Coach’s 10 Best Cold Plunge Tubs (2024): Portable, Budget & More!

Somehow, jumping in a cold bath daily has become the calling of modern man. While the reported benefits are overstated (more on this later), some enjoy regularly turning themselves into a popsicle.

For athletes, there is a time and place to benefit from cold exposure. But filling your own tub and adding ice each time is cumbersome and a barrier to getting in. So, I’ve curated a list of the best cold plunges readily available for your cold dip.

• Best Cold Plunge: Sun Home Cold Plunge
• Best Portable Cold Plunge: Sun Home Cold Plunge™ – Portable Ice Bath With Chiller
• Best Budget Cold Plunge: Nurecover Pod
• Best Inflatable Cold Plunge: Yukon Cold Plunge Tub
• Best Hot & Cold Plunge: Plunge All-In
• Best Cold Plunge For Tall People: The Plunge XL
• Best Cold Plunge For Small Spaces: Ice Barrel 400
• Best Cold Plunge Barrel: Polar Monkey Star Treatment 2.0
• Best DIY Cold Plunge: Rubbermaid 100 Gallon Structural Stock Tank
• Best Cold Plunge On Amazon: The Cold Pod Ice Tub for Athletes XL

Best Cold Plunge

Sun Home Cold Plunge

Specs:

• Cools to 32°F (0°C)
• Standard Dimensions: 34 x 78 x 33 inches
• Tub Weight: 345 lbs
• Tub Volume: 150 Gallons
• Chiller Motor power: 1HP
• 20-micron filter
• Designed for indoor and outdoor use – the durable exterior coating is developed to withstand harsh conditions.
• Easy-drain system to drain and clean the tub
• Built-in circulation pump optimizes water quality and plunge experience
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $8,899

The top choice for a cold plunge is Sun Home’s luxury cold plunge pro. This feature-rich product is the pinnacle of ice baths in every sense.

The Sun Home Cold Plunge Pro comes with a chiller capable of delivering water at near-freezing temperatures of 32°F (0°C), which is lower than any other model on the market.

Making these perfect for people experiencing cold exposure and elite athletes needing the best possible recovery.

Aside from UV sanitation, it has an integrated self-priming system for circulation.

All of these things, put together, make for an easily accessible and adaptable plunge pool, which could be just what you need to get your recovery process started.

As a premium product, you get all the features you can ever want from a cold plunge, like top-quality materials providing a luxury feel, a precise filter, an easy drain system, LED lights, and much more.

Teams and major sporting organizations, from the UFC to the NBA and NFL, trust Sun Home Cold Plunges.

If you have the cash to spare, this tub will satisfy all your needs regarding dipping in freezing water and doing it in style.

Best Portable Cold Plunge

Sun Home Cold Plunge™ – Portable Ice Bath With Chiller

Specs:

• Tub Outer Dimensions: LWH: 6.4ft x 2.3ft x 2.1 ft
• Volume: 360L / 95 gallons
• Tub Weight: 15.5lb
• Chiller Weight: 88 lbs
• Temperature: 37.5F -104F adjustable
• XL spacious full-body tub used by pro athletes up to 6′ 8
• Mobile app enabled so you can control your plunge remotely from anywhere
• Circulation: Built-in self-priming system
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $4,399

Like the Sun Home Cold Plunge, which is the best cold plunge, the same company also makes the best portable solution. In fact, this one has a feature missing from the previous model, and it’s the warming option of the chiller.

While this is an inflatable model, the Portable Ice Bath is designed with military-grade materials and is much more durable than its competitors.

The size is also huge- the company says a 6’8” athlete can do a full-body dip, but I haven’t got the right friend to test this.

The unit’s cutting-edge heating, cooling, filtration, and sanitation systems can be managed using a mobile app, allowing you to customize your cold immersion experience to your liking anytime.

