Colorado's Rovr has reimagined the cooler, going well beyond the tough, bear-proof roto-molded construction so common on the market these days. It calls its cooler an "all-terrain attacking, gear-hauling beast of burden that can go anywhere you can," and follows through on that promise with pneumatic tires, a cargo bin and an available bike hitch. Rovr is now expanding its lineup by adding a 60-quart (57-L) model next to its 80-quart (76-L) version.
We had just a day to cover every corner of this year's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show, a four-day outdoor gear and apparel extravaganza that long ago spilled out of the confines of a single convention center and into a temporary pavilion across the street. Needless to say, we didn't spend a lot of time chatting at individual booths but kept things moving, roaming around to capture the show's best of the best.
One booth we did spend more than a couple minutes at was Rovr. Yes, that was partly because they had a cooler full of icy cold, full-strength Colorado beer at the Utah-based show (Utah's better known for its 3.2-percent "near beer"). But it was mainly because our attention was held by the company's high-quality, multifunctional Rollr coolers.
Instead of flashy, fairly gimmicky features like Bluetooth audio, built-in air conditioning or solar panels, the Rollr 80 is loaded with simple but useful features. Its pneumatic tires are all but guaranteed to outperform the more common, rickety plastic cooler wheels, a sturdy, two-person handle provides a solid, comfortable pull, and a collapsible cargo bin holds other gear on the ride. There's even an available bike hitch so you can pedal the whole thing around.
Rovr is now packing all those features into a smaller 60-quart model, good news because the only complaint we could really muster when looking the Rollr 80 over was that it looked like it would devour an awfully large chunk of trunk space. The Rollr 60 isn't all that much sleeker, saving about 2.5 in (64 mm) of width and just under 1 in (25 mm) of height, based on Rovr's dimension diagrams. Every little bit can help when packing a campsite or tailgate into the back of a crossover, though.
Like the Rollr 80, the Rollr 60 gets to camp more easily than other coolers thanks to the pneumatic tires, dual-person pull handle and optional bike hitch. Once there, it becomes a centerpiece of camp. The included cutting/prepping board secures to the side to provide a place to prep food and make drinks without blocking cooler entry. Attachment points around the sides also hold the dual cupholder and other gear and accessories, such as lanterns or Bluetooth speakers.
Another handy Rollr feature is the internal dry bin that lets you separate food and other items you don't want totally submerged in ice – think that deli paper-wrapped sandwich that starts becoming a soggy mess the second it hits the ice. This bin features three compartments and can also be used to stand wine bottles upright and separate beverage ice from the cubes everyone will be sticking their hands in.
As far as basic cooler duties go, Rovr says the Rollr 60 will retain ice for between seven and 10 days. It also promises that the rugged construction can stand up to bears. Weight is listed at 35 lb (16 kg).
Rovr launched a Kickstarter campaign on August 15 to get the new Rollr 60 off the ground and has already doubled its US$50,000 goal. That means that the very lowest pledge levels are no longer available, but the cooler, with collapsible cargo bin, prepping board, dual cupholder and dry bin, is still available at the $269 level (estimated retail: $399). That cooler package with bike attachment is available at the $299 pledge level (estimated retail: $454). If all goes as hoped, deliveries will begin in January 2018.
Source: Rovr