generated from the ice in the main compartment and transfers it to keep items cold and dry in the Dry Zone. This is a very clever design and really comes in handy when you have items like food that you don’t want to get wet from the ice but which still need to remain cool to stay fresh. Given the size and weight of the cooler, I expected the main compartment to be a little bit bigger than it is and the addition of wheels and a collapsible handle like a suitcase has would have been a nice addition, but I still think the Ninja - FrostVault 30qt Hard Cooler with Dry Zone is a very nice cooler and I do recommend it.

The Ninja - FrostVault 30qt Hard Cooler with Dry Zone is a robust and well-constructed cooler that excels in keeping items cold, particularly in the freezer compartment. Upon receiving the cooler, I was impressed by its solid build quality, though it is notably heavy. As an eco-conscious consumer, I was disappointed to find styrofoam packaging, which I would prefer to avoid. In terms of performance, the cooler effectively maintains low temperatures in the freezer section, making it reliable for keeping items frozen for extended periods. However, I would caution against storing perishable items like lunch meats in the "fridge" section, as it may not maintain a sufficiently low temperature to prevent bacterial growth. The cooler's usability is generally good, with compartments that are easy to access and organize. However, its weight and lack of rolling capability make it challenging to transport, especially when fully loaded. This cooler is not for the faint-hearted, as it can easily exceed 50 pounds when packed with ice, drinks, and food. The dry zone feature, while a nice selling point, did not prove particularly useful for my needs, as I have always managed with traditional iced areas in coolers without issues. The durability of the Ninja - FrostVault is exceptional, with a rugged build that withstands various conditions. However, the handles could be problematic for some users due to their lack of grip, which could make carrying the cooler more difficult. In terms of capacity, the 30qt size may be limiting for larger families or groups. As a family of five, I found the inner storage space to be smaller than expected, which may not meet the needs of those requiring more storage. Overall, the Ninja - FrostVault 30qt Hard Cooler with Dry Zone is a durable and effective cooler for keeping items cold, but its weight and lack of portability features may be a drawback for some users. The dry zone feature is a nice addition, but its practical use may vary depending on individual needs.

This thing feels solid and has that ‘built like a tank’ feel to it. The lid latching mechanism is easy to engage and disengage, and you can clearly feel when it’s properly latched. It creates a better than average seal, at least compared to other coolers I have. The lid isn’t intended to be leak proof, but it’s pretty darn close. It will leak water from the hinge side IF you tilt it back that far, but it isn’t going to leak water on you if you have it tilted towards the front. As long as you don’t tilt it too far backwards, you’re not going to get a cold surprise while carrying it somewhere. The Dry-Zone drawer finally solves a problem we’ve frequently encountered when you have those one or two smaller items that you just don’t want to get wet - sliced cheese immediately comes to mind for me. We usually just put something like that in a zip-lock freezer bag, which works 99% of the time, but then there’s that one time where the bag doesn’t get sealed and you end up with soggy cheese. Nobody in their right mind should enjoy soggy cheese. The FrostVault solves this problem with a decently sized drawer that’s located directly beneath the main compartment. I questioned how cold it would actually be, but it has maintained a temperature that’s just a couple of degrees below that of the main compartment. And it’s 100% dry! For those times when you don’t need the dry storage, you can still just put a few beers in there and they’ll stay nice and chill. The drawer is also pretty easy to remove for cleaning - just extend it, tilt up, and remove. The drain plug screws in, rather than just relying on friction, so you shouldn’t accidentally jar it open and end up with a wet floor. That said, it will leak if you don’t have it screwed all the way in, so you still have to check it. It also lives up to its claims of keeping ice, as well as sub 40 degree temps in the Dry Zone, for days. I loaded it with 12 pounds of ice, which is slightly less than the recommended 15 pounds, and it still kept temperature for a solid 5 days. Nice.