Yeti…..honest opinion.

I know they are expensive.

I’m looking at a Roadie are they pretty decent at holding ice? All I ever hear about is the price. How about the quality? Do they hold up? Do they hold ice longer?

I’m interested in any opinions that don’t include price.

Thanks.

I think you can get the same or better performance and durability from many other manufacturers.

I won a roadie 24 and it has been a great cooler I also have a rtic of similar size. The ice retention is very close between the 2 you have to pre cool these coolers or ice retention cuts in half. I have switched over to using dry ice and frozen water bottles, everything stays dry this way.i like to have one big cooler and 1 small I pull out what is needed for the day from the big and put in small this way big stays shut not loosing the dry ice.

I don’t own one but my buddy who I go on a lot of camping trips with owns one yeti and several cabelas brand coolers. The cabelas ones are much nicer and hold ice longer.

I use coleman xtremes and ice will last for days. Yeti makes a good cooler but as Adam mentioned I think you can get as good or better ice retention for less

The quality is top notch….you won’t get better quality. But, as stated, the other brands have caught up in functionality and are a lower price.

Not sure if you are dead set on a hard side…they are heavy and take up a lot of space. There is a brand called AO coolers that make a hybrid version. We have a few AO coolers in addition to yetis. Both are great coolers but the AO is half the price.

They are very nice. I have 2. But I switched over to Grizzly. Made in Iowa, better warranty, and cheaper. Not much cheaper, but cheaper usually save 50 to 100 bucks. The yeti is from Indonesia or some crap, and has a really crappy couple year warranty. The Grizzly is lifetime. And again made in USA. I have 4 big grizzlys and 1 smaller 1. I use it daily

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Just remember to use block ice and not cubed. I freeze a half or full gallon water jug and they will last for a long time

My buddy bought a soft side Yeti for our fly-in Canada trip and the zipper fell apart and was totally useless by the end of the trip. Probably a fluke because most owners love them.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Just remember to use block ice and not cubed. I freeze a half or full gallon water jug and they will last for a long time

bingo!!!!!!!!

i use the gallon milk jugs though. they seem to break apart better with the hatchet!!!!!!!

I can’t use a zipper top. I need A flip top. This will sit behind my center console / arm rest of my truck.

I don’t specifically own a cooler but I have a 30 ounce tumbler that is the best coffee cup I’ve ever owned. I’ve had it now for 16 years. It’s bullet proof. I only use mine for coffee but I’ve heard they also work well for cold beverages.

I have a Yeti and rtic cooler. Both the same size and the only difference between the two is price. The rtic is cheaper but works just as good. Like mentioned already pre cooling is key to ice retention. Yes it sounds dumb to have to pre cool a cooler but it really helps.

All my coolers are Rtic coolers.
As far as ice lasting longer then a yeti I doubt there is any difference.
Yeti coolers are smaller then Rtic when comparing same size that is listed.

Rtic are considerably cheaper when comparing to a yeti.

Like others have stated block ice, frozen jugs etc all last longer in a cooler then cubed ice.

How long ice last depends on how often the cooler is opened.

Pre cooling does help ice retention. I think that goes for any cooler.

I have had ice last over a week in an Rtic cooler but I am only opening the lid once a day.

Rtic likes to run deals so if your patient and get on there email list you can get a deal.
I got 25% off on my 145 quart and only paid $140 for my 65 quart cooler.

For the most part I can’t stand the zippers either. I wish someone would make a hybrid version with latches.

I think the Yeti Roadie looks solid and would consider getting one.

I have one of these and think there very nice for the price. It sits in the back of my side by side all day riding on the trails full of food and water and gets abused

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-26-Quart-High-Performance-Thermocooler-Gray/49229405

You can drive yourself crazy shopping for a cooler these days. So many rotomolded competitors to Yeti now and it’s just too much trying to choose the best one out of those groups. I think if you spend most of your time out in 90 degree heat, get a rotomolded. Otherwise, a Coleman Extreme will last a long time in most weather we have up here and for the super hot times, just buy ice a couple more times. For the people camping out the desert all summer, yeah, get the rotomolded for sure.

After owning my yeti for 5 years I’m not too impressed.
They are heavy, the thick walls reduce the usable size and they can burn thru the ice.

