Stanley says this Midi Cooler Backpack is made for, “picnic dates, city hikes, and weeknights with friends.” I agree, but that’s not what I use it for.
Being more so introverted, living in the country, and spending times on trails versus city walkways, those activities take a different form with me.
Instead of picnic dates, my wife and I go on 8+ hour road trips. City hikes are treks in national parks. Weeknights with friends are weekend travels to see family.
Picnics?
I’ve seen plenty of tv shows and movies where characters go on a picnic. As cute and nice as that picture is, I’ve never been a fan of it in real life. Most picnics I’ve seen in real life go like this; pack or pick up a meal (usually a sandwich with fruit and veggies), drive, park, walk a few hundred yards, and eat the food.
You don’t need a $170 cooler backpack for this. A basic Walmart-like plastic bag can do that.
My kind of picnic is usually a half or full day endeavor, where you need to pack food and drinks. If you don’t, then you go hungry. It’s that simple.
If this is closer to what you’re like, then Stanley’s All Day Madeleine Midi Cooler Backpack might be for you too. (If you live in a city and enjoy “picnic dates, city hikes, and weeknights with friends”, then this bag will more than do the trick.)
Road Trips
Since my wife and I live farther from one side of our family than other, we tend to do a few road trips every year. Thankfully these aren’t multi-day journeys, but they do take an entire day to do; about 9-10 hours.
We try to get on the road as early as we can and avoid unnecessary stops. To do this we have to pack for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Plus, we’re kind of high maintenance road trippers, because we don’t like to eat junk food and other sweets.
This means our breakfast would be good, and our lunch is lukewarm.
I don’t know if you’ve eaten room temperature carrots, broccoli, cheese, berries, protein shakes, pickles, etc. But it’s not my favorite.
Now on trips like these we wonder why we ever did those long drives without the Midi Cooler Backpack or something similar. The Midi keeps our stuff nice and chilly on long drives like this without break a sweat.
Although, there’s one thing that this bag does exceptionally well that I can’t express enough gratitude for. The sealing on the zipper pockets.
My wife can get car sick fairly easy, depending on the road, and the smells of food can make it worse. Thankfully this backpack seals better than a plastic baggie in an effort to keep your food cold, that it also contains food smells surprisingly well.
All Day Trips
This bag is literally called, “The All Day Madeleine Midi Cooler Backpack.” So outside of being stuck in a car all day, I wanted to find out if it could handle an all-day endeavor. I’m talking about those days where you’re moving from sunup to sundown.
For us, this usually happens with an abnormally long hike in national parks or similar environments.
Places where you need to have food because unless you bring your own, then you won’t be eating until you get home. And hiking all day on an empty stomach is not just stupid, it’s risky. (Foolishly I’ve done that a couple times.)
So, to put the Madeleine Midi Cooler Backpack to the test, my wife and I went to the Tetons on the 4th of July. We did the Lake Solitude via Cascade Canyon Trail.
It was supposed to be 14 miles in total, with 2,362 ft of elevation gain. (We did more than that because I took a wrong turn, but that’s a story for another day.)
We didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, since it was our first time in the Tetons. On purpose, we completely over prepared and packed our Hydro Flasks, 6 water bottles, 4 protein shakes, 6 Clif bars, two tuna sandwiches, a plum, 4 bananas, a toiletry bag, and a first aid kit. (I tried to fit our Stanley tumblers, but with a full pack they couldn’t fit in the net side pockets.)
With the extra front and back zipper pockets, we still had space for our phones, wallet, and keys. I love how much this thing can hold!
The hike was amazing and by far the prettiest hike I’ve done. The Tetons are truly beautiful. (I hope to take our future kids there.)
However, I found the hiking limits of this bag. At mile 4 the bag started to hurt my neck and back. It had quite a bit of weight, much more than a movie-style picnic, which led to the soreness at this point in the hike.
The straps do have nice padding, and I love the infinite rotation that the top and bottom metal clasps have. (Those really help prevent and/or easily fix any kinks when you put it on.) But it’s not designed for trips like that; especially with how heavy it was.
And around mile 10 or 11, after making the summit and hiking down three miles, I was hurting quite a bit. The bag had less food and water in it, but my neck and back were barking mad.
Amazingly though, after all of that walking, the bag and everything in it was still chilly. And after a hike like that, an ice cold protein shake was like sweet nectar from heaven!
The Recap
Form and function wise, the All Day Madeleine Midi Cooler Backpack is best for casual 3-5 miles of walking with a heavy load. Maybe 6+ miles if it’s lighter.
My wife and I have a few more all day adventures and road trips coming up. Some will be more intense than others.
And because of how nice the Midi Cooler Backpack is as a soft, semi waterproof cooler, it’s going to be with us for each of them. We’ll make sure to pack lighter for the long distant excursions to help minimize on neck/back strain.
This bag has quickly become our favorite sidekick for all day trips!