Adventuridge Peak Series High Performance Hard Sided Cooler

Last Updated on July 9, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have a companion post on alternatives to this cooler. You can read it here.

Special thanks to Dave for helping us in testing this cooler.

This post has affiliate links.


If you’ve done any serious outdoor adventuring, there’s a chance you may have heard of YETI. They’re a company that specializes in a number of products … none more famous than their coolers, which claim to be as indestructible as they are insulated. They’re also really expensive, a fact known to polarize the types of people interested in YETI coolers.

By contrast, you don’t think of Aldi — which, like YETI, stylizes themselves in all caps — as the go-to place for hardcore outdoorspeople, although Aldi certainly doesn’t lack for, say, camping equipment or accessories. So imagine our shock to see Aldi stock a high performance hard sided cooler: as in, the kind of cooler that’s made for multi-day kayaking trips or keeping food out of the hands of bears.

So can the Adventuridge Peak Series High Performance Hard Sided Cooler (man, that’s a mouthful) successfully impersonate a YETI?

It certainly tries. The Adventuridge cooler is a pretty shameless take on a YETI Roadie 20, from the color scheme right down to much of the design.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The Adventuridge cooler …

… and the YETI cooler. (See a resemblance?)

The Adventuridge cooler is, like the Roadie 20, a 20-liter cooler. It retails for $79.99; that makes it a lot less than the $199 you’d pay for a comparable YETI, and close in price to the $86 Ozark Trail High Performance Cooler sold by Walmart. (More on how the Adventuridge compares to the Ozark Trail model later on.) The Adventuridge claims to be good for 18 cans + ice and boasts “commercial grade insulation that keeps ice for days.” It is backed by a 5-year warranty.

Adventuridge cooler specs

The specs. (Click to enlarge.)

The Pros:

Our tester noted several positives with the Adventuridge. One, it feels like a well-made cooler. It’s durable, and the surface and the handle seem like they are engineered to last. Our tester felt like this cooler has the potential to be in his rotation for a long time.

Two, it’s surprisingly large for what he expected. The tag says it fits 18 cans, but our tester had no problem fitting 24 cans plus ice. Because bottles are bigger, only about 18-20 bottles will fit with ice, but bottles can be stood straight up and down for packing purposes; our tester was able to put 20-ounce aluminum beer bottles upright in the cooler and still was able to close and lock the cooler.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

Loaded up. (Click to enlarge.)

Three, it’s well designed, for the most part. The rubber latches are comparable to a YETI, the seal-tight lid does a great job of keeping contents in the cooler even if it tips over, and it has two holes where you can fasten a padlock to the cooler if you need to keep animals out of it. Keep in mind, though, that the seal between the lid and the body is not continuous, so if the cooler is left in a tipped position for a long time you will probably see some minor leakage.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The latch. (Click to enlarge.)

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The lid seal. Note the small gap in the seal at the bottom left. (Click to enlarge.)

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

One of the holes for locking the cooler. (Click to enlarge.)

In particular, our tester loved the drain plug design. The plug is large, so it drains quickly, and it is also threaded like a screw so it won’t accidentally come open the way some other coolers (i.e. some Coleman coolers) can. It’s also rigged in such a way that you can’t lose the plug.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The drain plug, exterior. (Click to enlarge.)

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The drain plug, interior. (Click to enlarge.)

On the bottom, the non-slip feet are great for keeping the cooler in place, which can be especially valuable for activities like boating. At one point, our tester set the cooler on the trunk of his car — which has a decent curve — and it didn’t slide off, or scratch the car.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The non-stick feet. (Click to enlarge.)

Also of note: the oversize cup holders molded on the lid are great because you can fit the large stainless steel can coolies that are very popular now. This is in contrast to many standard coolers, where the cup holders are not big enough to fit those types of can coolies.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The lid cupholders. (Click to enlarge.)

The Cons:

Our tester noticed a few negatives with the cooler. One is the handle design. The padded grip is great, and the aluminum handle is durable, but rotating the handle is very difficult because of the way it’s designed to lock between two molded notches. Our tester reported that both his wife and his grade school-aged son had trouble getting the handle to and from the upright position. Even for our tester, it’s a two-hand effort and takes some force. It may get easier over time as the notches wear down, but that may also create problems as the notches wear down.

Aldi Adventuidge Peak Performance Cooler

The notches in the center of the cooler. Note the left one is starting to show a little wear. (Click to enlarge.)

The cooler can become unbalanced when empty. If the handle is in the rear position and nothing is inside the cooler, it causes the cooler to tip backward. Obviously, this is a pain for packing. The fix is to put the handle in the front position, but that also requires a little foresight … and means that you have to move it across both notches if you need to get it from back to front. Also, when the handle is in the front, it blocks the latches, so you have to push it back to the center position before you can latch it.

