Ninja has gained a reputation for offering reasonably-priced alternatives to more expensive kitchen equipment. We’ve tested a lot of their products with generally favorable results—their electric kettle and the juicer scored particularly well in our head-to-head product tests. So when we found out about the Ninja Frost Vault cooler, which seemed like a turn away from the brand’s usual affordable electronics, we were curious how it would compare to other high end heavy duty coolers, like those made by Yeti and RTIC. Especially curious because the Frost Vault offers a novel twist on your typical heavy duty thermal insulated cooler: it’s a cooler…with drawers. Does a cooler need drawers? Or is it just a gimmick?
Is the Ninja Frost Vault a good cooler?
Whether it strikes you as divine inspiration or not, this is the first cooler with drawers that I’ve ever seen, so if nothing else, it gets points for novelty. But the drawers also really work. The Frost Vault comes in two sizes, a 30 quart and 50 quart. I tested the larger size, which more closely matched the other hard coolers we’ve tested.
In addition to the 50 quart cavity, the larger cooler has two drawers below it, both 3 x 11 x 9 inches (the smaller 30-quart cooler has one). To get a sense of this cooler’s capabilities, I filled the main chamber with 10 pounds of ice, and placed a previously refrigerated piece of raw meat and a block of cheese in the separate frost vault compartments, which are entirely sealed off from the rest of the cooler. The cooler sat for 24 hours in a 75 degree room before I took the internal temperature of the meat and the cheese with a digital probe thermometer. The cooler promised to keep its contents at a temperature of 40 degrees. To my surprise, both the cheese and the meat came up with identical 40 degree temperature readings. As for the ice, close to four pounds remained unmelted after 24 hours, which is on par with other high end coolers. Your results may vary; it’s worth noting that outside factors, like the external temperature, can impact ice retention. For cold preservation for longer than 24 hours, Ninja recommends using 25 pounds of ice total in the Frost Vault 50. If you use that much ice, the cooler (not including the drawers) can hold 45 12-ounce cans.
Is the Ninja Frost Vault a rotomolded cooler?
No, it is not. Rotomolded coolers, easily recognized by their rounded edges and inches-thick walls and lids, are notably tough and durable—Yeti has famously tried to go viral dropping its coolers off roofs. Rotomolding is a manufacturing process that uses heat and rotation to make a seamless, hollow plastic mold—in the minds of many cooler enthusiasts, it has become the gold standard for cooler quality. Because they’re seamless, rotomolded coolers are incredibly effective insulators, but because they’re manufactured in one piece adding separate drawers would be impossible. Makers of rotomolded coolers have long boasted that their seamless construction is superior, because seams could become weak points where a cooler might crack. But if you aren’t regularly dropping your cooler from the top of a truck, it should be fine for regular uses in the backyard or on the beach. As shown by its performance in our tests, just because the Ninja isn’t a roto-molded cooler doesn’t automatically make it an inferior product.
What we didn’t like about the Ninja Frost Vault?
The downsides to the Ninja Frost Vault are largely the same as those of other large, well-insulated coolers. It’s a hefty 29 pounds when empty. Once full of ice, cans, and bottles, it’s a beast to move, especially when you consider it has no wheels to help you along. Also, the price clocks in at $250, which isn’t cheap. But it’s still about $150 cheaper than a comparably-sized Yeti cooler.
So, is the Frost Vault worth it?
The Frost Vault will do a fine job keeping your cold things cold, but so will a lot of coolers. Still, in my testing, the drawers proved themselves to be genuinely convenient and practical. They do what they promised, keeping raw meat and stinky cheese properly refrigerated for an entire day. And, because they kept their contents entirely sealed off from the melting ice, they did it in a tidier way than other coolers that come with interior dividers or containers. The Ninja cooler’s design means you aren’t likely to open up the main ice chamber frequnetly, further slowing ice melt.
These drawers are more than a gimmick—they’re useful in a variety of situations. If you’re the type of person who likes to grill at the park or at a tailgate, you could keep your patties in one drawer and prepped onions and lettuce and other toppings in the other, without worrying about cross contamination or having produce smushed by cans and soaked by ice. At the beach or park, the cooler could serve as a fortified picnic basket, with compartments for premade sandwiches (like these vegetarian muffulettas), dips, or spreads. It’ll keep those things fresh all day, out of the blistering sun and hidden from the pilfering beaks of wayward gulls. As a convenient and more affordable option in the world of mammoth rotomolded coolers, the Ninja Frost Vault is a good alternative.