RTIC VS. YETI HARD COOLERS

[TX03RUBI]

I love out Yeti. We have had it for almost 10 years and its been great.

We did two weeks in Baja racing with a cooler that Pelican sent us to test. While I love pelican, I though the overall outer dimensions where massive, compared to the internal volume -- mostly because it has these big, built in molded handles unlike the rope handles of the yeti.

I also find the Yeti to be pretty indestructible. We did accidentally plow into the Pelican with the Race Truck during a pit stop. It ended being just find, but the plastic seems to scratch & gouge much easier than my yeti.

I’ve killed 1 yeti hard cooler, and 2 yeti soft coolers. They warrantied the soft coolers without a question. They boned me on the hard cooler.

 

[Legmar]

I am a HUGE RTIC fan! It travels a lot of places with me!

RTIC 65 QT Hard Cooler | Rotomolded Outdoor Ice Chest

Shop the RTIC 65-quart hard-sided cooler. Built with a rugged rotomolded design and heavy-duty insulation that locks in the cold for up to 7days. Holds 64 cans.

rticoutdoors.com

@Lunch Box I think this one with wheels would be perfect for you!

RTIC 52 QT Ultra-Light Wheeled Cooler | Rolling Ice Chest

Shop the RTIC 52 QT Ultra-Light Wheeled Cooler. Injection-molded to be 30% lighter than rotomolded options, holding 78 cans with up to 5 days of ice retention.

rticoutdoors.com

 

[henry5six]

I have a 50qt Pelican and have been very pleased with its performance. A 7lbs bag will last all day at the beach. Both SoCal and Gulf Coast, many lid openings to keep hydrated, you know.
A 5lbs bag will last a couple days, no problem during that ride from third coast to west cost. Don’t want to max out my GVWR…
It really does depend on number of lid openings and the relative humidity, direct sunlight, etc. I’m sure glad to get rid of those cheap XX brand coolers with those thin lids. That’s where they failed (no seal = no ice) and would warp if you sat on them.

 

[Dzho]

Or a third option -> https://shiticoolers.com

 

[WakeZilla]

Register your Yeti and they send you a pack of cool stickers...or is that decals?

Anyway, I've had and have many brands of coolers that work reasonably well for various situations. I've never been disappointed in any of my Yeti's and have had a few of them for many years with no issues. Did I mention stickers?

 

[njburn]

I am a HUGE RTIC fan! It travels a lot of places with me!

RTIC 65 QT Hard Cooler | Rotomolded Outdoor Ice Chest

Shop the RTIC 65-quart hard-sided cooler. Built with a rugged rotomolded design and heavy-duty insulation that locks in the cold for up to 7days. Holds 64 cans.

rticoutdoors.com

@Lunch Box I think this one with wheels would be perfect for you!

RTIC 52 QT Ultra-Light Wheeled Cooler | Rolling Ice Chest

Shop the RTIC 52 QT Ultra-Light Wheeled Cooler. Injection-molded to be 30% lighter than rotomolded options, holding 78 cans with up to 5 days of ice retention.

rticoutdoors.com

I am an RTIC junkie as well. I have been buying from them since they started. All of our cups, bottles & coozies that I have purchased are RTIC, the only Yeti I have is what I have received at no cost. I also have four RTIC coolers, 20qt, 45qt, 65qt & a soft sided. I'm not impressed by the 20qt but it is usually just a short trip cooler. The 45qt & 65qt are great. In fact we had the 65qt packed for a trip (everything pre-chilled & full of ice) and it started to freeze the gallon of water we had in it. Not too impressed with the soft-sided because of the difficult zipper but it is usually just a day cooler so I deal with it. All in all, RTIC drinkware & hard coolers all day, I would never pay for a Yeti.

 

[WakeZilla]

Yeti Soft sided coolers have an impossible zipper as well. Must be a "thing".

 

[AZsurveyor]

I am done with conventional coolers. I recently bought an electric cooler and I don’t plan on going back. No more dealing with ice. Has 2 sides so I have a fridge and a freezer. Even has a battery.

Which brand did you get?

I feel I'm in the same boat after I picked my electric cooler; heck I love it so much I even use it home when we have outtings.

 

[NightForceFan]

Which brand did you get?

I feel I'm in the same boat after I picked my electric cooler; heck I love it so much I even use it home when we have outtings.

I had some expiring Ford Pass points and picked up the electric cooler on there. Have yet to use it but hope to one of these days.

 

[OmahaBravo]

Not to throw a wrench into your search but might I suggest Lifetime? Lifetime 55 quart cooler $109 Yeti 45 $300 you will see they are very similar and I have had both and used both. Will never own a Yeti again and ice usage was pretty identical.

