Who makes a better hammer? Harbor Freight or Yeti?

John Welsh said:

Side note about HF 20% off coupon...

If you are a GRM subscriber, you also get the digital version through the GRM app.  If you used the coupon in GRM then HF will notice that the spending for GRM advertising is worth it because based on the coding of the coupon they will see it came from GRM.

So, while I am in HF, I open the GRM app and find the coupon.  The coupon is usually too small but I take a screen shot of the GRM page.  Now through my photos on my phone of the screenshot, I can expand the picture (and the needed barcode) to be big enough for the cashier to scan right off my phone.  

You're a true team player, John!

bmw88rider said:

It's sacraligious to speak bad about yeti locally being they are based here but it's true in a lot of ways. 

I know someone who interviewed at Yeti for a project manager job and they said during the interview that their success is based on who they market to.  They didn't come right out and say that their products weren't better (I do think they do a bunch of research on it), but that they focus more on the brand name to sell their high end stuff.  I will say, however, that they seemed to have kicked off a market for higher end (or built) products.  Before Yeti came along, all you really had was cheapie $20 coolers and a few more expensive ones that were harder to find.  Nowdays, better quality coolers are all over the place.  I wonder if part of the HF cup (for example) was simply waiting for someone else to develop it and then copying the design?

-Rob

I bought a couple identical looking cups from WalMart for $9/ea or so. It worked pretty well but I like to run everything through the dishwasher. (We have WAY too many dishes to be handwashing this stuff, as it is we run the dishwasher 1-2x per day.) The lids cracked and fell apart in several places. Travel cups without lids aren't really useful, so they got tossed. So just know that you need to hand wash that lid!

In black the Walmart cup is $5. I'm tempted but my wife already brings home more mugs from work every other week. 

Tools expressed as an asymptotic function: As time approaches infinity, the limit of all tools is hammer. 

Neat experiment, pretty sure I did something very similar for a science fair project many years ago, testing how well different materials insulated or something like that. 

In reply to dculberson :

Try switching to "air dry" on your dishwasher.  Pretty sure any plastic that gets damaged in the dishwasher is from being baked during the drying stage.  I use air dry just to save on electricity and never had a problem with damaging plastic items.

eastsideTim said:

The HF one may work just as well as the Yeti, but an I the only person who is afraid of drinking out of something that came from an HF store?  I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t buy plates or utensils if they sold them either.

Apparently not I, as I have drank out of groundscore mugs

My insulated mug thread

Just giving this a bump as a reminder that they're on sale this weekend!

I bought one of the HF mugs because of the thorough comparison done in this thread.

Very happy with it even though I paid full price.

Thanks to logdog for taking the time to document it so well!

Didn't plan on buying a cup, but still got something useful from this discussion: I installed the GRM ap!

Edit: can't get the ap to run. I never could access the magazine on line. Something went wrong when I subscribed, no one could straighten it out, and i finally gave up. 

We ended up going back and grabbing a couple more (with coupons and free microfibers ).  My ASE cup has gone to the great Goodwill in the sky.  I now have a dedicated one that lives in my car.

Well, procrastination wins the day again.  $4.99 each this weekend with a coupon:

http://widgets.harborfreight.com/wswidgets/common/displayCoupon.do?week=1118&campaign=d&page=coupon12.html&cust=99999999999&keycode=1041&single=true

Guess I'll have to go around the corner to harbor freight this weekend and grab a couple. 

It's a sign.. I might have to grab one and see how it works out..

I got one for work and I got one for my wife. It is pretty excellently.

I have a few of the Walmart ones that usually sell for $5-10. They work great, and they have closeable lids too. If you are worried that they are made in some foreign factory (just like the Yetis likely are), just wash it out before use. Even if the thing was made down the street from your house, I would do that anyway! 

You guys are enablers. I broke down and got one last night. Not bad for under 6 bones w/coupon. This thing works pretty well...

You should go buy another, identical mug, then rerun a similar test, except:  Pour hot water in one of the mugs, leave the other room temp.  Then pour out the hot water, add coffee.  Does pre heating the mug buy you more hot time?

I get a deal on yetis, so I've got a few of em now. I'm impressed any time a thing can keep ice for a full 24 hours. 

Streetwiseguy said:

You should go buy another, identical mug, then rerun a similar test, except:  Pour hot water in one of the mugs, leave the other room temp.  Then pour out the hot water, add coffee.  Does pre heating the mug buy you more hot time?

Having run a similar test with coolers, where I use a “sacrificial” bag of ice to cool the cooler first, I guarantee that preheating buys you more time.