Okay, so I just want to preface this post by saying that disc golf cooler bags are awesome. They offer you the comfort of carrying around all of your discs, while allowing you the luxury of keeping a few (or sometimes many) cold or hot drinks in your bag. Normally, they’ll be cold, but you get the idea.
My story with Star Frame Bags goes back to mid-Spring of 2021. I was looking for a good cooler bag and the awesome dudes at Star Frame hit me up to tell me about their new bag, the Star Frame Brick Disc Golf Cooler Bag. So they sent me a bag and I reviewed it. That bag was really cool. You can see the review on it here. Fast forward a few months later and they came out with another cooler bag, the Retro Bag.
In this post, we’re going to look at the Star Frame Retro Disc Golf Cooler Bag. We’re also going to check out:
- Why I got this bag
- What Star Frame says about their bag
- Features
- Pros
- Cons
- Places you can get the Retro bag and…
- My overall opinion of it
All right, let’s get to it!
Why I got this bag
Like I said earlier, I got the first bag, the Star Frame Brick Bag from Star Frame, after they asked me to review it for them. When I finished the review, Star Frame had just come out with their second bag: the Retro Bag. They asked me to review it and I was happy to oblige (because the first cooler bag was amazing).
So they sent me the Retro Bag for free in exchange for an honest review. I’ll do my best in showing you the Star Frame Retro Bag – Star Frame’s second disc golf cooler bag. My first thought on it? Interesting bag.
What Star Frame says about their bag
First, let me give you a quick bio on Star Frame. They’re a family-owned and operated disc golf company founded during the Covid Pandemic in 2020. The guys behind Star Frame realized the need for a better cooler bag option, so they came out with a couple of great cooler bags to really give disc golfers a better option on the disc golf course.
Star Frame’s goal since they founded the company is to “bring people together to truly enjoy beautiful days outside with their closest friends.” So they started Star Frame and “set out to design the perfect disc golf products that allow players to focus on what’s important – enjoying the sport and making long-lasting memories.”
That’s a great foundation for a disc golf company. They aim to put players first. And I believe they’ll see the rewards of this customer/player-first mindset.
What Star Frame says about their bag:
“The Star Frame RETRO is durable, incredibly well insulated, and lightweight. The adjustable sternum straps and breathable soft back padding make it a breeze to carry 16 discs and ice-cold beverages.
The top storage compartment allows you to carry everything you need out on the course – phone, wallet, keys, and more.
The middle compartment sports a traditional disc golf bag design that can hold up to 16 discs without the fear of them falling out.
The bottom compartment offers a LARGE cooler with enough room to keep 12 cans or bottles ice cold thanks to the insulation.
The strong padded rubber carrying handle and quality-stitched shoulder straps ensure your bag stays strong. The bottom of the bag has been equipped with a durable rubber bottom with four plastic spikes.
This one-of-a-kind backpack can withstand any weather conditions you throw at it. at the park, the beach, on a trail walk, or on a road trip. If you take the game seriously or just looking to have a few cold ones throughout the course, this bag is for you!”
Before I really dug into the Retro Bag, I already liked it a lot. But then I was able to check out every feature of the bag. And it definitely did not disappoint.
Features
So the bag comes out of the box ready to go. No need for any installation of panels like the Brick Bag. It’s smaller and lighter than the brick, but still maintains a nice, decently-sized cooler compartment at the bottom.
1. Retro colors: the retro pink and blue Miami Vice colors really stand out and bring you back to 1986.
2. 12-can insulated cooler: this cooler is massive compared to how big the bag is. It is a little bit smaller than the Brick Bag’s cooler, but still pretty big. The first round that I used it for, I hadn’t actually taken a look into the cooler. I just shoved about 4 hard seltzers into it, with an ice pack to help it stay ice cold. It wasn’t until after the round that I noticed how much space this cooler actually has. I can get almost my entire forearm into the cooler space before hitting the other side of the bag. The cooler takes up the entire bottom portion of the bag. You can see in the pics below that I was able to fit a full 12 pack of soda cans inside and I probably still had room for an ice pack or a small snack.
3. 16+ disc capacity: this bag holds a decent amount of discs in the main pocket and can hold a couple more in the putter pocket. I had 13 discs in my bag, which were mostly putters and mids, and I still had room for about 2-3 more (not including the putter pocket).
4. Top storage/putter pocket: extra storage for your stuff or more discs.
5. Large drink holder: “large” is a bit of a stretch for this drink holder. It snugly held my 24 oz. Contigo bottle after I forced it in there. If you have a large Nalgene bottle, it probably won’t fit unless you put it in the cooler compartment.
6. Comfortable shoulder straps and back padding: the straps and back padding are great and easily help to take the feel of the weight off if you have this bag fully loaded.
7. Strong carrying handle: a high-quality handle for when you need to simply pick up and go.
8. Towel hook: A nice little feature to have for when a towel is needed for your round.
9. Bottle opener: just like I said in my review of the Brick Bag, having a bottle opener is not a necessity but it’s just a cool little feature to add to a disc golf bag. You never know when you’ll need it!
