What Cooler Do You Have?

xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
What kind of coolers are you guys using (if anyone is)? I have an old Coleman that's over 15 years old and did duty in the Arizona sun (it's pretty much shot), and I just decided a week ago it's time to get a new one. I knew rotomolded coolers were expensive, but I had no idea how many different brands there are, and all of them seem to have their fans.

There are even youtube channels dedicated to testing them with days in full sun, and the worst ones still last 3-4 days at minimum.

I think if money were no object I would've gone with Canyon for their warranty, but since I'm not going on any week-long extreme excursions, I rolled the dice and went with a new company called Hoodoo. I have one of their kayaks (for my son) and it's great quality, so I feel confident it will be good.
 
TheCrabby1

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Location
Burtonsville, Md
ffxcores said:
What kind of coolers are you guys using (if anyone is)? I have an old Coleman that's over 15 years old and did duty in the Arizona sun (it's pretty much shot), and I just decided a week ago it's time to get a new one. I knew rotomolded coolers were expensive, but I had no idea how many different brands there are, and all of them seem to have their fans.

There are even youtube channels dedicated to testing them with days in full sun, and the worst ones still last 3-4 days at minimum.

I think if money were no object I would've gone with Canyon for their warranty, but since I'm not going on any week-long extreme excursions, I rolled the dice and went with a new company called Hoodoo. I have one of their kayaks (for my son) and it's great quality, so I feel confident it will be good.
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2 Year's ago Costco had rotomolded cooler's that were as heavy as a yeti and the workmanship didn't look bad and at half the price of the afore mentioned I kick myself in the A$$ for not grabbing one or two !! If I see one there again I will, but she dose most of the the Costco run's nowadays..........
 
J

jcco

Bought an X
Supporting Member
I have good luck with old blue. Cheap walmart blue cooler. 3 days of ice last time we went camping in the summer. Good enough.

Also bring the water cooler along for cold water on demand.
Lasts several days.
 

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jsexton

jsexton

Need Bigger Tires
Location
Lewis Center, OH
I have a couple of the Ozark trail (Walmart) roto molded coolers. They work. Better than the cheap ones. They do pretty well if you put effort into it with precooling everything ahead of time and limit how often you get into them. I’ve had raw steak freeze solid in them while on ice.

I don’t know if they are any better or worse than any other roto-molded cooler. They all seem to do about the same in the same conditions.
 
Zack.

Zack.

Has been dubbed Arnold
Location
Livermore, CA
I was keen on getting the Igloo BMX earlier this summer, but the wife is into trendy brands so we ended up with a Yeti Tundra 45. It works pretty well I guess, but would’ve had room for more beer in the Igloo.
 
reaver

reaver

Lockers Installed
Location
Caldwell, ID
I use a 52 quart lifetime cooler. Works fantastic in 90+ degree heat. I usually put two blocks on the bottom, put my food in, and fill the rest with cubed ice, and it will last me 5 days or so. Pretty hard to beat for $100.
 
Brunnie

Brunnie

Bumpers Installed
Location
Colorado Springs
I have the typical Coleman 54qt Steel Belted cooler from BassPro. It works pretty well for us when we're on the trail and carrying a lot of food. The GF was given a Yeti 20 when she retired and that works great for day trips, plus we can strap it to the roof and it looks like we're on safari. ;)

If I was to get serious (and this will never happen unless something just falls into my lap) I'd get an ARB fridge.
 
TerryD

TerryD

Total Tease
Location
Covington, Va
We have the 26 and 72 Ozark coolers. They work pretty well.

The 26 needs to be a 35 though. Its almost too small for a single person for multiple days. It doesn't have enough volume for ice after the food is in.
 
reaver

reaver

Lockers Installed
Location
Caldwell, ID
Brunnie said:
I have the typical Coleman 54qt Steel Belted cooler from BassPro. It works pretty well for us when we're on the trail and carrying a lot of food. The GF was given a Yeti 20 when she retired and that works great for day trips, plus we can strap it to the roof and it looks like we're on safari. ;)

If I was to get serious (and this will never happen unless something just falls into my lap) I'd get an ARB fridge.
Click to expand...

I have plans to get a fridge (hopefully next year), but there's no way I'm spending the money on the ARB. Or Dometic, for that matter. I've heard nothing but good things about the Iceco fridges, and a 45L fridge is about $500, so that's the route I'm going.
 
