Otterbox has had the Venture line of coolers around for quite some time. We just got the opportunity to spend our summer with an OtterBox Venture 45 Back Trail Cooler. This cooler comes in tan/Realtree camo and orange, and it is a striking design that is certainly a conversation starter. We took the cooler to Colorado for our trip to Outdoor Retailer filled with drinks and snacks for our trip.
We filled this cooler with six water bottles, a case of soda, and ice, as well as cheese and other food in the tray and headed off to Colorado. The cooler was opened about ten times on day one, ten times on day two, and maybe once or twice on days 3 and 4 because we were in the show all day. Ice retention was actually pretty good. We had some melting as the cooler was inside of our hot vehicle each day. On day 5, we swerved hard to miss a distracted driver, and the cooler rolled around the back of the SUV. When we got to the hotel, we opened it up and everything was solid. The only casualty was a package of Oreos we had in the tray. They tipped out into the ice and melted ice and became a soggy mess. We cleaned out the cooler from this mess, filled it back with fresh contents and fresh ice, and enjoyed the rest of the week.
We love that the handles are as solid as can be, though watch that they can be a bit slippery when your hands are wet. Our Venture 45 comes with a dry storage tray and a bottle opener. Available accessories are the side table, cutting board, separator, external drybox and wheels. We used the cutting board which was super handy and the side table which was also handy. One note: the side table is kind of hard to store when it is not on the cooler because it is an awkward shape. Bottom line on the side table: it is nice to have but only if you have room to store it.
Overall the Venture 45 is as solid as it gets and will stand up to any and all abuse you could throw at it. The cooler is great looking with solid latches and with the color lineup of orange/tan/Realtree. It is easy to open up and easy to see inside of. Otterbox says this will hold ice for 10 to 16 days unopened. In real world situations, it’s going to handle ice retention for 5 to 7 days with all day use. It did for us with cubed ice, and we imagine it would last longer with block ice. If you are looking for a cooler, Otterbox has a serious answer!
