About Chill & Chest

What this site is

Chill & Chest ranks hard coolers, soft coolers and insulated drinkware on three things: how long they hold ice or cold, as measured by third-party tests we cite by name; the warranty term, quoted from the manufacturer's own page with the date we read it; and whether the wear parts (latches, gaskets, drain plugs, lids, straws) can be bought instead of claimed. As of launch it covers 36 coolers and 16 pieces of drinkware across 62 rankings, head-to-heads, reviews and guides, with warranty terms read from 25 manufacturer and test pages.

It is written for the buyer who hates rebuying: the person who wants the one cooler and the one tumbler that outlast the truck. So the pages skip the lifestyle copy and lead with the decision: which cooler holds ice longest per dollar, which brand puts ten years or a lifetime on paper, which tumbler lid you can replace for $12 instead of replacing the tumbler.

Who runs it

Mike M., the hands-on owner behind Iron Mako Media, an independent publisher. Mike writes every page and is the single byline on the site. Iron Mako Media is the publisher and the entity behind the affiliate accounts; more about it is on its own site.

How the rankings are built

From manufacturers' published specifications, each brand's own warranty page, and third-party ice-retention tests we cite by name (OutdoorGearLab, Outdoor Life, Treeline Review, Outside, Gear Patrol, Switchback Travel). Every spec on a product card links to the page it was read from, with the date. Every warranty term is quoted, linked and dated. Where a maker blocks fetches (YETI's site does), we say which authorized dealer or archived copy we used instead. Where a figure isn't published or tested, the table says so rather than guessing. The rubric and its weights are public on the methodology page.

What we refuse to claim

• Units we claim to have tested: 0. No page implies otherwise. Every ice-retention hour on this site is attributed to the test that measured it.
• We don't print Amazon prices. They change daily; every button says “Check price on Amazon” until a live, dated feed supplies a number, and a number older than 48 hours would disappear automatically.
• We don't quote Amazon star ratings or review counts, and we don't mark our own scores up as product ratings.
• We don't print a warranty term we couldn't read on the maker's page. Coleman's and Hydro Flask's pages blocked us; those products say “unverified.”
• We don't list credentials, awards or testimonials, because there aren't any to list.

How the site is funded

Affiliate commissions. As an Amazon Associate, Chill & Chest earns from qualifying purchases made through its links, at no extra cost to you. Commissions never set a score or decide a pick; no brand pays for placement; every outbound money link is marked. Full detail in the affiliate disclosure and the editorial policy.

Corrections

If a spec, a warranty term or a claim on this site is wrong, tell us or email mike@blackironathletics.com. We check it against the source, fix it, and log the change on the page.