Best Budget Cold Plunge

Nurecover Pod

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: 80 cm. diameter, 80 cm. height
• Weight: 3.5 kg
• Chiller: No
• Fits people up to 6 ft 7 & 250 lbs.
• Volume: 400L / 105 gallons
• Warranty: 1-year damage warranty and 90-day money-back guarantee
• Price: $160

Many people want to get the benefits of cold water exposure but don’t have thousands of dollars to spend. This is entirely understandable if you are a high school or college athlete. Thankfully, there are options for those on the budget, like the excellent Nurecover pod.

The pod is fully portable and lightweight, and you can set it up anywhere you want. The drain hose drainage system even means you can use it in an area without direct drainage, although I would be cautious doing it.

The insulation keeps the water cold for your next sessions, and if you choose the option with extra insulation, you may even use tap water if it’s chilly enough in your area.

The size is big enough to fit giant men up to 6’7”, so the general population should have no issues with space.

Of course, one of the strongest selling points of the Nurecover pod is the affordable price. For just $160, you can get a functional cold plunge tub, which may not have the high-tech features and comfort of the other models.

Best Inflatable Cold Plunge

Yukon Cold Plunge Tub

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: LWH: 59’’ x 31’’ x 23 ft
• Weight: 30 lbs.
• Chiller: Optional
• Volume: 120 gallons
• Includes: Carrying bag, air pump, tub cover
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $899 tub only/ $4,598 with chiller and heater

The Yukon Cold Plunge is the best inflatable cold plunge because it’s high quality, portable, and costs less than other options.

It is also simple to take this cold plunge while traveling. With the included air pump, insulated cover, and backpack carrying bag, it weighs a mere 30 pounds. Plus, it doesn’t take up much room, making the Yukon a fantastic choice for camping trips or weekend retreats.

The price for the tub alone is $899, which is a solid deal, but you can also opt to buy a chiller. The price bumps up to $4,598, comparable to other models, but you can still take the Yukon and the chiller on the road, something freestanding tubs are incapable of.

Best Hot & Cold Plunge

Plunge All-In

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: LWH: 76.7’’ x 31.5’’ x 28.75 ft
• Weight Empty: 270 lbs.
• Volume: 100 gallons
• Max cooling: 37F
• Chiller Cooling power: 1HP
• Cools 30% faster
• Smartphone connectivity via the Plunge App
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $9,590 with heater

Plunge makes some of the best cold plunge tubs, and you will find them more than once on our list. The All-In is their ultimate model, combining every feature of their other offerings, making it the best tub that can be used both for cold dips and for warm and comfy soaks.

Its 37°F (2°C) temperature, along with the circulating water, helps improve the water quality, makes the plunge even cooler, and is safe to use indoors and out. The space is enough for even giants up to 6’6”.

A significant difference from the other Plunge models is that the chiller in the All-In is inside the central unit, which makes it look tidier and more refined than other models.

This model’s 20-micron filter removes particles as small as hair and skin cells while the ozone sanitation system breaks down harmful contaminants.

With an accompanying app to control all the variables and an overall luxurious feel, this extravagant purchase is worth every cent, thanks to the convenient plug-and-plunge construction.

Best Cold Plunge For Tall People

The Plunge XL

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: LWH: 73’’ x 32.5’’ x 27’’
• Weight Empty: 175 lbs.
• Volume: 100 gallons
• Max cooling: 39F
• 1HP Cooling power
• Smartphone connectivity via the Plunge App
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $6,990

While the Plunge All-In is the biggest tub on the list, the Plunge XL is nearly the same size, but it’s almost three grand cheaper, so athletes who want the best cold plunge experience but do not need some of the luxury additions should choose the XL.

This ergonomic tub design measures 27 inches tall, 73 inches long, and 32.5 inches wide, offering taller and larger people adequate room to lie down and relax in a soak. While this is the main feature of the XL model, everything else is also top-notch.

You get a high-quality chiller capable of taking the water down to 39F, an excellent filtration system, and a 20-micron filter. Usable even in the coldest climate (if you choose the heater option), the Plunge XL will serve you for years.

