Last updated by Brandon F. on December 21, 2022
For someone enjoying a casual afternoon at a friend’s BBQ or watching a baseball game, lugging around a huge cooler may be completely unnecessary. They may only need space for a few beverages of choice to be enjoyed over a couple of hours.
If you have found yourself in this situation, then a 6 pack cooler is the perfect solution for you.
A 6 pack cooler does exactly what the name suggests: holds 6 beverages!
However, not all 6-pack coolers are the same. In this article, we will go over the best 6-pack coolers, the differences between various 6-pack coolers, and what to look for in a quality 6-pack cooler.
Below are a few of our top choices. If you want to read our full reviews of a particular product, just scroll on below!
Our Top Choice
Product
Polar Bear Coolers 6 Pack Original Soft Coolers Navy (PB 061)
Coleman FlipLid Cooler, 5 Quart , Blue
Coleman 9 Can Soft Cooler, Red
Igloo 12424 Mini Playmate Cooler, 4 quart, 6-Can Capacity, Red&white
Thermos Element5 6 Can Cooler
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
15
8
8
7
6
Price (Amazon)
Price not available
$27.69
$28.84
$24.00
$31.03
Prime?
-
-
-
-
Our Top Choice
Product
Polar Bear Coolers 6 Pack Original Soft Coolers Navy (PB 061)
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
15
Price (Amazon)
Price not available
Prime?
-
More Info
Product
Coleman FlipLid Cooler, 5 Quart , Blue
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
8
Price (Amazon)
$27.69
Prime?
-
More Info
Product
Coleman 9 Can Soft Cooler, Red
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
8
Price (Amazon)
$28.84
Prime?
-
More Info
Product
Igloo 12424 Mini Playmate Cooler, 4 quart, 6-Can Capacity, Red&white
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
7
Price (Amazon)
$24.00
Prime?
More Info
Product
Thermos Element5 6 Can Cooler
Estimated Max Cool Life (Hours)
6
Price (Amazon)
$31.03
Prime?
-
More Info
What to Look for in a 6-Pack Cooler
Despite what the name might suggest, there can be a lot of differences between one 6-pack cooler to another 6-pack cooler. We will briefly go over some of those things in this section.
Holds Ice. vs. Not Holding Ice
Some 6-pack coolers have an enclosed body that allows you to store ice while others are more or less just for transportation purposes. The coolers that can hold ice will tend to be on the larger side. However, they will have the added benefit of being able to keep your drinks for a longer period than a simple 6-pack carrying-case type of cooler. They will also be able to protect your drinks from outside elements.
Both types of 6-pack coolers have their place. If you plan on quickly drinking your beverages or transporting them to a larger cooler then a simple carrying case can work fine. However, if you plan on spending more than a couple of hours outdoors and want to keep your beverages chilled for as long as possible, then you may want to go with an enclosed cooler that can hold ice.
Holds Cans vs. Holds Bottles
Some 6-pack coolers are only designed to hold cans. While others are designed to only hold bottles. And a select few are capable of holding both types of containers.
If you are someone that typically enjoys drinking your beers/sodas out of bottles, then you will want to focus on trying to find a 6-pack cooler for bottles. If you are someone that typically drinks out of cans, then make sure to focus on that as well.
If you are like me and prefer a little bit of both, then a more general type of cooler that has the storage volume for both types of containers is your best bet.
Additional Storage Space
For many, a beverage goes hand-in-hand with food. If you are someone that likes to transport some snacks along with your beverages, then finding a 6-pack cooler that has some extra storage space can be quite helpful. Many small coolers these days come with additional front or side pockets that are large enough to stick in a bag of chips or a candy bar.
If you are looking for more storage space than that for food, then one of the large enclosed coolers can be a good solution for you.
Another great way that you can take advantage of additional storage pockets is by putting your phone, wallet, keys, etc. in them.
The Best 6-Pack Coolers: Our Full Reviews
Coleman Fliplid
The Coleman Fliplid is a classic. There is a reason why it has been around for decades and has enjoyed the level of success that it has. This portable hard-sided cooler comes with 5 quarts of capacity. This makes it large enough to comfortably fit 6 cans of drinks along with some spare ice.
One of our favorite features of the Coleman Fliplid is its lid. The FlipLid is reversible and comes with molded beverage holders to provide a great place to secure your cans.
There is also a bail-style handle that makes transportation a breeze.
If you are someone who plans on spending more than a couple hours outdoors and wants to keep your cans chilled for as long as possible, then the Coleman Fliplid makes for a great choice.
Coleman Soft Cooler
This Soft Cooler is cheating a bit. It has the storage capacity to hold up to 9 cans. However, with the inclusion of ice, we found that it ends up holding around 6 cans or 6 bottles.
This soft-sided cooler comes with an antimicrobial liner that helps to resist mold and mildew. And the zippered lid makes for easy access to your stored drinks.
Another nice bonus is the small front pocket that is large enough to stick your wallet or phone inside.
The Coleman Soft Coolers are very well made. Thanks to the ripstop fabric and heat-welded seams, it should hold up to typical wear and tear for several years.
Polar Bear Coolers 6 Pack Soft Cooler
Polar Bear Coolers are another great brand that we have tested.
