Lifetime 90820 55 Quart High Performance Cooler, Grey

Why it's worth it

The Lifetime 55 is certified to hold off a bear for an hour, has a padlock-ready stainless bottle opener, and drains through a garden hose fitting. At 23.4 pounds empty, it's noticeably lighter than the big rotomolded picks.

Lifetime certifies this cooler to withstand a bear for up to an hour, which tells you plenty about the shell and the latch hardware. Two rubber latches open with one hand, and the hasp takes a padlock, so you can lock it and leave it with your setup during the game. The stainless bottle opener is built into that same hardware, right where you'd reach for it.

The drain is the detail that earns it a spot here. The spout threads onto a garden hose. At the end of a game you hook it up, run the melt into the grass, and rinse the inside out without tipping 40 pounds of slush onto your shoes or your neighbor's tires. Most coolers make you wrestle them into position first. This one just drains where it sits.

From our review of 8 football tailgate coolers

What we like

• +Lifetime certifies this cooler to withstand a bear for up to an hour, which tells you plenty about the shell and the latch…
• +The drain is the detail that earns it a spot here
• +At 23.4 pounds empty it splits the difference between the featherweight Coleman and the 30-plus-pound rotomolded picks

What to know

• –The up-to-seven-days figure comes from Lifetime, not from an independent lab, and the research here didn't surface published…
• –Fifty-five quarts is also a step down from the 65-quart picks, and there are no wheels