Remember that if you are not tall, something like 6’6”, you may also look into the regular Plunge version, which is 67″ long, has more than enough room for most people, and costs $2000 less than the XL. This one is for really big folks.

Best Cold Plunge For Small Spaces

Ice Barrel 400

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: W 31” x H 42” (Fits most body types up to 6’6” and 300 pounds)
• Weight: 55 lbs. empty
• Fits people up to 6 ft 5 & 250 lbs.
• Volume: 400L / 105 gallons
• Warranty: 1-year damage warranty and 90-day money-back guarantee
• Price: $1,199.99

One of the best cold plunge tubs is the Ice Barrel400, which has an ergonomic shape, is lightweight and has a sleek appearance.

There are inflatable barrel-shaped tubs, but this barrel is far sturdier and longer-lasting. Its 105-gallon capacity makes it suitable for individuals over 6 feet tall when sitting straight.

The price of the tub includes a step stool and a protective cover, so there’s no need to buy any additional accessories.

One of the most attractive ice tubs available (for me, at least), the Ice Barrel tub also happens to be one of the most functional. It works brilliantly and is much more compact than the full-size tubs.

Best Cold Plunge Barrel

Polar Monkey Star Treatment 2.0

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: W 33.5” x H 39”
• Weight Empty: 132 lbs.
• Volume: 110 gallons
• Max cooling: Cools down to 39 F and heats up to 102F
• 0.6 HP Cooling power/ 0.8 HP Pro version
• 20-micron filter
• Smartphone Connectivity
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $5,390/ $5,690 for the Pro version

The Polar Monkey Star treatment offers all the premium features you can expect from a tub but in a stylish barrel shape. The most distinguishing feature is the sleek Canadian cedar wood exterior, which presents a classic look combined with all the modern features.

The inside of the Star Treatment 2.0 is high-quality stainless steel, which ensures longevity and keeps the water cold or warm. The chiller can get it from 39°F (4°C) to 102°F (39°C).

The big bonus of cold plunges in an upright position is that they take less space than horizontal tubs.

The regular barrel version comes with a 0.6HP, but you could spend a few bucks more and buy the pro version for a 0.2 HP power upgrade and a quicker setup time.

Despite the old-school barrel look, this one has smartphone connectivity, cutting-edge filters, and underwater light, so you get the best of the old and new worlds.

Best DIY Cold Plunge

Rubbermaid 100 Gallon Structural Stock Tank

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: LWH: 53’’ x 31’’ x 25’’”
• Weight Empty: 132 lbs.
• Volume: 100 gallons
• Oversized drain plug
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty
• Price: $220

Rubbermaid stock tanks are not intended primarily to be ice bathtubs, but they do a great job. They are not entirely DIY; you just buy the tub, fill it with ice, and are ready to go.

Molded polyethylene ensures exceptional performance and long-lasting durability in all weather conditions.

This stock tank has a sleek design and is smooth black. It also has an over-sized drain port for easy draining and cleaning. Stepped sidewalls and strengthened ribbing provide strength and stability.

So, while many people buy these products to wash their dogs or for the kids to play in the summer, it’s a perfect cold plunge that is easy to empty, spacious, and exceptionally durable.

Best Cold Plunge On Amazon

The Cold Pod Ice Tub for Athletes XL

Specs:

• Tub Dimensions: 35.5″L x 35.5″W x 30″H
• Weight Empty: 11 lbs.
• Volume: 116 gallons/ 440 liters
• Chiller: No
• Price: $159.9/ original price USD 229.99

You can get the Cold Pod Outdoor Ice Bath Tub, which is ideal for indoor and outdoor use, for under $200. It’s lightweight, portable, and has a cover to keep debris out of your icy plunge.

This ice bath has a PVC interior, a nylon exterior, and an insulating layer of pearl foam in the middle.

All of these layers are waterproof and tear-resistant. The insulating layer works with both hot and cold water. This product is very similar to the Nurecover Pod.

This product is readily available on Amazon and provides convenience, mobility, and accessibility for most people.

Also, it’s the second most budget-friendly option here, making it perfect for those interested in cold plunging but not ready to shell out hundreds of dollars just yet.

How Does Cold Plunging Work?

Ice baths, or cold plunge therapy, function through the lowering of skin, muscle, and internal body temperatures.

This process results in the narrowing of blood vessels, thereby reducing or impeding blood circulation.

Such an effect can potentially reduce swelling and lessen the immediate inflammation and muscle damage ^[1].

Whether this is good depends on many factors, such as where you are in a training cycle and training goals.

Should You Even Cold Plunge?

You should ask yourself this question before you set your sights on this investment. Whether you should cold plunge can depend on a few factors:

1. Do you perceive a benefit from it?
2. Are you in an “off-season” period prioritizing strength, size, and power development?
3. Are you in a heavy preparation training schedule for a competition?
4. How often you are training.

From experience, not many athletes enjoy hopping in an ice bath and often see it as necessary by the coaches.

If you don’t feel it helps you recover better or faster, then cold plunging may not be for you. If you’re an average Joe who enjoys waking up and punishing yourself with ice water and feeling great, then who am I to stop you?

Secondly, are you training to get bigger, stronger, and faster during your off-season or period away from competition?

It has been well-documented that ice baths attenuate the muscle-building response ^[2][3]. Whether it negatively affects strength adaptation has mixed results ^[2][4][5].

Regardless, if your goal is to maximize strength, size, and power, avoiding external recovery that artificially blunts the adaptive responses to exercise is wise.

However, those with heavy training schedules leading into competition or with weekly matches to prepare for may benefit from the cold plunge.

In my opinion, the best study showing the positive benefits of ice baths is by Tavares and colleagues, as it’s within top-level professional rugby players during pre-season without a specific training intervention ^[1].

Over a three-week preseason, this study monitored players who underwent a rigorous schedule of four days of training.

This included four weightlifting sessions, seven rugby field sessions, two speed sessions, and three additional conditioning sessions.

This totaled 16 intense training sessions within four days.

Following their final session each day, participants in one group immersed themselves in a 10°C ice bath for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, a control group did not participate in any recovery method.

The group using ice baths experienced less muscle soreness across the three weeks, which helped maintain their jumping performance with only a minor decrease in jump height (-1.3%).

In contrast, the control group saw a more significant drop in jump performance (-7%). This indicates that the ice bath group recovered better than those not using the baths.

Additionally, the study observed that by the fourth day of training each week, the control group’s neuromuscular performance (jump height) declined more than the ice bath group, suggesting an increased likelihood of underperformance due to cumulative fatigue.

Similar results were found during a 16-day intense training block in national-level volleyball athletes, where chronic ice baths attenuated the decline in jump performance ^[6].

I believe cold plunging has further benefits when you have multiple matches a day, like in Rugby Sevens or NRL Nines.

I implemented ice baths after each match during Rugby Sevens Olympic qualification events based on the research presented above.

Further, a recent meta-analysis shows ice baths improve recovery for subsequent endurance performance when the prior exercise is endurance-based in heat ^[7].

While this meta-analysis shows muscle power is depressed, we must look at a clinical study vs. practical application.

Players warm up again before each match, whereas the tests in these studies don’t involve extensive warm-ups and, therefore, will likely have different results.

Another option I’ve used is contrast therapy between matches, where you alternate between an ice bath and a hot shower.

This is facility-dependent, but finishing on hot, I’ve found, worked well when you have close back-to-back matches.

These applications are where I believe the true value lies for cold plunging. The final consideration is how often you’re training.

Research indicates that individuals training three times weekly do not exhibit any performance improvement from post-session ice baths compared to those who abstain from this practice ^[8].

The likely reason for this is the sufficient recovery time of 48 hours between each training session.

