Yeti cooler knock offs

[slammer]

Need a new cooler or two.  The cheap Colemans don't cut it anymore.  Yeti's are nice but spendy.  Any recommendations for similar style ones that are a bit less $$$?

[gunner55]

We have a double insulated Coleman that was a $100 cooler 10-15 years ago & it still works fine. We just use it in the car though, not even sure they make them anymore.

[Jim Almquist]

I have a couple of Rtic coolers that I really like. They are half the price of Yeti. They had to change their design due to a lawsuit otherwise the were identical.

[Pat K]

I've hunted with a friend that has a Pure Outdoor cooler in about the 30 qt range that he paid around $150. for. 

I was very impressed with it keeping meat frozen for 5 days even though we were removing packages from it daily.

[vtx1029]

I have a bunch of Rtic gear. Hardside cooler, soft side cooler and cups and stuff. They are great. Did a 2 week camping canada trip and had all of weeks 2 food in my Rtic packed with dry ice. Stuff was just starting to thaw on day 8 when we opened it for the first time. That said my friend had one of the walmart Ozark trail coolers and his held ice for 7 days so I was really impressed with that as well.

[gunner55]

Seen some Yetti knockoffs on closeout the last time I was at Walmart, not sure if they were the Ozark Trail ones that are mentioned above or not. Might be worth a look

[Workstoomuch]

Count my vote for RTIC. I have a hard and soft side cooler. The new flip top YETI is the same design RTIC has been using for years on their soft side.

[Down2Earth]

If one has the disposable cash to buy a Yeti knock-off why not just get the Yeti.  The other brands just don’t have the “it” factor.  

[Finns]

13 minutes ago, Down2Earth said:

If one has the disposable cash to buy a Yeti knock-off why not just get the Yeti.  The other brands just don’t have the “it” factor.  

"Disposable" enough to buy an off brand but not a Yeti. 

I don't need an "it" factor.

[Hoyt4]

The knock offs works just as well as Yeti. We had a Yeti and RTIC in camp this spring and fall both held ice the same.You do not need to spend the money on the Yeti when the others do the same. Same for all the cups, the Walmart Ozark are just as good as the Yeti $7 instead of $40.

[PurpleFloyd]

One factor that you might consider as well is to Lok for a cooler that is american made.

 

Yeti's are mainly manufactured in Thailand but they have a few american plants that Help with excess demand.

 

Rtic and Ozark trail are both made overseas if I read it right.

 

Orca is the one company I know that makes high end coolers exclusively in the USA. 

Coleman might possibly do that but I couldn't find anything for certain on their high end coolers.

 

American jobs.

[Walleye Guy]

Yeti is the industry leader........ in marketing and premium image.  Their products perform the same as RTIC. ORCA, Grizzly, K2 etc.  A Yeti 45 quart hardside cooler is $350 and they never go on sale  The same RTIC cooler costs $190 and they frequently have sales.  The name Yeti isnt worth the extra $160 to me.  (RTIC also ships for free and charges no sales tax so there is additional savings there) 

 

I'd rather use the saved money to fill the cooler with delicious beverages.

[Down2Earth]

One could buy a igloo for $30 and the other $160 could buy a lot of ice.  People don’t need those expensive coolers but if you’re going to buy one get the Yeti.   I’m guessing the same guy that has a gloomis rod is the guy with a Yeti.    If I could afford a Yeti style cooler but have to worry about where I’m going to get money to fill it.......you’re doing it wrong.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Down2Earth

[Walleye Guy]

38 minutes ago, Down2Earth said:

 "People don’t need those expensive coolers but if you’re going to buy one get the Yeti. "

People do need those expensive coolers if they do any type of camping where ice and electricity are not available for 5-7 days.  My expensive coolers get used in situations where other cheap coolers have failed after two days.  Failed meaning what is supposed to be cold or frozen is no longer cold or frozen.  There is a huge performance difference between your typical igloo and a roto-molded premium cooler.

[Big Dave2]

I'm sure the expensive coolers work great but in lieu of spending $400 on a cooler, there are ways to enhance the performance of the cooler you may already have. These tricks work for me:

 

-Ice the cooler down for a day before you load it. Never start out with a warm cooler. 

-Only load it with pre-cooled items. Do not put warm items in the cooler.

-Freeze as many things as you can before putting them in the cooler. Meat that will not be eaten for a few days can be frozen. In my beverage cooler I take RV camping, I always freeze at least 6 of the water bottles that I put in there.

-Keep the cooler shut.

-Keep it out of the sun

-Cover it with blankets, or a space blanket or get one of these: http://www.popupgizmos.com/cooler cover page.htm

-Use block ice or I actually put water in milk jugs and keep them in the freezer. I then cover everything with ice cubes after the cooler is packed.