General_Tarfun

General_Tarfun

Sliders
Location
Atlanta, GA
IM1RU said:
I have 3 Yeti's

65 qt
50 qt
And a little one

They work as advertised IMO
Click to expand...

I've been looking at those because everyone says the same thing about them. I really just need a good cooler to store ice for longer overnight trips, my current cooler is a coleman cheapo that melts pretty much everything in day.
 
xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
View: https://youtu.be/_0YmWvLvcRA


If you click through to their channel, they have challenges going back several years, as well as lots of head-to-head tests. The Yeti isn't the best of the best, but again they're all fairly even. What I did find of interest though is comparing the claimed capacity to actual capacity. It seems Yeti uses an outside measurement to lump them in classes vs actual interior measurement.
 
meisanerd

meisanerd

Sliders
Location
Edmonton, AB, Canada
From what I have read/heard, Yeti is quality, but also has a lot of marketing behind them to try to justify the price. As in, Yeti's aren't garbage, but you can get Yeti-level quality for like 1/2 the price from other manufacturers.
 
IM1RU

IM1RU

Lockers Installed
Location
SLC, UT
You also have to remember that Yeti was first, and they were the only for a number of years. When I bought mine there were exactly two roto molded coolers on the market.... And the other I don't believe is even made anymore.... Now, since everyone and their dog has stolen Yeti's design, I'm not at all surprised they can be had for 1/2 the price.

Would I spend $800 on two coolers now?.... ufck no, but back then I had no choice.

I will say this. I spent a total of 7 days and 7 nights on a Green river canoe trip with those coolers, and the very last day while waiting to be picked up by the Jet boat, we had ice water to drink, and beautiful fresh shredded beef sandwiches with crunchy lettuce, and all the fixin's..... high 90's to low 100's on the river every day.

Do they work? .... yup.
 
xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
IM1RU said:
You also have to remember that Yeti was first, and they were the only for a number of years. When I bought mine there were exactly two roto molded coolers on the market.... And the other I don't believe is even made anymore.... Now, since everyone and their dog has stolen Yeti's design, I'm not at all surprised they can be had for 1/2 the price.

Would I spend $800 on two coolers now?.... ufck no, but back then I had no choice.

I will say this. I spent a total of 7 days and 7 nights on a Green river canoe trip with those coolers, and the very last day while waiting to be picked up by the Jet boat, we had ice water to drink, and beautiful fresh shredded beef sandwiches with crunchy lettuce, and all the fixin's..... high 90's to low 100's on the river every day.

Do they work? .... yup.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the market wasn't nearly as saturated back then. My dad bought a couple RTIC coolers when they first came out and before Yeti sued them for directly copying them and RTIC agreed to change the design. Told my dad that's how he should know he essentially got the "real deal" for much cheaper.

JeffPro4x said:
Realize that it won't work any better than a normal cooler if you don't pre chill it.
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Yeah, I do that with my handheld lunch box. I have gallon jugs of ice I use as pre-chiller, them swap them out when I pack it.

IM1RU said:
Those are what makes them Bear resistant.... That feature was also a YETI first.
Click to expand...

Ha, I got a laugh out of the "grizzly proof" claim on all of them, including brands that showed a picture of a bear messing with it. That makes sense — I figured the lock hole was to lock it to the trailer hitch or something.
 
TheCrabby1

TheCrabby1

I Smell Fishy
Location
Burtonsville, Md
IM1RU said:
Those are what makes them Bear resistant.... That feature was also a YETI first.
Click to expand...
I still think they had a mis-understanding and a misspelling at the product headquarters' ? It was supposed to be Beer redundant as in it would keep your beer safe from your campsite buddie's or [CHUG -ZACK for you west coaster's ];););):D
 
outback97

outback97

Wheeling
Location
SLC, Utah
I don't know if you can still get these anywhere, but we've had a Coleman Xtreme 36 quart for 15+ (?) years and it works well.

https://www.rei.com/product/687914/coleman-xtreme-poly-lite-cooler-36-qt

It's not as nice as the $$$ rotomolded ones, but much better than your typical cheap thin cooler. Just used it on a four day trip and it was still keeping things cold, but that's about the limit for one of these (4-5 days). We use frozen water bottles and we do pre-chill it.
 
xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
IM1RU said:
The Yeti's have been tested and certified.

Have you ever seen the video of them being thrown from a cliff?
Click to expand...