LIfetime has a 45Q 55Q 65Q 77Q and a massive 115Q

I have a Lifetime I bought at Sam's club (maybe thats where i went wrong?). Its the 55qt one IIRC. The lid on my lifetime the outside parts are flaring up as if you picked it up by the edges of the lid with it being heavy. Its warped and i dont know why. I think it still seals but its a two piece design, its not rotomolded (where the lid is one piece of plastic), so its not as rigid.

Last year I bought a 12v compressor fridge and we have a Yukon Gear soft side cooler. For us, this has met every scenario we've run into and also solved some problems we didnt know we had.

 

[OmahaBravo]

I am done with conventional coolers. I recently bought an electric cooler and I don’t plan on going back. No more dealing with ice. Has 2 sides so I have a fridge and a freezer. Even has a battery.

just saw this... 100% agree.
Once you get one... you wont NOT have one again.

 

[OmahaBravo]

Which brand did you get?

I feel I'm in the same boat after I picked my electric cooler; heck I love it so much I even use it home when we have outtings.

I bought an Iceco. It has OEM provisions for running off 12 or 120v (comes w adapter). If it poops out i'll probably buy the Ecoflow b/c it has a built in icemaker.
Buddy of mine swears by his Snomaster.

 

[Alpoba]

If you can afford a Yeti get a Yeti. For as long as i can remember RTIC was always bragging about their products being 1/2 the price of Yeti while being pretty much identical knock-offs! Yes, that was actually their marketing strategy: Hey, we didn’t design this nice looking box, but we sure know how to copy it to the meticulous level of detail.

Why reward them for it?

 

[HBTFD]

RTiC gives the same performance for less $ than Yeti. If you need a large cooler check out catergator.

 

[Alpoba]

If you can afford a Yeti get a Yeti. For as long as i can remember RTIC was always bragging about their products being 1/2 the price of Yeti while being pretty much identical knock-offs! Yes, that was actually their marketing strategy: Hey, we didn’t design this nice looking box, but we sure know how to copy it to the meticulous level of detail.

Why reward them for it?

View attachment 164805

This article pretty much summarizes it.

Cooler Wars: YETI Reaches Settlement With Rival RTIC

Both cooler brands are based in Texas and have similar products. But after a battle in court, one side is backing down.

gearjunkie.com

 

[WakeZilla]

Or a third option -> https://shiticoolers.com

Not sure I'm buying the cooler but I'm definitely ordering about half a dozen patches! I'm impressed that anyone with few enough brain cells to think this stuff up found a way to market and manufacture the product. Cracks me up, hope they become millionaires!

 

[rayw72]

After years of Yeti, I ended up going with Kong. The rubber straps on the Yeti deteriorated too quickly for me, if they didn't break first. Kong has metal latches.

KONG 70 Quart Rotomolded Coolers | KONG Cooler | Made in the USA

KONG 70 is perfect when you need to feed the whole crew or head out into the backcountry for an extended getaway | All KONG Coolers come with one divider for handy, in-cooler storage

www.kongcoolers.com

 

[FuelTankReInforcedSkidPlt]

You have to read the whole story of Yeti vs Rtic.

Rtic was founded by 2 of the early employees of yeti, who after making them solid products were upset yeti was only going after the high end market with high profits and price. They wanted to make quality affordable outdoor gear accessible to a wider audience and started rtic. Why the quality is almost there but the price is half.

is it stealing company secrets when you made them?


But like others iceco all the way and laugh at your friends having to stop by the store every few days for ice.

 

[Blade420Play🔪🏆]

If you can afford a Yeti get a Yeti. For as long as i can remember RTIC was always bragging about their products being 1/2 the price of Yeti while being pretty much identical knock-offs! Yes, that was actually their marketing strategy: Hey, we didn’t design this nice looking box, but we sure know how to copy it to the meticulous level of detail.

Why reward them for it?

View attachment 164805

I mean, they're both built in Asia... Kind of their whole business plan is to copy nice things and sell them a little to a lot cheaper I wouldn't buy either anyway

Correction, some of both are made in Asia, some stuff in Mexico, apparently the hard coolers are made here, my bad

 

[blumhagen]

Which brand did you get?

I feel I'm in the same boat after I picked my electric cooler; heck I love it so much I even use it home when we have outtings.

I went with the Amazon special bougeRV. Seems to be a rebrand as I've seen a few brands have a similar one. It was cheap enough I won't feel too bad if it breaks. If it does, I think I might go with the Anker one. It's been running a couple months and I've had no issues.