10. Price: the price is set at a cool $74.95, which is not too bad for what you’re getting here. Here’s what the Star Frame Bags site shows:
The only other thing to add in from their website is the shipping fee (and if you sign up for their email list, shipping is free on your first order!).
You can also see the features in Star Frame’s Retro introduction video below ⬇️
Pros
Alright, so let’s check out some of the pros of the Star Frame Retro Bag.
1. The colors: These. Colors. Are. Awesome. Like I said a few minutes ago, the retro Miami Vice colors were a phenomenal choice for the Retro Bag. I absolutely love them. They stand out and seem to bring you back to a time that was a little less complicated. Now I didn’t live through the 1980s, but I do appreciate a lot of what came out that decade…and the colors they gave us during that time just worked. And they continue to work with the Retro Bag.
2. The design: the design of the Retro Bag is pretty interesting. Again, just like the Brick Bag, the cooler is at the bottom of the bag. But there are two things about the cooler that make it different from the Brick and quite interesting. 1) You don’t access it from the top. You can find the cooler pocket on the bottom left side of the bag (to your right if you’re looking straight at the bag). 2) Even with the cooler completely empty, the bottom of the bag will still hold firm and not collapse. This bottom section seems very strong, even with the 10+ discs in the disc section above. I am curious to see, though, how this will hold up over time. But it was designed well.
3. Cooler storage: this bag has a great deal of cooler storage for its size. It doesn’t have as much storage as the Brick Bag, but it has enough to easily get you through a couple of rounds with drinks left over.
4. No other bag quite like this on the market: aside from the Brick Bag, which is Star Frame’s staple bag, there really isn’t any disc golf bag quite like this on the market (as of the end of 2021).
5. The price: I originally had the price, $74.95, as a con because my first thought was, “that’s a little pricey.” Now I want to be clear again and state that this bag was given to me for free as part of this review so I didn’t pay anything for it. So I had to look at the price from a “if I had to buy this, would I buy this?” perspective. My first thought of how pricey the bag is was based off of just looking at the bag. It looks similar to other bags that are the same size, but serves a different purpose. This is a bag with a built in cooler, along with a couple of other features, that is super high quality. After I did the research and review on the course, I realized that $74.95 was a perfect price for the Retro Bag.
6. No huge cons: although you’ll see a couple of cons in the next section below, the beautiful thing about the Retro Bag is that there just weren’t a lot of cons or bad things about it. And there wasn’t anything that I found that would completely turn me off from buying it. But let’s take a look at the cons of the Retro Bag.
Cons
1. It’s heavy, if fully loaded: nothing too bad about this one. Any bag is going to be heavy if you load it full of discs, gear, and drinks. There’s really nothing Star Frame can do about this one other than recommending one of these disc golf carts here in my best disc golf carts post to help you carry it.
2. Drink holder: I would strongly urge Star Frame to increase the size of the side drink holder because it won’t hold anything larger than a small shaker, Contigo, or Nalgene bottle. But I guess that’s what the cooler is for, right? I mean, this con might not even be a con considering there’s an entire cooler section that can hold several drinks.
3. Lack of colors: now don’t get me wrong, I love the current retro colors. But just like the original Brick Bag, there isn’t much variety in color. I would love to see one or two other awesome retro color schemes on other Retro Bags. The Miami Vice color scheme is fantastic and one or two other retro color schemes could really be awesome additions for Star Frame.
Places you can get the Retro Bag
Check out the following places you can get the Star Frame Retro Bag:
Starframebags.com: obviously, starframebags.com is my first choice and my recommendation for where you can get the Retro Bag. Even if you have to pay a small shipping fee, you will be helping out a growing company and they will make a little bit more on the sale of each bag on their main website. Again, first time shipping is free, though, if you subscribe to their mailing list. So why not? Grab a Retro Bag here on their site.
Amazon.com: if you really don’t want to pay the shipping cost, you can get it on Amazon. But if you’re just trying to save a few bucks on shipping, do that somewhere else. Amazon is fine, though. Because every bag sold is still a win for Star Frame. You can get once here on Amazon.
My overall opinion of it
Star Frame has done a really great job with this bag. So far, they’re crushing it with both bags that they’ve come out with. The Brick Bag was awesome and the Retro has also stepped to the plate to help them hit another home-run. After a pretty thorough review of the Retro Bag by Star Frame Bags, I’m convinced that this is another awesome cooler bag. If you’re looking for a really large disc golf cooler bag, I would grab the Star Frame Brick Bag. But if you want a smaller, decently-sized cooler bag, I highly recommend the Star Frame Retro Bag.
Note: as I put some wear and tear on this bag, I’ll update the post accordingly. So far, it’s only seen a few rounds.
Lastly, if you’re looking for just a bit more information on the Retro Bag, check out Doth Savek’s review video below ⬇️.
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Check out the book!
Before you go, don’t forget to check out the best beginner disc golf book on the planet, “The Disc Golf Player’s Manual.” This ebook is packed with over 200+ pages of the best tips, tricks, and advice for new players.