YETI alternatives?

[cwenbass]

I have a buddy looking for a large ice chest to take off shore on hunting. YETI price a little too steep for him. Any recommendations on quality alternatives?

[SeanH]

RTIC

[PJ-Rohlf]

Another for RTIC.

[barkleyhawggitter]

RTIC.

[Condor482]

Rtic works great and has a better price.

[vatreefarmer]

RTIC. It's not just indestructible, It keeps stuff cold forever. I "won" a yeti at a company function, but refused it because at the time yeti was getting into politics. However, I did actually want a cooler that I never had to think about. Research and this board convinced me that RTIC was the way to go.

[keeferfish]

RTIC then tell him to buy a cheap Yeti Tumbler so he can have that cool window decal for his truck.

[basscat21]

RTIC

[allen656]

nICECoolers.com

I have 3 different sizes.....good prices...works well for 2-3 days

[n2ratfishin]

Polar Bear

[fr8dog]

My son has a couple Ozark Trail coolers. A smaller one and a medium size. Seem to work well.

[TroyBoy30]

rec teq now makes one as well

https://www.recteq.com/shop/icer



i just bought a rtic soft side cooler for the pontoon. reviews all say zipper breaks in a year so we will see.

[M1RT]

RTIC and believe it or not, the Lifetime cooler at Walmart is a steal. There's several YouTube videos that show it keeping ice longer than a yeti and it's a 1/3 of the price.

[june-bug]

I have one Yeti, one K2, one RTIC and a Gatr. The Gatr beats them all hands down. Performance and construction/design is very nice. I've had the one I have for about four years it still looks brand new and I have used the heck out of it. This thing seals up so tight it's hard to open sometimes without letting a little air out of the built in air relief valve on front of the cooler. I've been very impressed with this cooler.

https://gatrcoolers.com/

[Thomasj]

I bought an Orca cooler as a Yeti alternative. USA made with a lifetime warranty. https://orcacoolers.com/

[Collin C.]

First high dollar cooler I have ever bought. Seems to work well the 4-5 times I’ve used it
I bought the 106qt, has lots of room, love the wheels as it saves you back moving it around.

https://www.sportsmansoutfitters.com.../bruin-coolers

[BigDozer66]

I bought an Orca cooler as a Yeti alternative. USA made with a lifetime warranty. https://orcacoolers.com/

I have a Yeti that is made in the US and it has been great.

I have tried several other brands and including the nICE brand mentioned above it doesn't keep ice 2 days.

If I were buying a new hard one today it would be the ORCA.

The Magellan bags, from Academy, are very well built and work great but the ones from Walmart are not built to last.

[NoZero]

I have a soft Yeti, a hard sided yeti, and a hard sided Cordova.


they all work - the soft sided yeti has obvious Limitations.

the 2 hard sided are both American made, different sizes. The yeti is smaller, so it lives in the bed of my truck under the tonneau filled with ice and drinks all summer - new ice every 5 days.

[BigDozer66]

Something a lot of people don't think about or don't know is how to "use" a cooler.

I had a buddy that bought a Yeti and complained it didn't keep ice more than a day.

I asked him what he was using it for and said to keep my beer cold.

So I asked him how often he opened it and he said about once an hour or less to get another beer out!

I told him he might as well just use a cheap old school cooler then.

I copied this from the Gatr Coolers site but it is, or should be, common knowledge.

"How long will these coolers hold ice?"

Let's think about this from a completely unbiased point of view.

Coolers are all about personal preference. They are sold a lot based on ice retention. First of all, how many people realistically need a cooler to hold ice for 2 weeks or longer?!
Either way, I feel like it is basically impossible to stamp an "X day cooler" label on any cooler, because there are just too many factors that go into this number. Brands that do this forget to print the "fine print", which is pretty irresponsible and misleading, in my opinion.

With that in mind, here are a few ways you can maximize your ice retention in your new GATR Cooler:

1) Think "pre-chill"! If possible, store your cooler in a fairly cool place for at least a day before using it. Common sense says that a cooler that is in your 68-72 degree house for a day will hold ice longer than a cooler that has been in the bed of your truck in 90+ degree heat. Placing a "sacrificial" bag of ice in your cooler overnight will help too. Getting the 2-3" of foam insulation cool is the most important factor in maximizing ice retention.


2) Think "shade"! If possible, try to keep your cooler in a covered or shaded area while using it. Being under a boat canopy as opposed to on the deck in direct sunlight can feel drastically cooler to you, and it feels the same for your cooler! On a 90-92* day, a seafoam colored cooler got up to 155* surface temp while left in the sun, and stayed around 95-100* surface temp while in the shade!


3) Think "quality"! Everyone should know - not all ice is created equal! If you buy cheap ice, don't expect it to last nearly as long as high quality ice. Hollow tube ice will not last near as long as solid brick ice.


4) Think "volume"! Having a cooler tightly packed with ice and products will give you much better results than a cooler with a large open void inside. You have less ice trying to cool a larger area... don't believe us? Try it!


5) Think "conserve"! If possible, try to limit the amount of times you open your cooler while in use. Sort of like a freezer, each time you open the lid - and leave it open for any amount of time - you are letting valuable cold air escape! The ice then works overtime to re-cool the cooler when the lid is shut.


6) Think "color"! As with anything, especially plastic items, darker colors will attract more heat than lighter colors. Keep that in mind when selecting your new GATR Cooler! If you are looking for absolute maximum ice retention, you should probably stick with white - or a light color, such as seafoam. If ice retention is secondary to matching your boat/side by side/vehicle, color shouldn't be an issue.



I am no expert by any means, but I'm positive that if you keep these simple rules in mind, you WILL maximize your ice retention in your new GATR Cooler!

[MarkG52]

Soft sides I've got RTIC, Yeti and a Coleman Marine. Hard side I've got Yeti 45 and Orion 20. Best bang for buck is RTIC. Best cooler I own is the Orion.