High $$$ Coolers?

[DLM]

Does anyone have experience or info on some of the high end coolers out there, such as the "Yeti"? My old iglo (or is it a coleman) just isn't cutting it anymore.

I am mainly interested in a camping cooler, not one for in the boat, I got that covered. I just want something that will hold ice for as long as possible but I am not sure the $$$ can be justified. To me, a cooler that costs over $200 had better last for a lifetime and keep ice for days. Is that too much to ask?

[Killer_B]

I have been wondering the same thing about the Yeti's and if they are worth the $. I would like to find out. I am fairly happy with the Igloo Max 5 day coolers and they will last for the 5 days as advertised at 90 degrees, but not if you open and close it all the time and let the cold out. I too have not had good luck with the coleman's and their hinges don't last as long either in my experience.

[onlychild]

HEY guys I have two of there coolers the Tundra 45 & the 65 and with out a doubt they are the best coolers I have ever owned now with that being said I am on Yeti's pro-staff and they are one of my sponsors. I approached them because of the quality of thier product they are expensive but if you are replacing coolers every couple years they are a great investment. I also have the cushion pad on top and it also helps retain ice and makes for a very nice seat. They have non-slip rubber feet and are lockable. I'm not trying to sound like a comercial but I think they are worth every penny.

[Bduck]

I have 2 igloos. They are suppose to be 5 day coolers. If I make it to the 3rd day with ice, I'm doing good. The key is keeping them shaded and using a block of ice with crushed surrounding parishables. As long as there is a local store to purchase ice, I'll hang on to what I have. I just can't justify buying anything more elaborate. I use mine mainly for transport to & from the campground. But keeping the beer cold is my main objective. Everything is transferred into the camper that I keep in dry storage in between trips.

[gonefishing]

I have a small Yeti for keeping lunch and drinks ice cold. If you chill them the night before with a couple bottles of ice, I can pack 2 days of drinks and food and keep it right at temp with 4 frozen water bottles added in with everthing. The key is to pre-chill the product going into it and pre chill the cooler day before, which is recomended in the Yeti instructions. The finished is very hi quality and I like the locking feature. They are very very durable and easy to clean.

With that being said, I have 2 coleman 5 day-ers and If I pre chill them night before, and then put couple of gallon jugs of Ice in the next morning, they will hold food and drink for a good 4 days. Usually keep that one inside the camper or under it in the shade. I think that 5 days truely is a stretch unless everything is handled with perfect conditions, ICE and outside temperature.

I have (1) I use to put caught fish it. The ice in that one always goes about 3 days when I use 2 Milk jugs of ice and 1 bag of ice. I add fish through the 3 days opening and closing and the fish stay ice cold. If I am out for a week, I can re-load with blocks of ice and more cubes.

I guess it gets down to how much you want to spend and how are you going to use them.

Hail to anything that make fishing better!

[BlueBack79]

here's a used 85qt yeti in boise for $300. seems like a decent deal. the problem i would have, other than the cost, is theft!! there are too many dirt bags out there that have no problem stealing whatever they come across. how many times do you leave a cooler unattended at your hunting camp or in the back of a truck?

http://boise.craigslist.org/spo/2529421261.html

[jcw]

O.K. I know it's an old thread but I have not been here in a while this is what I do. Most of the cheaper coolers are of the hollow core type. Just air space between inside/outside. I drill some small holes near the top on all four sides and use canned spray foam to fill the voids. Greatly improves coolers. The really good coolers have a lot thicker walls and decent foam insulation. Another trick is to put a small amount of dry ice on the bottom and then put regular ice on top of that.

[RalphL]

use a one or two inch thick ,by about 1 ft square chunk of dry ice on the bottom of a quality cooler like the exreme. Put a half inch thick chunk of foam under and over it. Don't let it get wet,, wrap it in cloth. One week (or longer) no problem..... Do it every year for fishing-hunting-boondocking. Get ready for a bunch of people telling you it wont work, but I haven't used regular ice for twenty years..

[jcw]

RalphL. That will work great. That chunk of dry ice you describe would be about 10 LBS. I work in the industry (Bulk dry ice and bulk liquid CO2). We have access to scrap block and nugget dry ice for our coolers etc. Trick is not using too much and risk freezing the groceries. On the other hand we fillet our fish and run it through the food saver and use dry ice to quick freeze and then put in another cooler with enough dry ice to keep frozen hard until we get home.

[RalphL]

I run these in 10 day horse camps for elk ,and all summer fishing. If your carefull about opening the lid, use a separate cooler for long term frozen food storage (stays mostly closed) and keep the coolers in the shade or toss a tarp over them ,than I frequently get well over a week of cold. Walmart sells dry ice as do most big chain groceries. Can't believe how many people still rely on regular ice for extended stays, stuff is ok for chillin beer or for a day or two, but anything over that, go dry in a reasonably well made cooler like the coleman Max or Igloo extreme. No need to drop hundreds on a cooler..

[DLM]

I finally opted for a 94qt Iglo that was "rated" at 7 days, whatever that means.

I loaded it with 7 backs of ice, mostly on one end and across the bottom. On the other end near the top I put two 8lb blocks of dry ice.

I forgot to wrap the dry ice in anything and just put it in with the plastic it came in. This was on Monday morning.

We got to camp and I made sure the chest was in a full shade location the entire day, then only opened it once a day to get out a bag of ice for the boat. The dry ice was gone by Wednesday, but the other ice was still completely frozen just like when it went into the cooler. By Saturday when I got to the last bag of ice, it was still 80% frozen with only about a cup of water in the bottom of the chest.

We had also thrown some frozen burger in and it remained rock solid all week.

Very happy with the chest and the process, next time I will wrap the dry ice in cloth or newspaper and see if it lasts longer. Much cheaper this way than buying ice at the resort.

[Troutfoolery]

I got a kick out of this post because I just bought a 50 qt Yeti cooler. This was not an easy thing to get my head around because of the high cost. My wife laughed at me cause I lost sleep deciding if spending this much for a cooler was justifiable. She finally told me to do it because if I bought anything else I wouldn't be happy with it. OK fine with that decision made I lost sleep over what size to get. If you are going to spend this much you have to get one that you can use more than once or twice a year right. So you need one large enough to handle a few days of groceries. But then it has to be small enough to be practical for everyday use, will it fit in the car and the boat.. So after much research and hair pulling I set the hook and did it. Then I couldn't sleep cause I woried about leaving it in camp unatended while we were fishing. Thank God after four days of camping I still had Ice left to make a large screwdriver [or maybe it was four] and that night I slept like a baby.

[kok-head]

Does anyone have experience or info on some of the high end coolers out there, such as the "Yeti"? My old iglo (or is it a coleman) just isn't cutting it anymore.

I am mainly interested in a camping cooler, not one for in the boat, I got that covered. I just want something that will hold ice for as long as possible but I am not sure the $$$ can be justified. To me, a cooler that costs over $200 had better last for a lifetime and keep ice for days. Is that too much to ask?

in 2007 I acquired 4 newer yeti coolers and they are great, they hold ice forever and they are durable, expensive for sure but they've proven themselves to be the best around, some coolers that come close in my opinion are the older gott coolers and I would still say they are a distant second to the yeti's