Best soft sided cooler?

[doggiemom]

Okay, I need to upgrade for our family of five. I need a good cooler for the beach and daytrips for our family of five. Something to hold sandwiches, drinks and some cheese or fruit (snack portions). I keep winding up with two coolers... one lunch sized and one maybe double lunch sized. I'm looking soft sided not hard...... (we have a hard cooler for camping). But something to drag to the beach/pool/day trips. Can be with wheels or without.... do you have a favorite?

TIA

[elizabethkott]

I got this one at Bed Bath and Beyond:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=16925578

And it. is. AWESOME.
I put a large ziplock of ice at the bottom and all our drinks, sandwich meat, snacks, fruit and stuff in in the morning, and it keeps everything really really cold all day long. The majority of the ice is still frozen by the end of the day - and I mean the MAJORITY. It really seals everything in well, partially b/c of the little easy-access hole at the top. The thing folds down to such a small little package too, it's almost unbelievable.
It is on wheels, but the pull is a little flimsy. Not too unwieldy to just carry from the handles, tho.
I totally plan on bringing this up to the cape when we go, rather than use the rental house's cooler. That's how much I like it! :)

[hillview]

We have the LL Bean cooler and LOVE it.
We have this one
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/63703?feat=506462-CL2

It holds 2 kids lunch boxes sodas, juice boxes and sandwiches for me and DH with room for snacks.
/hillary

[Kindra178]

Trader Joes has an awesome one for $6.99. It's blue with a carrying strap, no wheels. I use it a reusable grocery bag or for picnics.

[hellokitty]

Actually, I like all of our soft sided coolers, from the thermos brand ones to generic ones. I do need to point out though that you should think about the handles. I prefer long handles, so I can sling it over my shoulder, or something that has short handles AND a long strap, so I can use it both ways. I also have some that are more like a tote style and some that are more of a box shape. I like the tote style ones better, but the box shaped ones are good too, if you don't mind the bulk. I find them cumbersome, and generally feel that if we are doing a day trip (zoo, science center, amusement park) that the tote style are easy to stick in the stroller.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We have the LL Bean cooler and LOVE it.
We have this one
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/63703?feat=506462-CL2

It holds 2 kids lunch boxes sodas, juice boxes and sandwiches for me and DH with room for snacks.
/hillary
I got both the Picnic and Family size ones last year and we use them both all.the.time. They have SO many great features that I seriously want to thank LLB for making such a great product.

[doggiemom]

thanks for the tips... off to browse and shop with a plan.

[infomama]

We have the LL Bean cooler and LOVE it.
We have this one
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/63703?feat=506462-CL2


We have two of these...love them.