Aldi Adventuridge Peak Performance Cooler

The handle up front. It blocks the latch unless it’s moved. (Click to enlarge.)

How it Cools:

Our tester put the Adventuridge cooler through a few paces. One was a simple 24-hour ice test. He placed a 2-liter bottle of ice in the cooler for one day to see how it fared. It was a hot day: 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit, with the cooler in a mix of sun, partial sun, and darkness (during the night).

Here’s the before and after:

Ice at the start.

Ice at the end.

The first test wasn’t quite “ice for days.” While there was ice in the bottle after 24 hours, it was about 70% water.

Our tester also took the cooler with him on a weekend camping trip. The cooler kept beers and soda cold all day in 90 degree weather, with some of the ice melted.

Overall, he felt like cooling ability was fine — not really spectacular, but adequate.

How it Compares to an Ozark Trail Cooler:

Our tester was able to do some comparison between the Adventuridge and another budget cooler, the $86 Ozark Trail High Performance Cooler sold by Walmart that I mentioned earlier.

Ozark Trail High Performance Cooler

The Ozark Trail High Performance Cooler. (Click to enlarge.)

There are a few differences between the Adventuridge and the Ozark Trail. In the Ozark Trail cooler’s favor, it is a little larger (26 quarts to 20 quarts), doesn’t have the same balance issues when the handle is in the back, has a molded ruler on the lid for fish measuring, and has a handy metal bottle opener built into the locking part of the cooler. In the Adventuridge cooler’s favor, it has more oversized cup holders than the Ozark Trail (4 to 2) and has more spots to lock the cooler (2 to 1).

Where the coolers are a push: both coolers have handles that block the latch when in the front position, both coolers are hard to lock the handles into place, and both are backed by a 5-year warranty. (YETI coolers are also backed by a 5-year warranty.)

The Verdict:

Overall, our tester felt like the Adventuridge Peak Series High Performance Hard Sided Cooler was a solid cooler as far as budget coolers go. He was able to get his when it was discounted down to $50, which he felt was a good value. He’s not quite as certain, though, whether this is something he’d want to pay the full $80 for, especially given that there are other budget coolers at that price point that may have more features. Still, he generally felt good about his purchase and felt like, for a budget cooler, it’s worth a look.

About Joshua

Joshua is the Co-founder of Aldi Reviewer. He is also a writer and novelist. You can learn more about him at joshuaajohnston.com.

14 Comments

  1. Dianne Roudabush

    I bought a cooler that can plug into cigarette lighter or plug into home outlet..and the side of the top broke off…glued it with gorilla glue and it broke off again…can the lid be replaced? I bought 3 more for my kids for Christmas but don’t know if I will have trouble with them too.

  2. Thank you for the review! These Adventure Peak coolers just hit Aldi again this year. I waited to see if they would hit clearance last year and I ended up missing out. I ended up opting for the Ozark Trail cooler compared at the end of your review. One thing I wanted to note on the Ozark Trail that I think you should update above… the Ozark Trail 26 qt cooler does NOT have a drain.

    For my uses, that doesn’t cause much issue. But, I would count that as a PRO for the Adventure Peak and CON for the Ozark Trail.

    Thanks again!
    ~Nathan.

  3. I got one at $59.99 on Sunday the 9th (20190609). Was back in the store 3 days later, and they were on clearance for $39.99. I asked and the guy said he could do a return and resell it to me at the lower price since it was still unused. Grabbed it and my receipt from home and he did just that. Very nice of him.

  4. I found it today at a local ALDI discounted to $40, but to my surprise, it rang up for only $20! I’ll give a test and see

  5. Just bought one today at my local Aldi’s for $49.99 . after looking it over i don’t see any of the cons listed above. in fact the part about the handle moving hard doesn’t seem to be an issue with mine. it firmly locks into place and the point mentioned about the handle being in the way of the latches is really kinda dumb cause when you think about it you’re going to move the handle up anyways to lift it!

    • Our review was of the 2018 version. It’s always possible the 2019 version has some subtle tweaks over the previous year, something we’ve seen done before with other non-food Aldi products. We agree that the handle position isn’t a huge issue but since we tried to be thorough with the review we concluded it was something worth mentioning — ultimately whether it matters to a buyer or not comes down to the individual buyer.

  6. My rubber seal that runs around the inside of the lid is broken. Is there any chance of getting that replaced?

  7. I want a chest style. Is it available

  8. I wonder if I can use this cooler to keep food hot for transport on Thanksgiving Day without hurting it/ damaging the insulation for cooling for next summer.

  9. My latches was n the front broke off can I buy new ones?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *