We only have one Yeti stainless steel tumbler (it was a gift from the mortgage company for financing our house) and it’s nice and keeps drinks cold for a long time but I can’t imagine that it’s 2 or 3 times better that an RTIC or a Walmart knockoff. The same goes for their coolers. They look like marvels of engineering but a decent sized one is $300 while a similar sized RTIC is over $100 less (which still seems crazy to me.)
Do you have any Yeti products that you think were a good value or all they just the Monster cables of the picnic world?
They’re definitely overpriced, but then it’s true that they are better at long term ice retention than a cheap cooler. Comparing them to Monster is then not fair as many of their digital products are not demonstrably better than a generic one.
I splurged on a RTIC but those are still expensive as you note, just less so.
I have an Igloo cooler with wheels that was very reasonably priced and has taken a beating for five years and is still in great condition. Twelve hours after loading there is still ice. What more could I want?
The only Yeti product I own is a Yeti travel mug that I got as swag from my company. I don’t even like it; it keeps liquids TOO hot. When I get in the car with my travel mug of coffee, I want to drink it now, not in 4 hours when it’s finally cool enough to drink.
So no, not worth the money, even though the damn thing was free.
The monoprice cooler is even cheaper than the RTIC. Mine will arrive Friday, and I’ll test it out over the weekend and report back. While the weekend won’t answer my “how long” question, I’ll at least be able to compare it with my old, ancient Igloo or Coleman generic cooler.
Hoping I won’t have to buy too much ice over the upcoming four week car camping road trip!
If you are a professional fishing/rafting guide, charter boat captain, or somehow otherwise earning a living whereby keeping a cooler full of ice for extended periods is a key part of your business, it is probably worth buying what your clients might perceive as the best equipment available. Plus you can write it off as a business expense, so there’s that. But for private use, I prefer to use more cost-friendly options.
I have a twenty ounce Yeti travel mug that’s amazing. If I fill it with hot coffee, it stays very hot for at least two hours, and drinkably hot for 4+ hours. The insulation is excellent - even full of hot coffee, the outside stays cool to the touch - only the lid warms up, so it’s keeping a ton of the heat in. Much better than any other travel mug I’ve ever had.
You ma’am, have a very different expectation from a travel mug than I do.
Yeah, I don’t drink “very hot” coffee either. I generally make coffee in a cafetiere/French press or pourover/Chemex, so I like my coffee very warm or less, not hot.
But if your coffee comes out of the French press at the temperature you like it, the Yeti will keep it at/near that temperature for longer than any other travel mug I’ve found. I just thought it odd that Athena apparently makes very hot coffee, but doesn’t like to drink very hot coffee.
I have a 32 oz Yeti tumbler (won in a contest), a 20 oz RTIC tumbler/coffee-mug, and an 32 oz Ozark Trail tumbler from Wal-Mart of the same size as the Yeti.
There’s absolutely NO functional difference between them- they all keep cold stuff equally cold, and hot stuff equally hot. Or close enough to where it’s not obvious anyway.
About the only thing I’ve noticed is that the Ozark Trail tumbler has acquired a couple of dents toward the bottom while the Yeti hasn’t. I don’t know if that’s indicative of thinner metal, or just rougher handling.
Not sure how long it takes most people to drink a hot coffee of cold soda but mine is usually gone in under 15 minutes. Is there that many people that take 4+ hours to drink 20 ounces of anything?
For me it’s a solution to a problem I just don’t have. There’s nothing I need or want to keep that hot/cold for that long.
General conclusion: If you need to keep things ice cold for 72 hours+, the expensive ones will do that for you. Ice in the inexpensive coolers melted between 48-52 hours.
We got a Yeti cooler as a gift. Loved it. Now it’s our “go to” wedding present. People seem to like them. I’m sure there are cheaper products available that are as good or almost as good. But sometimes its okay to spend 50% more for a 10% better product.
Is ice so expensive that the extra day of ice makes the Yeti that much of a deal? Buy the inexpensive Coleman and spend the savings on replacing the ice, IMO.
Yeti coolers are really good at what they do, but how often do you need to keep things cold for multiple days? If you are just keeping some orange slices and juice cold for the kids’ soccer game, you probably don’t need a Yeti; if you’re guiding an overnight Alaskan fly fishing trip, you probably do.
ETA: I prefer Orion coolers on fly fishing boats because the Yeti latches stick out and tend to snag fly line.
I have a Yeti travel mug my nephew gave me for Christmas. I have had the experience apparently common among owners of such things - filling it at 6:00am, and then carelessly taking a swig at 7:30 and boiling my tongue. If I ever retrace the trek to the South Pole and want to celebrate my arrival there with a nice hot cup of java, I know what I will take with me. Just sitting at my desk after plowing thru my emails from last night - it’s a little more than I need.