Can These CHEAPER Coolers Beat a YETI?

I put a famous YETI Tundra cooler up against 10 CHEAPER coolers head to head to see if any of them can hold ice longer than a Yeti. The results were surprising! See if you can save hundreds of dollars and still have top notch ice retention.

In this video I compare coolers from YETI, RTIC, Coleman, Igloo, Blue, Cordova, Engel, Lifetime, and Ozark Trail. They range in price from $60 to $350. I hope it helps you find a great cooler for camping, hunting, fishing, beach days, or whatever it is you like to do outdoors.

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[malfunctionjunction]

I would go with the one that is the lowest price. We always run out of beer before the ice is melted any way. Use the money saved to buy more beer.

[bourbonbrigade]

Just a dude with a cooler describes 99.9999% of us! Great video!

[darrylpaterick]

I've always used 2L juice bottles (filled with water and frozen) instead of ice. Keeps your food more or less dry, and lasts longer than cubed ice.

[justaguy]

Dude, THIS is an excellent side-by-side comparison. It gives us a cost/benefit comparison to work with.

[rapmeister]

I bought the Ozark Trail cooler about 4 yrs ago. I’ve gone camping with it twice with temps in the high 90s, and it kept my stuff below 40 degrees & still had ice for 4 days.

[robertbanning]

Bought the Ozark trail rotomolded for 65 on sale. Bought a few cans of expansion foam. Drilled 2 1/4"holes in opposite sides of the lid and body. Injected foam until it copious flowed out . Allowed 3 days for the foam to completely dry then sealed the holes with epoxy. That thing held frozen milk jugs for 11 days in Indian summer in the gila mountains of New Mexico. On day 12 when I got home the jugs were still partially frozen and the sodas were still cold.

[ThothGrowth]

Vids like this are great for demonstrating that the line between functioning and luxury aren't that far apart in performance.

[SwanseaTitanFan]

6 days? I need my cooler to keep beer cool for about 18 hours max. Colman still works for me.

[jimt]

I've been camping for almost 50 years. I had the opportunity to use a Yeti on a weeklong camp a few years ago.
Yes it holds ice a little longer. But not enough to offset the expense and the loss of interior space. My go to for decades has been a steel belted Coleman but any decent $100 cooler will more than take care of the typical camper, boater etc. I'm sure there are practical applications for these high dollar coolers if your not going to have access to ice for an extended period of time. For the average person its simply a status symbol that needs to locked up if you leave camp.

[jordond]

Now these are the type of videos we need to see more of on the internet not nerds asking women on the street dirty questions. Great job, nice duster.

[markrush]

got an old red metal Coleman cooler..it was my old man's ..its probably 50 years old. recently it held ice for 3 days after we had a birthday party. and it was outside in the heat and in sun part of the day.

[gypsyboomer]

one of the best real world comparisons I have seen on coolers. Thanks for the info.

[lizzieb]

Love my RTIC! I just got me thru another hurricane (Milton) without power for four days.

[dennis]

A smaller SetPower 12/24V compressor cooler/freezer for under $150.00 was my choice over ice. It ran 2 weeks in 100 degrees in the sun and kept my soda very cold. I had the AC to DC plugged into the wall. Then used it 3 days in the car and since then it has been indoors running for a year holding my soda just over freezing. No melted ice mess or cost, no draining, very very low electricity consumption, no opening the main refrigerator door every time someone wants a drink. Very quiet too.

[T-Black-mw]

bruh great am making a 1700 mile journey in my SUV and was about to go buy a yeti so i dont have to keep adding ice....thank you so much for showing me the light....SUBSCRIBER here!!!

[terryprater]

I made what I call some "poor man's Yetis". I went to some garage sales and bought 3 of the old Coleman metal-sided 54 qt coolers with the metal cinch-down latches. Got them cheap. $10-$15/cooler. I then went to a construction site and picked up some of the 1" blue insulation board scraps which the contractor was going to throw away. I cut the insulation to size and used contact cement to adhere it to and lined the inside of the coolers. I put one layer on the sides and bottom and two layers in the lid. I had removed the original lid insulation. We do a lot of week-long camping trips. After adding 2 one-gallon ice jugs to each of the coolers, I filled them with perishables. I kept them all covered with wool army blankets and tried to keep them in the shade as much as possible. The area we camped in was fairly barren i.e., not that many shade trees around. Temps were in the 80's during the day. On the 5th day, we finally got around to opening the third and final cooler which had not been opened since I filled it. I had packed it with frozen meat and some frozen homemade chili which was in zip-lock bags. To my amazement, everything in that cooler was still pretty much frozen. I remember that the package of chili on the very top was starting to get a little bit soft. But that was all. Since then, I've acquired two more of these old coolers and some more insulation. Garage sales are cool. 😉😎 And that's the low-down on my "poor man's yeti". 😁

[StarshipTrooper]

Awesome of you to take the time to perform this comparison, edit the video, absorb whatever expenses involved…..I always bought cheap coolers, (usually Igloo’s and Coleman’s) then I won a Yeti 20 and have really liked it…your hard work has me now looking for a Blue Ice Vault…..thanks for the “Battle of The Coolers” video…
Oh yeah: How’s the Stink Balls working?

[MrEMann]

Good job. Just a tip on the IR thermometer. Point it at the tape you used to hold the hanging thermometer, color absolutely affects the temp they read. So it would be consistent.

[rick]

I have had Rubbermaid coolers for 18 years now and they are superb. I use ice from my local beer place and the right ratio of ice to water and any bottle/can will stay very cold for 48 hrs at least. I never buy trendy, social media hype like Yeti, Jackery and such. I buy value and dependabilty first.

[turdferguson]

of note is the Cordova is made in America (several others were too which is great to see). one of the big reasons i bought one a couple years ago. also just a good cooler overall, even if it doesnt hold ice quite as long in testing conditions. im not out camping for weeks on end away from ice so that wasnt a deal breaker for me. and those latches are "upside down" so that you can open the cooler easier if it is packed in with things around it since you dont have to get your hand down underneath the latches to flip them up. the metal handles on it are great too, make it much easier to carry and they feel very premium. that blue was impressive though. that little valve on the front of the blue that allows for dry ice is also a pretty clever little feature. one to consider.