Cordova Coolers Review: We Thought We’d Seen It All

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After years and years of scouring the 7 Gates of Cooler Hell and testing out everything from ridiculously expensive YETIs (like this one) to ridiculously cheap insulated lunch bags, we figured we’d seen just about everything the cooler industry had to offer.

Well, thanks to Cordova Coolers, we were wrong. And, in this very own Cordova Coolers review, we're going to tell you why.

As of early 2017, Cordova is one of the newer entries into the premium rotomolded cooler market – and mercy me do they know how to make an entrance.

They’re currently marketing their 100% USA made coolers as having the best ice retention in the world, and we’ve got to say the things have got some pretty snazzy lines and legit-looking features that just might have some of the big time names shaking in their boots by now.

However, to our recollection Cordova has been the only ‘YETI-style’ brand to have come out with a cooler that’s more expensive than YETI themselves – yes that’s right, more expensive [2018 UPDATE: Cordova recently announced new pricing for their coolers and guess what? They're now noticeably less expensive while still being 100% manufactured in the US. We checked the Cordova's new pricing and they're now about 30% cheaper than their YETI counterparts]

The way we figure, they’re either stark-raving mad or they’re really, really confident they’ve got one hell of a product on their hands.

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Cordova Ice Chests Lineup

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Cordova Coolers Review: The Ultimate Guide

Unlike other newcomers to the market, Cordova Coolers hasn’t done any hiding behind gimmicky press releases or shady marketing ploys – the men behind the product are thoroughbred adventurers whose reputations speak for themselves:

The brand itself was spawned in the wet, cold, wild conditions of the Pacific Northwest, and is currently headquartered in Nampa, Idaho. Like we mentioned earlier, every Cordova cooler is manufactured 100% in the USA, which is something that fewer and fewer companies can claim these days.

(Not to mention they’ve got a Full Lifetime Warranty on all their products – something that virtually no other high-end manufacturer can claim).

But what really makes these things so special? And most importantly, are they worthy of a heftier price tag than YETI Coolers?

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Cordova Coolers: Construction and Design

The very first thing we noticed when checking out our first Cordova Cooler (this one, to be precise) was that these people spared no expense whatsoever in construction.

With most brands, you can just about always find some little detail where the company’s cut a corner or two to save on costs, whether it’s in the form of cheap zinc hardware or weak polyethylene skin layers.

Not the case with this brand. Everything from the die-cut aluminum handles to the anodized drain plug (they've later changed it to more standard one) speaks volumes about what the company is setting out to accomplish – to manufacture the finest, most durable rotomold performance cooler on the market. (Costs be damned, apparently).

One thing that you’ll notice straight away is the rigidity and stiffness of the sidewalls. We’re no experts on polyurethane materials, but whatever Cordova is doing or using in the molds is some of the best stuff we’ve ever seen.

Up until this point Orion Coolers had probably the best-quality walls we’d seen on a rotomold, but it seems Cordova will be giving them a good run for their money, for sure.

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Cordova Ice Chest Features: American Ingenuity at Its Finest

Call it bold American ingenuity or whatever you may, but the folks at Cordova market their coolers as being ‘unlike all rotationally molded coolers on the market today’.

That might be a bit of a stretch, but they’ve definitely got some brand new, super high-quality integrated features going on that we’ve yet to see before in a rotomolded cooler.

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Sizes

Cordova has kept things super simple with their sizing – they currently have four different models: small, medium, large, and x-large.

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Colors and Warranty

As far as colors, Cordova ice chests are available in one of four colors: white, sand, aqua and super sexy looking battleship grey (aqua and grey comes with a white lid).

And lastly, as we mentioned earlier, Cordova offers a seriously astounding Full Lifetime Warranty on all their coolers. Far superior to the 2 or 5-year warranties offered by most other brands.

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Cordova vs. YETI

So how do these new guys stand up head-to-head with the almighty YETI giants?

We’ll take a look at a few critical elements, and give our opinion on which brand we think is superior.

• Construction / build quality
  Like we talked about in the review, these Cordova’s are built like tanks, and quality-wise are some of the finest coolers we’ve ever seen. Winner: Cordova
• Insulation / Ice retention
  We’ve yet to do (or see) any sort of head-to-head ice test challenge between these two brands, but Cordova uses an eco-friendly foam that has one of the highest insulation ratings  – should have no problem at all keeping ice for over a week. Winner: Cordova
• Integrated features
  In addition to the standard stuff like tie-down points and bear-proofness (and aside from the machined handles and Gorilla Grip ™ feet we talked about), Cordova coolers have anodized drain plugs, a trademarked TrueBlue temp-sensor that tells you when the inside of the cooler is at optimal temperature, and a patented lid-lock system that keeps the lid from falling down and crushing your fingers when you have it fully open. Winner: Cordova
• Sizes
  The only thing we can see that YETI has over Cordova is the fact they offer more size options. Whereas Cordova only has its four models, YETI has more than twice in their Tundra series alone. Winner: YETI

The bottom line? With Cordova vs. YETI, you’re looking at a relatively brand new start up brand compared to the well-established, proven, the top name in the industry.

Preliminary reviews and performance breakdowns have the Cordova’s looking very, very impressive and superior to the YETI in many regards but don’t forget the fact that they are more expensive (UPDATE: they're now less expensive than Yeti, since the beginning of 2018], and some people will probably be a little hesitant to drop more money on a new brand than they would for a proven name like YETI.

However, based on their quality and with the big-time names they’ve got backing them, we don’t imagine it’ll be long at all before Cordova gets super popular among the outdoor crowd.

Lastly, Cordova ice chests are far from YETI copycats – if you’re a maverick, bushwhacking type who likes to try out new things, by all means, try out a Cordova – we can’t imagine they’ll disappoint. And even if they do, they’ve got that lifetime warranty to back you up.

If you prefer going with the proven, safer, tried-and-true options, however, then, by all means, stick with the well-established names like YETI, Engel, and Pelican Coolers.

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Cordova Coolers For Sale: Prices and Where to Buy Online

Amazon currently seems to have a pretty good stock of Cordova coolers for sale, and, at the time of writing this post, are offering free shipping on every model. Here's the link to Cordova listings at Amazon.

If they do happen to get sold out at Amazon or they don’t have the model you’re looking for, check out the Cordova website direct, as they too offer free shipping on all orders over $35

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Cordova Coolers Review – Bottom Line

The bottom line of this Cordova Coolers review? Well, even though Cordova Coolers is a brand new name, they’ve got some pretty badass products with insane construction quality, they’re offering a lifetime warranty, and unlike other top brands, you’re supporting American jobs when you buy them.

NOTE: This post has been updated to reflect Cordava's new pricing and feature changes.