The Yeti phenomenon...

[BigAlsGal]

Please tell me about these coolers that people are paying a fortune for. I've seen them work so I understand it does keep ice waaay longer than a regular cooler. I'm just trying to figure out the break even point. How many times would you have to use it to make it worth the money. I'm thinking of getting DH one for Christmas but if it's a dumb idea let me know.

 

[low-key]

I hear people talk of them all the time, I bet Big Al will love it

 

[Keli]

I bought my husband an off brand, Ozark trails, at Walmart and he thinks it works great. 30oz cup for $10 or so.

 

[mnrose]

Wow. I might be buying one of those ozark trail cups for my coffee. I drink a single large cup in the morning, and like to nurse it for an hour or more....it goes cold before I can finish it. Sounds like this thing might be perfect! I watched a few youtube videos and it was impressive how well it did vs. the MUCH more expensive competitor. One might say they are identical, except for price and a silly logo!

 

[kimblebee]

I'm in the 'it'll never get fixed' camp..

 

[sonnyjane]

Please tell me about these coolers that people are paying a fortune for. I've seen them work so I understand it does keep ice waaay longer than a regular cooler. I'm just trying to figure out the break even point. How many times would you have to use it to make it worth the money. I'm thinking of getting DH one for Christmas but if it's a dumb idea let me know.

The friends I have that own one are either fisherman and need to keep fish cool on trips for several days, or campers on multi-day trips. I don't know that having a cooler is something you can quantify to having a "break even" point, but for someone on a long weekend to still have ice 4 days later, that's valuable to them.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I hear they are popular, but OMG they are expensive. I've seen people with like mugs and stuff.

 

[luvsJack]

Several people around here have bought them for hurricane preparedness. For anyone thats been through a hurricane, the coolers will be worth their weight in gold.

Oldest ds bought the yeti bag cooler. They use it when they canoe or tube the creek. It won't sink but it keeps whatever cold. He uses it a lot on the summer and feels its well worth the cost.

I have a yeti cup. I take coffe to work in it and it stays hot to the last bit (which takes most of the morning). I wash it out and then fill with ice for water or tea the rest of the day. Stays good all day and I find myself buying a lot fewer cups of ice or bottles of water.

I think if you have a need for a cooler and keeping ice that long-its worth it. If you are just going to use for weekend cookouts, imo, its really not.

 

[scrhsa]

My Aunt has a Yeti cup and an Ozark Trails. She did a test and she said the Ozark Trails worked just as good if not better than the Yeti. My husband has an Rtic and it works really well too.

 

[firecracker725]

Wow. I might be buying one of those ozark trail cups for my coffee. I drink a single large cup in the morning, and like to nurse it for an hour or more....it goes cold before I can finish it. Sounds like this thing might be perfect! I watched a few youtube videos and it was impressive how well it did vs. the MUCH more expensive competitor. One might say they are identical, except for price and a silly logo!

I love my Ozark Trail cup so much that I've decided to give them as teacher gifts this Christmas with a vinyl decal. Under $20 and they freaking work. My cup held ice for two days.

 

[Malibustyle23]

I am willing to pay whatever price they want if it will allow me to dance on top of it on an old boat dock for LUKE BRYAN!




And if you don't listen to country music then just carry on especially since I have never used one and will honestly be too cheap to ever get one.

 

[debster812]

My parents spend most of the summer on their boat, cruising from southern Mass to the Cape and Islands, out to Block Island, and sometimes heading north to Maine. They have a YETI cooler, for many of their provisions for extended cruising times. WELL worth it to them.

 

[BigAlsGal]

I never thought about hurricane preparedness or fisherman using them. They would be great for those situations.

We would mainly be using it for camping. We are constantly having to buy ice for our coolers throughout the trip. Some places charge upwards of $5 a bag! What a rip!

 

[nighttowll]

I think it depends on how much you are going to use it. We went camping a couple of months ago and took two coolers. A yeti we borrowed from a friend and a regular cooler we had laying around. These were both good size coolers made of hard plastic, very comparable in size and shape. The non-yeti was not a cheap soft sided thing or anything like that.

We placed all our meat and perishables I was worried about spoiling in the heat in the yeti. We put everything else I just needed cold in the other cooler. We had to replace the ice in the regular cooler almost daily with bags from the camp store. We never replaced the ice in the yeti. The temp was running 100+ almost everyday, and we kept both coolers locked up in the car most of the time. Honestly, I was surprised both coolers performed as well as they did in those kinds of temps.

It was nice having the yeti, but I'd never buy one. We don't camp enough. Replacing the ice in a regular cooler wasn't a huge deal. We used the melted ice water for different things, and it was simple and inexpensive to buy a new bag. I'd have to purchase hundreds if not thousands of bags of ice before I came close to matching the cost of a yeti.

Now, if we were out in an area where we had no access to ice for days on end, or if we camped all the time, it would be different.

So, if you think your husband will get a lot of use out of it, it may be worth it. If not, I'd look for a friend to borrow one from. I've decided that is the way to go for us.

 

[aprilchem]

I don't know anything about the coolers, but the cups are awesome. We don't have any Yeti brand, but I have and RTIC 30 oz ($16) and each of my kids now have an Ozark brank from Wal-Mart ($9). They'll keep ice in a cup of water for almost 48 hours. It's so nice to always have ice water at hand!

 

[3 MEN AND A BOAT]

OP- their are cheaper brands that are identical. RTIC advertises as half the price of a yeti and lots of people seem happy with them. Sam's club has an igloo that's identical to yeti for around $2-300 depending on size, I've looked at these and they look good. Being able to see it in person is a big deal to me when spending what I consider a larger amount of $$$(I know $200 is pocket change to most DISers).
I've thought about trying one of these to keep cold waters in on long deliveries. I'm on the road all day and granted I don't have to buy ice, I have 2 large ice machines but it's more the irritation of filling my ice chest daily.

 

[bcla]

Since this is a Disney board, I thought maybe this was the subject:

 

[Jdbsfw]

Truth be told they are probably fantastic coolers (which they should be at the cost) most people that have them could probably get away with something less cheaper (but that's none of my business) but it's the window stickers I don't get.....I've seen some ragged pickup trucks that need obvious work but I'm supposed to believe you paid $400 for a cooler????

 

[TheJuiciestOfJs]

I have a pelican cooler. Much better construction and it was a bit cheaper than the yeti.

 

[Hikergirl]

We camp alot and I have thought about getting one but just can't pull the trigger because of the price. I was looking at the RTIC brand cooler as an alternative.
I love the idea that the ice will keep in the cooler for days, and that my food won't end up sitting in inches of ice cold water when the ice melts.