One of their smallest products is their 6-pack cooler. This small cooler comes in at approximately 10” long, 7” wide, and 7” tall. So it is designed for storing cans (you can store a few bottles if you lay them sideways).
The biggest selling points of the Polar Bear Soft Coolers are their quality. These are extremely well-made thanks to their heavy-duty outer shell that is made of 1000 denier Cordura nylon.
To help with ice retention, there is a small layer of high-density open-cell foam.
You will also enjoy a small side pocket and an attached bottle opener. This pocket is large enough to store a few essential items.
The only negative of the Polar Bear Cooler is that it will be a little more expensive than most of the other models on the market. However, it is well worth the price.
Legacy 6-Bottle Beer Caddy
We were impressed with the overall design and styling of the Legacy 6-Bottle Beer Caddy. This little cooler can take up little space thanks to its intuitive design. The tops of your bottles will stick out from the top.
This means that this cooler will take up very little space. However, it does come at the sacrifice of cooling ability.
Each bottle will be separated thanks to a removable inner liner. This helps to stop the bottles from “clinking” together and potentially breaking.
To keep the bottles in place, there is an overhead strap that you can secure on the buckle at the bottom.
Other great features include a padded shoulder strap and bottle opener. And the styling of the Legacy 6-Bottle Beer Caddy is superb.
Caddyswag Par 6 Pack Golf Cooler Bag
For the golfers in your life, Caddyswag has a clever little product for storing your drink of choice during a round of golf.
This cooler is specially designed to slide right into the side pocket of your golf bag. This makes for easy (and concealed) access to your favorite beer or soda while out on the course.
The secret is with the design. The 6 cans will sit next to each other in a line instead of 2 or 3 deep. This slim design is perfect for fitting in a typical golf bag.
To help with keeping your drinks cold, there is a thin layer of thick closed-cell foam in addition to an included freezer gel pack to provide that extra boost. This 1-2 punch should help to keep your beers cold even on the hottest of days.
It is also quite well made. There has been an improvement to the zipper design and the outer fabric is comprised of 300x600D polyester.
L’igloo 6 Pack Carrier
For the true minimalist, the L’igloo 6-pack Carrier is about as simple as it comes. This cooler is designed to hold up to 6 bottles. The cooler itself is made of relatively thin molded neoprene that will literally “hug” the bottles.
When closed up, the L’igloo 6 Pack Carrier takes up hardly any space. You should be able to easily store it away in a larger bag or transport it with the small overhead carrying handle.
But this does come at a cost. The thin material won’t do as good of a job at keeping your drinks chilled compared to other 6-pack coolers that we have tested. For a couple of hours of outdoor fun, this will work fine. But if you plan on being out longer than that and appreciate a cold beverage, you may want to look for something more robust.
Igloo 6-Can Mini Playmate Cooler
The Igloo Playmate Cooler is another classic and among the highest-rated budget coolers that we have ever tested. This can be attributed to their ergonomic design and easy-access lid.
The 6-Can Mini Playmate Cooler took the great Playmate design and shrunk it down into a smaller size. This small cooler has a 4-quart capacity which makes it large enough to store 6 cans with a bit of ice.
Being an enclosed cooler, you will also have a bit of space to put food items inside as well. This little guy is great for a small picnic for two.
However, you won’t find anything in the way of external storage pockets for storing items that you don’t want to keep chilled.
Thermos Element5 6-Can Cooler
Many people are familiar with Thermos thanks to their proven thermoses. However, they also have branched into the soft-sided cooler world. One of our favorite products from them is their portable Element5 6 Can Cooler.
This product measures at around 10” x 7.5” x 7”, making it large enough to comfortably store 6 cans. You can also be a bit more creative and stick in a few cans along with some food items.
The IsoTec layered insulation will provide a bit of an ice boost. This layering in conjunction with some ice will allow the Element5 Cooler to keep your drinks chilled for a full afternoon outdoors.
The Element5 6 Can Cooler is also well made. It comes with a Flex-A-Guard molded liner that is very tear-resistant.
And all of this can be had for a very reasonable asking price.
RTIC Day Cooler 6 Can
While RTIC has traditionally been in the market of creating high-end premium coolers, they have also begun to expand into some lower-end offerings.
One example of this is their 6-can Day Cooler.
This cooler is large enough to store 6 cans inside of it.
As a bonus, there is a large front zippered pocket that is big enough to store multiple larger items. This is among the biggest front pockets that we have seen on a soft cooler of this size.
We also like the shoulder strap. This strap is plenty large and makes carrying the cooler quite comfortable.
The main negative of this cooler is that it isn’t designed to hold ice. You may find that ice, once melted, will leak through the bottom. Because of this, the chill life of your stored drinks will be limited.
Summary
We hope that this article about the best 6-pack coolers will benefit you. If you are someone that tends to enjoy bringing out a few drinks to an outdoor activity, then a 6-pack cooler may be of great benefit to you.
And despite what many people may think, there can be a lot of differences between one 6-pack cooler to another 6-pack cooler.
Once you figure out what type of 6-pack cooler will work best for you, this guide will steer you in the right direction of specific model types to look for.