I have a yeti 20 and 65 I really like that they are sturdy and durable, they do very well at ice retention. I honestly will probably never need another cooler to purchase in my life unless I go to a really big size. But I will say this for a wedding a gift a friend of mine who worked for Orca, bought us an Orca 75 and that has better ice retention that the 65 yeti I have. I honestly don’t know if you can go “wrong” buying grizzly, rtic, orca, or yeti. Especially if you have been running “cheaper” coolers in the past. I will say avoid pelican though, my fishing buddy bought one three years ago, and both he and I have not been impressed at all with it on numerous occasions for ice retention.

Over rated. Over rated. Unless you want to show your buddies how big a snob you are. Check out the Igloo IMX series, half the price. Drove cross country with mine and still had cold gel packs after 5 days and a lot of openings. These coolers are like grills, you open, you lose heat, same for coolers. You open, out goes the cold.
I think I got the 48 quart and put it in my cart for a few days. They finally made up my mind and gave me 20% off so I pulled the trigger. Great reviews too.

When weight doesn’t matter and ice retention does…Yeti or RTIC rotomolded coolers have performed awesome for us. I’ve got the roadie sized RTIC and it’s great to toss in the truck, a tractor, a side by side, boat, etc and let it rattle around without a worry.

If keeping weight down while still doing a solid job retaining ice is your goal, go with the RTIC soft sided coolers. For 99% of people these are sufficient and more logical to use.

Being a bit of a rebel myself…

I bit off on the story of the guys that left Yeti to start Rtic. “Over-built, not over-priced” resonates with me. On season 4 with my Rtic, no complaints…

There are a million great coolers these days. The Grizzly ashley bought me that has my last name on the top is a 20? Or 15. Perfect day or 2 cooler. Perfect

Check out Kenia coolers. Made by Grizzly in the USA with lifetime warranty. Priced to compete with the China made Rtics.

Been happy with mine so far.

buckybadger wrote:

When weight doesn’t matter and ice retention does…Yeti or RTIC rotomolded coolers have performed awesome for us. I’ve got the roadie sized RTIC and it’s great to toss in the truck, a tractor, a side by side, boat, etc and let it rattle around without a worry.

If keeping weight down while still doing a solid job retaining ice is your goal, go with the RTIC soft sided coolers. For 99% of people these are sufficient and more logical to use.

Bucky nailed it, tool for a job. I have a love hate thing with my Yetti. If you really have a need for multi-day ice retention and maybe even a bit of bear proofing, get a rotomolded. They do what they say. If not, save weight, space, and cash for something like the Coleman Extreme.

I find it almost impossible to even think about Yeti and not think about the cost.

SR

There are more than a few test videos on YouTube on coolers. Yeti does NOT end up the winner is most test videos I’ve watched. Most of the time there are several other cheaper coolers that outlast them in ice retention.

Matt Moen wrote:

#2048939
The quality is top notch….you won’t get better quality. But, as stated, the other brands have caught up in functionality and are a lower price.

I disagree. Yeti was out of the gate early and has the largest advertising campaign….and that is about it.

Lit Coolers are a much better value and way better quality. The inner shell plastic is thicker and they have a better R value. At a trade show, we had a Lit and Yetti cross cut and the difference was obvious.

Additionally, the LED light ring appears gimmick, until you use it at night. So convenient to have the contents illuminated. Plus the molded ice legs don’t take any space from the cooler at all. I use the reusable ice legs for short term and no ice

Dutch, price aside. You will not be disappointed with the Yeti. Like others have mentioned, you can find similar performance for less, but the Yeti product is very nice and very durable.

Thanks for all the input. I’m looking for a specific use so I’ll check all the brands mentioned out. Unfortunately it looks like RTIC is sold online only so they are off the list.

Thanks again!

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
#2048939
The quality is top notch….you won’t get better quality. But, as stated, the other brands have caught up in functionality and are a lower price.

I disagree. Yeti was out of the gate early and has the largest advertising campaign….and that is about it.

Lit Coolers are a much better value and way better quality. The inner shell plastic is thicker and they have a better R value. At a trade show, we had a Lit and Yetti cross cut and the difference was obvious.

Additionally, the LED light ring appears gimmick, until you use it at night. So convenient to have the contents illuminated. Plus the molded ice legs don’t take any space from the cooler at all. I use the reusable ice legs for short term and no ice

Hasn’t been my experience. Yeti used to be a customer of mine and I’ve been to their HQ a few times. This is like the Ford vs Chevy thing but my experience in using their coolers and working with them is they are top notch. But, the price thing is real.

I hadn’t heard of Lit Coolers…..I’ll have the check it out. I have a fishing pack that has lights. I also thought that was gimmicky until I used it. Great little feature so I can see how it would work on coolers.