-Someone mentioned dry ice. If you have access to it, it's a great way to extend the ice in your cooler. Back when we used to camp only in tents or a pop-up without a refrigerator, this used to be my secret to keeping my old, cheap, coolers cold for a long weekend or longer. I worked in the grocery business and I had access to chunks of dry ice as well as cube ice from an ice machine. The biggest problem we had was if you weren't careful where you placed the dry ice in the cooler, things would freeze that you didn't want to freeze.

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by Big Dave2

[gunner55]

Our cheap old Coleman double insulated cooler will keep ice for a week, when we do like BD2 suggests. I'll just double wrap stuff I want to stay frozen with newspaper & try to keep the cooler closed. I also take some of the 64 oz cranberry juice plastic jugs & fill with water, then freeze for smaller blocks of ice. Then layer cubes on top.

[Big Dave2]

https://www.beyondthetent.com/yeti-cooler-vs-the-colman-extreme/

 

This isn't a scientific test but I liked the fact that they used Grain Belt beer for the testing! I don't think I would buy a $400 cooler just to get 1 extra day out of it, but then again I have an RV with a refrigerator too.....

 

I have a Coleman Extreme and when I pack it like I stated above it does very well. I think the biggest problem I have with coolers is getting people to keep them closed tightly and keeping it out of direct sun light. 

Another thing I just thought of......

 

If you have the luxury or the ability to bring two coolers I always make one a beverage cooler, that way the food cooler stays closed more. The beverage cooler is the one that seems to get opened more often for some reason.  

[Duffman]

The thing with dry ice..............EVERYTHING freezes solid.

The gas will both suffocate crawlers and attract skeets. (personal observations)

 

But its ability to keep a block of ice from even thinking of melting for a couple days is awesome.

 

Food cooler/beverage cooler..................I need a cooler just for ice cubes.

[PurpleFloyd]

4 hours ago, Big Dave2 said:

I'm sure the expensive coolers work great but in lieu of spending $400 on a cooler, there are ways to enhance the performance of the cooler you may already have. These tricks work for me:

 

-Ice the cooler down for a day before you load it. Never start out with a warm cooler. 

-Only load it with pre-cooled items. Do not put warm items in the cooler.

-Freeze as many things as you can before putting them in the cooler. Meat that will not be eaten for a few days can be frozen. In my beverage cooler I take RV camping, I always freeze at least 6 of the water bottles that I put in there.

-Keep the cooler shut.

-Keep it out of the sun

-Cover it with blankets, or a space blanket or get one of these: http://www.popupgizmos.com/cooler cover page.htm

-Use block ice or I actually put water in milk jugs and keep them in the freezer. I then cover everything with ice cubes after the cooler is packed.

-Someone mentioned dry ice. If you have access to it, it's a great way to extend the ice in your cooler. Back when we used to camp only in tents or a pop-up without a refrigerator, this used to be my secret to keeping my old, cheap, coolers cold for a long weekend or longer. I worked in the grocery business and I had access to chunks of dry ice as well as cube ice from an ice machine. The biggest problem we had was if you weren't careful where you placed the dry ice in the cooler, things would freeze that you didn't want to freeze.

 

Or we just need to get back to making pemmican.

[Big Dave2]

15 minutes ago, Duffman said:

The thing with dry ice..............EVERYTHING freezes solid.

 

Yeah, the first time I used it I didn't realize that would be such a problem and I froze a half gallon of orange juice solid. I started putting in less dry ice after that and watched what I put next to it.

17 minutes ago, Duffman said:

The gas will both suffocate crawlers and attract skeets. (personal observations)

 

Interesting.......I don't remember having a problem with wax worms but I could see how it could be an issue.

[perchking]

I have a large grizzly, not sure why I bought it at a auction but I did. I have yet to use it but seems to be pretty durable and it’s heavy! 

 

[vtx1029]

To solve your stuff freezing with your dry ice use a moving blanket, place everything you want frozen under the blanket with the dry ice and everything you don't want frozen above.

[gunner55]

X 2 on the Coleman Xtreme & I see they are still available. Our size with wheels @ WW for $54, works great for our needs.

[delcecchi]

The igloo maxi-cold or whatever it is called that we have works pretty well.  In fact we have a little 6pac size that the latch is breaking on, and now all they make is the soft ones.   Guess I need to write to igloo.

[Big Dave2]

9 hours ago, delcecchi said:

The igloo maxi-cold or whatever it is called that we have works pretty well.  In fact we have a little 6pac size that the latch is breaking on, and now all they make is the soft ones.   Guess I need to write to igloo.

 

How about something like this?

 

https://www.coleman.com/28-quart-xtreme-3-marine-cooler/3000001846.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAuP7UBRDiARIsAFpxiRKBUMerbmEzOhxOS-KSWeB4X7AHhFAWTYkexpVduX_PUnJfWJ6dDdwaAkA-EALw_wcB

 

 

[Big Dave2]

Speaking of Igloo.......I have no idea how good it is but this one looks interesting.

 

https://www.igloocoolers.com/pages/trailmate