Benefits Of Cold Plunging

Potentially Enhance Recovery

Getting in a cold plunge may potentially enhance recovery. As explained in the previous section, if you’re training often with intensity for a competition or have multiple matches to recover from in a short period, the ice bath is a viable option to improve performance.

However, if you’re trying to maximize strength, size, and power development or only training a few times per week, the cold plunge may not offer you any further recovery benefits and may be detrimental to your development.

Reduce DOMS and RPE Immediately

You have likely felt this from experience, but cold plunging can immediately reduce your perception of muscle soreness and perceived exertion of exercise ^[9].

However, this finding is not universal and may depend on the type of exercise and individual responses to cold water immersion ^[10].

How To Pick The Best Cold Plunge

Size

The size of your cold plunge is dictated by the space available and how tall you are. Further, do you want to do full-body immersion or specific limbs?

Do you want to be able to sit or lie with straight legs, or are you happy crouching in a smaller tub?

If you’re tight on space, a barrel cold plunge is your best option, as it takes less room. The trade-off is you must crouch to be fully immersed.

If you’re very tall, like over 6’5″, you may want a full-sized cold plunge bath to accommodate your length.

Further, you must consider how you’ll be filling your cold plunge. Large cold plunges take more water and more time to fill.

Unless you choose an option with a chiller and filter, this water needs constant replacing.

Insulation

A well-insulated cold plunge means your chiller will take less work to keep it cool. Or it will keep your ice cubes from melting quickly and the temperature from rising.

Common insulation materials are stainless steel and high-grade acrylic and do the job.

When going DIY with polyethylene material, the heat dissipates rapidly, and you must keep refilling it with ice to maintain the temperature.

Hence, buying a dedicated cold plunge is usually a better option than DIY.

Chiller & Filtration

Chillers can be more expensive than the tub itself. But they are well worth it if you’re regularly cold plunging.

It allows you to set the temperature of the cold plunge and may also act as a filtration system to keep the water clean.

The best cold plunges have the chiller built in, like the Sun Home Cold Plunge Pro. Another feature is the dual cold and heat options with some chillers.

If you want a more versatile cold plunge, this is something to consider, especially with the benefits of heat therapy on endurance adaptations.

Maintenance

The last thing you want to do is empty and clean your cold plunge every time you use it. That’s another barrier to procrastinating and having it collect dust in your yard or garage.

Cold plunge tubs with chillers have filtration systems, so you don’t need to scrub and clean them as often. However, you will need to replace the filters occasionally.

Other tubs will require emptying the tub after each use so there’s fresh water for each use.

Setup

Depending on the type of cold plunge, the setup can be extensive or non-existent. Large steel or acrylic cold plunges can sit outside without rust or erosion, and you’re set outside of initial filling and having power.

Collapsable barrels or inflatable cold plunges may need to be set up each time or maintained. If you’re cold plunging in your shower, taking the cold plunge in and out each time can be a pain.

Price & Warranty

Cold plunges range from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars. Some are even over $10,000, which is outside most people’s budgets.

You’re typically paying for features of convenience like the chiller and filters to save on buying loads of ice. Most cold plunges come with a 1-year warranty.

What Is The Most Effective Way To Cold Plunge?

The most effective way to cold plunge is based on your body mass and body fat levels.

Body Mass (BM) & Body Fat (BF)	Males	Females	Cold Plunge Protocol
Low BM & Low BF	BMI <21, BF <13%	BF <20%	8 minutes at 15ºC or 10 minutes at 15ºC
High BM & Low BF	BMI >25, BF <13%	BF <20%	8 minutes at 10ºC or 10 minutes at 10ºC
High BM & High BF	BMI >25, >18%	BF >25%	8 minutes at 10ºC or 10 minutes at 10ºC

Frequently Asked Cold Plunge Questions

Final Thoughts

The Sun Home Cold Plunge Pro has everything you need in an all-in-one cold plunge that’s half the price of some ultra-high-end options. Ice barrels do the trick if you’re more of an occasional plunger and just want a DIY option.