I mean no offense and I'm not targeting Yeti specifically, but I was laughing at the idea of "grizzly proof" because it's 99% marketing. Any rotomolded cooler with a bolt or lock hole in it can be and would be certified if tested, because that's the nature of the material it's made of. Outside of Alaska, something like .000000001% or less of the population will ever be outdoors overnight in grizzly country, yet every page very prominently claims it (whether certified or not). And yes I go camping plenty in black bear country, and I leave the cooler in the car. My brother that has a pickup puts a chain on his regular cooler.

Again, I'm not bashing Yeti, I'm laughing at every company that makes an LDPE rotomolded cooler and makes the same claim that's irrelevant to 99.9999% of their customer base.
 
xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
outback97 said:
I don't know if you can still get these anywhere, but we've had a Coleman Xtreme 36 quart for 15+ (?) years and it works well.

https://www.rei.com/product/687914/coleman-xtreme-poly-lite-cooler-36-qt

It's not as nice as the $$$ rotomolded ones, but much better than your typical cheap thin cooler. Just used it on a four day trip and it was still keeping things cold, but that's about the limit for one of these (4-5 days). We use frozen water bottles and we do pre-chill it.
Click to expand...

I have the "Ultimate Extreme" of the same, but a larger size. I suspect that over time in the Arizona sun the internal insulation melted or shifted, because it was noticeably more bottom heavy than new ones, and the front section warped and bowed outward, so the lid no longer had a good seal. Mine only keeps for about a day if I prechill. (When it was new, it would do a few days, but again in direct sun in the Sonoran Desert.)
 
outback97

outback97

Wheeling
Location
SLC, Utah
ffxcores said:
I have the "Ultimate Extreme" of the same, but a larger size. I suspect that over time in the Arizona sun the internal insulation melted or shifted, because it was noticeably more bottom heavy than new ones, and the front section warped and bowed outward, so the lid no longer had a good seal. Mine only keeps for about a day if I prechill. (When it was new, it would do a few days, but again in direct sun in the Sonoran Desert.)
Click to expand...

Yeah UT sun is strong enough, but AZ sun and heat are brutal. We don't really go camping in hot temperatures, that's the time for higher elevations. And we definitely keep the cooler out of the sun. It's in good shape and works as well as it did when new.

ffxcores said:
Outside of Alaska, something like .000000001% or less of the population will ever be outdoors overnight in grizzly country

...

irrelevant to 99.9999% of their customer base.
Click to expand...

I realize it's hyperbole with all those zeros and nines, but the IGBC list probably matters to more people than you think. Plenty of grizz country in ID, MT and WY and lots of people visit and camp there. Kinda wish I was up in western MT or the Winds right now.

Anyway, if my cheap cooler wore out I'd probably replace it with a rotomolded one.
 
xyoverland

xyoverland

[fully disclosed]
Location
Virginia
At Costco yesterday they have a “Coho” 55 quart rotomolded cooler in white for $120. Looks like about 2” walls but nice tight seal and seemed well constructed. If you’re in the market that’s a pretty good deal.
 
Xterrorista

Xterrorista

Charcoal Briquette
Supporting Member
Location
Denton, TX
20210331_084849.jpgi got the 50qt Cabela's "yeti" knock off. It's worked great on two trips of 3 and 5 days. A little melt on day 4 but I'd opened it 30 times..
About $50 cheaper than the yeti's.
 
Prime

Prime

Shut up Baby, I know it!
Admin
Location
Denver Adjacent
Medium size Walmart rotomold. It's OK. The seal on the lid isn't great once things melt and sloshing starts. But that doesn't happen until day 2 or 3.
 
kirk

kirk

Butterfly King
Moderator
Supporting Member
Location
Allen, Texas
Screenshot_2021-04-28 Igloo Legend 28 Cooler With Fish Ruler Blue Yellow 1992 Vintage eBay(1).pngScreenshot_2021-04-28 Igloo Legend 28 Cooler With Fish Ruler Blue Yellow 1992 Vintage eBay.png

Vintage yellow and blue Igloo cooler with a fish ruler on the lid. I bought it for $5 at a salvation army clearance sale. Keeps ice for three days before melting, fits behind the seat of my truck and my X perfectly and is the perfect size for what I need. Its nearly two feet long, about a foot wide and about as deep as a large bottle of Bulleit with room to spare.

Its the best cooler I have ever had.
 
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