ORCA Pod Cooler Backpack, Blue ORCPODBL

This is possibly the best thing I have ever bought on Amazon. Kept steaks, chicken, cheese etc frozen from Friday morning when we left, through airport security, several flights, and a long trip in hot weather til we arrived at our final destination in the Bahamas (after a one night stop in Nassau) on Sunday noon. Totally amazing. Fits in an overhead bin on normal sized planes. Intrigues people in the airport who all want to know what it is. Be sure if you're flying that your stuff starts TOTALLY frozen - TSA will chuck anything that is not solid - but we were delighted with the performance and had no issues. It's also great for boat, pool, etc. The pull tab broke so we replaced it with a caribiner with a bottle opener on it which you should have clipped to the thing somewhere anyway.

We ordered orcas in dec. used 3 times and. Is leaking... please acknowledge receiving notification asap. Thnx. T

As promised. Great cooler.

Trying to decide on 4 or 5 stars is difficult, I think 4.5 is probably the right number. This is a great cooler and I absolutely love it but it's not perfect, but not many things are.Ok, this is a big cooler! That's not a bad thing, but it is something to consider. This is the largest soft cooler I have, and I have a lot of them, and it does exactly what I need it to do, hold plenty of stuff and keep in cold. To give you an idea of just how much it will hold, it is 28.5 quarts, a Yeti Tundra 35 is 28.8 quarts, so almost identical. When they say it will hold a case of beer and 15 pounds of ice, it will. One of the nice things about this cooler is its light weight. Despite the size, it only weighs 6.6 lbs, and honestly, it doesn't feel like it. If you are looking for a soft cooler, or a cooler period with this volume that is easy to carry across the parking lot or across the country, this is the one to have.Shape. The shape is why I purchased this cooler instead of a Yeti Hopper of the same volume. It is a soft cooler, obviously, but you flip open the lid and it is wide open, just like a hard cooler, but soft, lighter, and more portable. There is no taper, the inside is straight up and down and you have access to the entire inside when the top is open, this makes it very easy to load and unload. You can put your cans, bottles, etc on the bottom, put in a layer of ice, and then put food, etc on top, just like a regular cooler, I absolutely love that about the Pod! It has a very defined shape, which to me is a good thing but it remains flexible, rigidly flexible. Getting things out is a snap as well. No zippers to dodge, nothing to pry apart, and no blindly digging around, you can see and reach inside. The lid/top opens up, obviously, and there are 2 straps that can be snapped to keep it from flopping all the way open if you so desire; this should also help with wear and tear on what is a soft hinge, but again, can be unsnapped if you need it out of the way.Interior. Great liner that feels very sturdy and durable and cleans up easily. One drawback is there is a space between the shell and the liner around where the zipper is. When I say space, I don't mean a gap, but there is an area that is difficult to get to, clean, and dry. It's not a big deal, but it is a place where debris, mold, etc could hide if you don't keep it clean.Insulation. The cooler is very well insulated and does a great job! I haven't done any ice tests or anything, but it gets the job done better than any other soft cooler I've encountered. The insulation is consistent around the entire cooler, no tapers, no gaps. The zipper goes around the insulation, so when it's closed, it's enclosed.The Zipper. This is one component that worries me a little about this cooler. The zipper is waterproof, really like that! It needs to be lubricated, no big deal, and a tube of lubricant and instructions are included, very nice. The zipper comes with instruction and warnings, instructions good, warnings bad. In order for the zipper to be water tight, it must be clean, makes sense. Both the zipper manufacturer and ORCA have instruction included and both stress the fact that the zipper needs to be pulled carefully, stress free, and straight with no torque, this seems a little sensitive for an outdoor product. I will quote directly from the ORCA manual on the zipper because I think this is important. "In order to get the best long term use out of your TIZIP and ORCA POD, we recommend that you zip and unzip in a smooth linear or parallel motion to the zipper profile. In this regard, please do not pull or abruptly yank overly upward or downward when zipping or unzipping. This type of torquing could cause damage to your TIZIP and possibly void the warranty. Please refer to orcacoolers.com/orcapod for further details on the care of your ORCA POD." That paragraph is why this cooler does not get 5 stars. Do I really want a cooler that I have to be careful with when using? I get not abusing it, but that language seems pretty strong to me and I wonder if ORCA will stand behind the product if I have issues. My other concern related to this is I contacted ORCA through their website to ask about the zipper and alleviate my concerns and never got a response. If they can't respond to a question, how will they handle a warranty claim should one arise?Backpack. The shoulder straps are very sturdy and comfortable! The cummerbund is really nice if you should need it and can be wrapped around the front of the cooler and buckled when not in use. If you want to take this thing on a hike, it should be very comfortable to carry! The only downside, and it's a trade-off for the convenience of having a backpack, is if you need the straps out of the way, they are not going anywhere. The straps are very well secured to the cooler and they should be if you want them to hold 60lbs while you're out and about.The outside. There are also 3 handles, one on each side and one just above the backpack straps. They are great to have, well placed, and well secured. There are a crazy number of molle loops on the cooler. If you need/want them, they are great, but it is a bit of an over-engineered look. Everything looks and feels sturdy and well put together. The outside also cleans very easily and seems very durable, only time will tell.Customer Service and Warranty. As stated previously, I did contact ORCA through their website contact page and never got a response, so I would not rate the CS very high at this time. There is a 3 year warranty on the cooler, I just hope I never have to use it.Bottom Line, I am extremely happy with this cooler and would definitely buy it again and I highly recommend it! It's not perfect, but it is as close to perfect as is out there at this time. I do wish they would make a smaller version to complement this one; not a lot smaller, just a little, but it's better to have too much room than not enough.I will update if any issues arise, but if you don't see any here, I haven't had any and am out enjoying my cooler! Have any questions, just post them here, I'll be happy to answer.***UPDATE***Orca's customer service get's it done!I'm really enjoying this cooler! The only issue I've had is with the zipper as I feared, BUT, Orca replaced the cooler quickly and without question, so I'm very happy. The zipper ended up coming untracked, not typically a big deal but harder to deal with on a waterproof zipper. My cooler was one of Orca's originals and had a #6 zipper, the replacement, and all newer versions, have a #10 zipper, so Orca not only fixed my issue but has also upgraded the zipper so future issues should be less likely. The new zipper is noticeably heavier duty than the original, so my confidence is high that I won't have any more issues and again, I have no fear that Orca will take great care of me if anything should happen, what more can you ask for!Just wanted to update and negate any concerns I might have previously had, both Orca and this cooler are outstanding!

This was a great purchase. Keeps stuff cold longer than I should ever need. Travels well and fits in the overhead of full size airliners like 737 (not the regional jets). It does get a bit heavy if you put a bunch of drinks etc in it but it bears the load pretty well. Far better than any of the bag style coolers with just a shoulder strap such as the Yeti. The zipper is waterproof and pretty easy to open etc. Its a little stiff but its a heavy duty zipper so no surprise there. Really happy I got this instead of the others.