Yeti coolers

[chester613]

I have a "cooler" built into my boat in the cockpit. The ice is gone in 24 hours. I took out the insert and insulated it and put it back in. Better, but it still is a horrible cooler. Are those Yedi coolers worth the money? They are quite pricey. I saw a smaller size that may fit in my boat and it was over $200. A similar size Igloo was $53.

 

[what_barnacles]

You can get a 150 qt igloo cooler for $75 thats good for 7 days at walmart. The Yeti crowd will howl like a monkey pointing at you, but you'll have a ton of cash to fill the cooler with beer.

Igloo Quick and Cool 150-Quart Cooler - Walmart.com

 

[Patemey]

I had a Yeti and it did okay. It seemed to do as advertised
Then we went on a long trip and I also brought along an Igloo CoolMax.
It was hot out and with direct sun, they performed pretty much the same.
I sold the Yeti after that, was able to recoup most of my $$.

Yeti recommends that you "pre-cool" it before use in order for it to stay cold longer.
That can pretty much can be said for any cooler if you pre-cool it.

It is bling, it is a status symbol (whether justly earned or not).

 

[Steve]

They are all the rage but heavy, even empty, then add ice and some fish or beer it's a back breaker.

 

[Pure pleasure]

my problem

With them is that I'm afraid of it getting legs and walking off but it holds ice very well don't know if it's worth the coin

 

[roguewave]

No more ice chests for me, no more looking for $ ice, no more soggy sandwiches, no more nasty water sitting in the bottom...ARB 50 qt fridge freezer was our solution. After I got it I was playing around with temp settings and forgot I had left it on 22 degrees. Looked inside the next morning and all sodas and beer had frozen.
$850 bucks but well worth it in my opinion, been running it on 12 volts for a week now and it works flawlessly. 110 volts works as it should also. Also it has a militude of uses outside of boating.
Just my 2cents is all...

 

[caltexflanc]

The high end coolers like Yeti, Engel, Frigid Rigid, Pelican et al are not so much about cold-keeping capability, which can be imitated for less, as they are about durability. They are most popular with the intense fishing and hunting crowd who are constantly taking them on and off the boat, standing and sitting on them and generally beating them up. Do some guys who don't subject them to that sort of abuse buy them as a status symbol? Sure. My Timex Expeditions keep just as good or better time than a Rolex or IWC or Tag Heuer.

 

[Off Duty]

...My Timex Expeditions keep just as good or better time than a Rolex or IWC or Tag Heuer.

That's funny, and your right. I bought a Timex Expedition when I finally, after 10 years+ of hard living, broke the band on my other watch and couldn't get a replacement in time to have it on and be where I needed to be. I thought, ah, it's cheap, looks kinda , and it'll do until I get back. Been wearing it ever since Keeps great time and you can't kill it!


As for the coolers, I agree with most here, as far as status, but you have a point. A buddy of mine has one, and uses it as a seat on a regular basis. Then again, we used our Coleman as a seat at off road and beach outings for years without an issue. Worth the coin? IDK?

 

[chester613]

Thanks people. That Igloo cooler is looking better and better.

 

[mbevins]

As the instructions on the Yeti say.
Precooling is probably the single most best thing for extended ice life.
That and using block instead of cube.
After that I think any quality cooler sized properly will work

 

[what_barnacles]

By the way if you need to extend your ice time just get a couple of blocks of dry ice (wrapped in paper) and put them in first. Thats the old school way of getting a 5 day cooler.

 

[psneeld]

Some manufacturers have 2 levels of coolers.. day tripper level and the more serious outdoorsman kind.

My experience with coolers is the better ones have tops with very deep lips, sometimes with gaskets and the tops fit so snug they are hard to open at times. The Igloo I have now is so loose that when it rains, water makes its way in through the top where you lift.

While any better made cooler has the probability of keeping ice longer....it is about being smart.

Precooling , packing, opening, keeping shaded, etc all help and are user responsibility, not the cooler's.

 

[RCook]

FWIW - no howling, but:

After many years using Igloo "Marine" coolers, in 60? and 94? quart sizes, I decided two years ago to spend $340 for a 75qt Yeti. I looked at Igloo's new high-end cooler, but it wasn't cheap and didn't seem as well designed. I wanted to be able to keep fish in the best shape possible for 1-3 days until I got back into an SE Alaska town where there was a fish processor. In my small boat I don't have much fridge/freezer space.

