I'm looking for a 120 to 150qt cooler.
I'm not spending refrigerator money, so Yeti coolers are out. The times I've used them they don't seem to be any better than the much cheaper coolers.
In the Coleman/Igloo/Gott price range who is the top of the heap now.
I’ve had several Coleman coolers and they are so so. They don’t seem to keep ice for very in hot weather. Fine for a day of tailgating, but sucky in the middle of the summer when camping.
Samesies. Coleman/Igloo standard cooler works fine for my daily boating/adventures. If you need something for multiday adventures the fancy ones are all the same but I prefer the Engels. Ozark/Rtic are VERY good bang for your buck.
I've heard good things about the Rtic brand bur don't have personal experience.
May not be as big as you need, but MonoPrice.com has Yeti knockoffs for a reasonable price & good reviews.
ARent there like tons of yeti knockoffs for reasonable cash.
In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :
Orca comes to mind but I'm sure there are many more.
They are all 2 to 4 times the price of a Igloo or Coleman. I don't need to hold ice for a desert expedition, just a day or two. I need the size more than I need the extreme cold.
A friend of mine recently brought a new cooler to the market that is supposed to be better than the Yeti, but less expensive as well. I see on his Facebook account he's running a Cyber Monday special: https://www.facebook.com/MalunaUnhinged/
edit: It is more expensive than what you're looking to spend. In that case I've had pretty good luck with the regular old Coleman coolers.
In defense of the yeti/yeti type coolers, it will be the last cooler you buy. Hinges won't break, side won't crack, etc.
i would likely go with the igloo sportsman of the cabelas version of them.
After that, I'd go with the Coleman Extreme. But that's just based on what I've seen at Costco and Walmart.
I really like my Pelican, but I'm not sure it's any cheaper than a Yeti. I bought it to keep stuff cold through a track weekend while inside a (possibly very warm) enclosed trailer, which it does easily.
As an added bonus, it's advertised as "grizzly bear resistant". Not sure how important that is at Thunderhill, but... :)
EastCoastMojo said:I've heard good things about the Rtic brand bur don't have personal experience.
We received a pair of Rtic tall aluminum coffee mugs at SWMBO's xmas party last year. I filled mine with sweet tea Tuesday morning, drove 840 miles/12-hours to IL(with the heat on part way), and the tea was still cooler than ambient when I got there.
No idea what they cost, but I'll be shopping their products if I ever need a cooler that works better than the generic plastic ones.
I bought a newer colegloo extreeeeeme this summer and it was fine for my weekend camping trip with cube ice. It would have done better with block ice because physics. I'm thinking about making some abs pipe ice packs but putting Pykrete in them instead of just water.
Be mindful I live in Thunder Bay, so your mileage will vary in the southern US.
I've never found anything that was bang/buck better than the big white Igloo Marine coolers. Last weekend I threw 4 cases of uncooled water bottles in an ancient white cooler with about 40lbs of ice at 6AM saturday, strapped it to a trailer and drove it around all weekend. Weather was 70s/40s, so not real hot, but we were in and out of the cooler all weekend and it still had ice in it Monday afternoon. In fact, I propped the lid open and popped the drain at lunch Monday so it could melt down and left it in the sun. That night I still had to throw ice out of it.
Maybe the hinges break eventually but they haven't yet. The drain plug did need to be replaced but it was less than $10 for a replacement. And this is the loaner cooler at work that everyone borrows for personal events. It was already rough looking 5 years ago when I started here.
Didn't a TV show do a test awhile back showing that the generic coolers from WalMart kept things just as cold as long as the Yeti?
And I don't use coolers enough to be willing to pay for something like a Yeti.
Since this thread was revived by a spammer, what cooler did you end up getting and do you like it?
I did end up buying a small RTIC cooler off craigslist and I have been very impressed with it. I mostly use it when buying groceries while doing other errands, and the occasional road trip, so it lives in the truck.
z31maniac said:Didn't a TV show do a test awhile back showing that the generic coolers from WalMart kept things just as cold as long as the Yeti?
And I don't use coolers enough to be willing to pay for something like a Yeti.
There's been a bunch of those tests over varying models. End result is- yeti wins but it's stupid expensive and you don't get a lot of space.
I bought a Magellan from academy, and for the price, it was pretty good.
z31maniac said:Didn't a TV show do a test awhile back showing that the generic coolers from WalMart kept things just as cold as long as the Yeti?
And I don't use coolers enough to be willing to pay for something like a Yeti.
Like Mndsm said, there are a bunch of these tests. Usually, the Yeti or another rotomolded cooler wins, but I think there was one or two where they replaced the seals on the cheap coolers and added basically the same "snaps" to close it as the yeti, and it got about 95% of the way there.
The big pro for Yeti/Yeti-like coolers is their durability. I really like having it in the garage as an extra bench/step stool/etc. I also keep beer in there for about a week or more, keeps it out of the fridge, makes me go to the garage and work on something when I want one....
But ultimately they're pretty pointless. About the only real use-case for them is if you go car-camping for a week or more. I hate camping and only do it to go fishing in remote areas, so I don't take the yeti with me (because who the hell would want to portage one???). Literally every use I have for a cooler, a styrofoam one from Walgreens would suffice. But I really like overbuilt things. I just wish mine was larger (gift from the inlaws).
In reply to mtn :
The big problem with the roto coolers like the yeti and orca and whatever is weight. My Magellan is a 50qt, and it's heavy. A yeti 45 is about as far as I'd want to go-. I've had up to a 110 in my store and that thing is HEAVY. it's almost a two man operation dry, I don't want to think about it loaded. It was hard enough to carry my loaded 50.
I scored a 60 quart igloo at rural king last summer on clearance. Holds ice for a week in the carport, only ran me $16.
It just doesn't have a drain, which is a little annoying.
RevRico said:I scored a 60 quart igloo at rural king last summer on clearance. Holds ice for a week in the carport, only ran me $16.
It just doesn't have a drain, which is a little annoying.
Easy enough to install one...
I bought a Coleman Xtreme Marine last summer, haven't used it yet, but it seems much nicer than the 25+ year old Igloo it replaced.
These guys have some good recommendations at various price points and applications. Note the complete lack of Yeti on this list: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-hard-cooler/
914Driver said:Yeti - but as said, stupid expensive.
You ain't lying. I have a yeti field guide cert which gets me 40% off and I still bought a knockoff. Love their cups tho. Have like 5.
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