I got this cooler about a year ago. We put a small amount of ice in it the day before we left on a trip just to cool it down as the direction say to do. We loaded the cooler in the morning and put a small bag of ice in it. The cooler stayed in my jeep in a parking lot all day and it was 108 degrees outside. That night we took it into the hotel and two days later when we headed home, about a 6 hour trip, we unloaded the cooler once at home. We decided to see how long the ice would last so we left it in and put the cooler in the garage. It took another 3 days for all the ice to melt. I love the cooler so much I just bought another one.