Are Yeti Coolers Worth The Money?

[Fuese54]

I want to get a Yeti Tundra 65 and I've heard nothing but great things about them. Is it worth the $400? I'm always fishing and will use it to carry drinks and bring home freshwater fish.

[tomustang]

I don't see what the fuss is over the yetis. You have to pre cool them the night before so it "keeps ice longer". I'd pass and go cheaper.

[Gerber54]

I have heard nothing but good things about yeti but I'm not ready to drop that kind of coin on one yet. I have had my eye on these for a while, they are due out August 2015.

http://www.rticcoolers.com/compare-rtic-45-to-yeti-tundra-45-cooler.html

[Fishes in trees]

Yeti coolers are cool toys.  I'd like one.  I don't see me dropping $400 on a cooler any time soon.

[PaJay]

I guess they're nice to stand on. That's what all the inshore fishermen seem to use them for. I got better ways to spend $400.

[tipptruck1]

The best cooler I ever saw was home made. It was made of wood, and a few inches of Insulation Sheathing. Granted it was as big as a freezer, but it kept things cold longer. Surprised me when I pulled a beer out of it. Two weeks after a wedding, and it was still cold. Not 40 degrees cold, but about 50-60 degrees. That was after sitting out in the July sun. If I ever have the need for a cooler again. I would make one the size I needed.

[FD.]

I have a Roadie 20 qt and love it.  Is it worth the money?  That's up to you to decide.  It does hold ice better than most but the deciding factor is the durability.  I've had mine for 2 years and it still looks new.  I was going through a 50 dollar cooler a year mostly because the Florida sun destroys them.

[atcoha]

I bought a coleman "sport" 60-65qt, after contemplating a new cooler and reading/watching cooler reviews. That coleman had ice in it after 4 days in my hot Florida driveway. This was just last week. 90+ every day. Boom.

Things are only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

Yeti has to pay for all that marketing and commercials, don't they? 

[blckshirt98]

There's a lot of other coolers out there with similar performance but Yeti is defintely the "sexy" brand name in that category of coolers.  Price wise, other coolers that "hold ice for a week" are similarly priced.  Yeti are often excluded in sales but one way you can save money is by buying gift cards at online resellers (like Cardpool) - you can by Bass Pro gift cards at 17% off and apply that to the Yetis at Bass Pro, bam, 17% saved.

[RoLo]

In reality, the most important component of any cooler is the 'thickness' of the Styrofoam insulation.

Throughout the years I've owned Igloo, Rubbermaid, Playmate, Coleman & Gott coolers.

One day I came close to trashing a thick Styrofoam box used to ship Omaha Steaks,

but that little sucker was one of the best coolers I’ve ever owned. During a fly-in trip in Quebec,

I stored frozen shiners in the Styrofoam steak box, and the day I broke camp the leftover shiners were still frozen.

 

When it comes to drinks, my Triton has a cooler built-in to the hull. For the angler who targets bonefish & permit,

every flats boat has a strong deck platform. I've also had locking dock boxes for a boat in a slip,

but they don't have to be insulated, so the need for an expensive Yeti cooler somehow escapes me.

 

Roger

[FishTank]

We have one at work and it is great cooler but not worth the money.  My favorite over the years was a metal green coleman cooler.  It was rusted, beat up and it always kept things cold.

[Gone_Phishin]

If you have a bad back/spine, then no...very heavy there are.

[ThatZX14Fella]

I couldn't put that much into a cooler. I'd just take the money and put it towards something else.

[that possum]

Yeah they're worth it.. If you need long term cold storage. If you need to keep a quartered up mule deer cold for a 16 hour drive, or you are camping out at bear camp 4 hours from the nearest store in Manitoba, they are worth the money.

If you are just wanting something to keep your wife's wine coolers cold while you are fishing for the afternoon, then no they aren't worth the money.

[blckshirt98]

I have heard nothing but good things about yeti but I'm not ready to drop that kind of coin on one yet. I have had my eye on these for a while, they are due out August 2015.

http://www.rticcoolers.com/compare-rtic-45-to-yeti-tundra-45-cooler.html

 

These look criminally similar to the Yeti coolers but they have my attention!  I might preorder that Roadie 20 copycat!

[Redlinerobert]

Absolutely worth it.  I have a tan 75.  Keeps ice for days.  I've gone through a few cheap coolers, had I bought this one first it would have actually saved me money.

[Neil McCauley]

I have a cheap 20 year old Coleman 75qt cooler that keeps ice for 3+ days too. Took it camping last week with a couple blocks of ice I made in bowls in my freezer plus 1 bag of ice and there was still ice on day #3. This was even with people opening the cooler dozens of times every day in the 80 deg heat. If it was "pre-cooled" and stocked with bigger ice blocks and kept shut the whole time it would probably keep ice for a week too.

I prefer the cheaper coolers like the Coleman because they have more internal volume relative to outer volume so there is more storage per space taken up by the cooler itself. And they do just fine keeping things cool despite thinner walls.

I do think the Yetis are a bit overrated and definitely overrpriced. There is nothing technologically special about them. They just have thick walls and seal well. That is about it. They're made out of plastic. At $300+ for a plastic tub made in China the profit margin is absurd. If you need ice for a week plus or need to keep something actually frozen, MAYBE the

Yeti is worth it.

[Fishing Rhino]

If you have a bad back/spine, then no...very heavy there are.

 

Yoda, is that you?

[flyfisher]

Yeti coolers are made in the USA and in the phillipines so they are not made in China.  I agree that they are expensive but has already been stated, they are the strongest coolers out there and they flat out work.  They are also rotomolded like kayaks are so they are inherently stronger than your standard coolers. I personally don't need a cooler like that but if I was in the market I would be sure to take a long hard look at them and some of the other rotomolded coolers on the market.

[buzzed bait]

I was gifted a yeti roadie not too long ago and i like it, but would have never spent my own money on it....  aside from the cold factor, it has to be the most durable cooler i've ever seen.

my boss has a few of them and on a trip to key west i was sold.  we were there for 4 days and put ice/water over some beers on day 1, by day 4 it didn't look like a single ice cube had melted and the cooler stayed outside all 4 days.

but as gone phisin said they are heavy as h*ll

[wytstang]

To me Yeti's are more geared towards campers who need meat and or meds to stay cold enough not to spoil for an extended amount to time. Nothing worse then running out of ice in the middle of a camping trip miles away from ice. I'll take a Yeti or the like for extended camping trips in the middle of summer to keep temp sensitive food/meds vs. my $20 Coleman any day of the week. Luckily I don't do extended trips so a $20 Colman fits my needs just fine.

[fishinfiend]

Not unless you are hunting or camping as others have stated. 

 

i always love laughing at all the d-bags at the beach that have them. 

[Gone_Phishin]

Yoda, is that you?

Nah...I flunked out of Jedi school...I called the teacher Daddy-o.

[Choporoz]

$400 for a cooler?  I must have misread that.   I didn't pay that much for any of my first 3 refrigerators.  The ones I get free from my vet or doctor that shipped meds are more than good enough for anything I'll ever need one for.  $400???   I think I'm safe from the Cooler Monkey.

[Choporoz]

and...there's certainly something to be said for durability...but you'd have to go through quite a few $35 Colemans before you get to $400....More than I could possibly destroy in a lifetime