For me it has been worth it. It keeps ice at least twice as long as my Igloo's. I've loaded it with shaved ice, headed out for a long stint between towns in mostly warm and sunny weather, and there's still ice (and super-cold water) eight or ten days later. Last summer, fishing in the area around Craig, we sent home with various crew some 400-500 lb of prime salmon and halibut fillets. How much is that worth? It has very thick insulation, gasketed top etc etc. And it is tough as nails. Works for me.

Here's one that wouldn't quite fit in though:

 

[Art]

No more ice chests for me, no more looking for $ ice, no more soggy sandwiches, no more nasty water sitting in the bottom...ARB 50 qt fridge freezer was our solution. After I got it I was playing around with temp settings and forgot I had left it on 22 degrees. Looked inside the next morning and all sodas and beer had frozen.
$850 bucks but well worth it in my opinion, been running it on 12 volts for a week now and it works flawlessly. 110 volts works as it should also. Also it has a militude of uses outside of boating.
Just my 2cents is all...

Rogue - Set at approx 35 degrees... how much of a draw down on house-bank batts do you generally experience during a hot day with ARB 50 qt inside your boat? Does it make it necessary to run gen set for unusually extended periods to keep batts up?

 

[roguewave]

Art, wish I could give you real world numbers but I have no way of knowing as I don't have a battery monitoring system, yet.

From the web site,
"The all-new 50 qt model is able to maintain sub-freezing temperatures in 90° f heat, while only drawing an intermittent 1.35 amps per hour from a 12 volt power source. That's less than a single headlamp draws!"

 

[Art]

Art, wish I could give you real world numbers but I have no way of knowing as I don't have a battery monitoring system, yet.

From the web site,
"The all-new 50 qt model is able to maintain sub-freezing temperatures in 90° f heat, while only drawing an intermittent 1.35 amps per hour from a 12 volt power source. That's less than a single headlamp draws!"

Rogue - TY VM for quick response. I take it that the word "headlamp" refers to a single head light for a road vehicle. Once you cool the unit and it's contents down... I imagine it also has good capability to stay cool for some time (operating basically as a stand alone cooler) before need to reactivate into its cooling mode. Therefore it seems being plugged in would not be needed over night after a full day of cooling. I'm getting more and more interested.

 

[roguewave]

Art, after I bought mine our slip neighbor on his 30 ft sailboat went and ordered one. Shortly after he got they took off south (from Portland) to Florida and on to the Bahamas. I have not spoke with him yet but his assessment will be real world use without a genset, just solar charging.

BTW, I was born in Berkley (Alta Bates) and raised in Walnut creek, very fond memories of the whole area.

 

[caltexflanc]

Art, after I bought mine our slip neighbor on his 30 ft sailboat went and ordered one. Shortly after he got they took off south (from Portland) to Florida and on to the Bahamas. I have not spoke with him yet but his assessment will be real world use without a genset, just solar charging.

BTW, I was born in Berkley (Alta Bates) and raised in Walnut creek, very fond memories of the whole area.

That's a nice coincidence. I was also born at Alta Bates. Lived in Orinda for middle and high school (in Santa Clara k-6). Lived in Texas for 12 years as a so-called adult.

 

[Art]

I was born and grew up LI NY and NY NY. Spent a few years in Camden Maine. Hand built and 51% owned a big, crazy tavern/restaurant there in an old closed garment factory I purchased via lease option contract when 19 and 20 years old. It served the lobstermen, other fishermen, loggers, construction workers and even many deep sea fishers came up from Gloucester Mass. On my own pocket... Upon selling my share I traveled the U.S. for a few years in a cool-ass 67 Malibu convert SS... just to see what this great country offers. Those were great days! And, many more great days lie ahead!

 

[Carolena]

Getting back to the coolers, we used to use an Igloo and two years ago bought an Engle. It has much better insulation, full gasket and is very well made. Less than a Yeti, but much more than a coleman/igloo. It does a great job holding ice, but if you are using the cooler for drinks and opening it a lot, it won't make much difference. On longer trips, we load the Engle with ice then use the old Igloo for drinks, adding ice as necessary. Our 9-day trip we still had ice in the Engle, but then again it was only being opened once a day. As for the seal, it does make a difference. The first time we used it, I opened the drain at the end of the weekend and didn't open the top. Water flowed for a few seconds then stopped. When I realized what was going on, I unlatched the top and was able to pick up the whole thing from the top without it opening. After shaking it a few times I was finally able to get it to burp through the drain which broke the vacuum.

 

[Heron]

No need to spend the money on a Yeti. The Pelican is 2/3rds the cost and equally as effective. We like ours as a seat, table, and cooler...)