any other good competitors making something american made.

K2 and Encel is good from what I hear but those are just as much as a Yeti now. The Rtic is a nice cooler but the 2-month wait is just crazy.

I know of no polyethylene/high insulation rating coolers made in the US. Mostly injection molded SE Asia and imported by US companies.

What about Pelican? I heard those are made in the USA. I know some one who has one and its nice but super bulky. a little to heavy for my liking but he loves his.

Igloo

It all comes from over seas!! Just cause they put them together in Texas or la. They can say there made in the US!! And every company dose it!! Just look at you car/truck. Or your boat/ motor your stove,ac., bed,boots,shoes,lifejeckets !!! And research it!! You will be surprised !!

That's not true man, Igloo injection molds right over in Texas.

So I have thought about one of these "super coolers". I decided against it, not because of cost but it seemed they are heavy and for their size, hold less. Since I like my fish on an ice slush and change out the dirty ice daily anyway, I decided against getting one. Am I missing it somewhere here? Now, no doubt on a 2 day trip or more on the water or extended hunting trip, they would be the thing but when coming back to camp everyday where I have ice, are they practical?

No its absolutely not practicable. Especially if you are going to be opening it a lot putting fish in or getting drinks out of it. If you were in a remote location without access to ice, it would make sense to have one to store ice only.

Ok, I'll put my 2 cents in on this one. I have both Yeti and K2. One is definitely superior to the other. Believe me, I speak from experience. I use the hell out of these ice chests. Yes, they keep ice great, but for me, the main benefit is that they are super tough. I was always repairing my Igloos. And heaven forbid I leave one at the meat market with my deer meat. Always would come back broken in some form or fashion. I have yet to make any repair to the Yeti or the K2. You can bang them around and it wont matter. For me, that makes them worth the $.

These coolers aren't about the ice they hold, that's a dead horse.

Not heavy polyethylene unless the have a new product I am unaware of. Has been ABS plastic which is prone to UV degradation/cracking over time.

RTIC Coolers
 

I agree with the toughness. That's the only reason I have a yeti, mine has rode in the back of my truck for the past 4 years. A cheap cooler would have fallen apart or flown out the back by now. And as Goooh stated, it has magic powers...they disappear when not chained up.


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I have to agree with your point and have to admit that I do have to carry around a bag of replacement parts for the igloos, mostly stainless replacement parts.
Good point

I like the premium coolers because I use one as a center seat in my skiff. An igloo lid will warp quickly with my fat friends sitting on it.

On another note, Last week I made a 5 day camping trip with my daughter. Because of the length of the trip and the fact that I wanted to cook a lot and eat well, my 70 qt k2 wouldn't have been big enough so I pulled out my old Igloo 120qt. I loaded it with a lot of ice. I filled 2 - 2 gallon zip locs with water and froze them, and also froze about 15 half liter water bottles, put all of that in, loaded with food and drinks, then dumped a couple of 10# bags of loose ice on top. We camped for 5 days, in and out of the chest (especially the 10 year old), returning on a Friday. I didn't unload the chest until the next day (the 6th day). The 2 big chunks of ice were still much larger than I expected and the half liter bottles that were closer to the bottom of the chest were still partially froze. Pretty darn good ice retention for a "non premium" cooler. I did chill everything that was going into the cooler before putting it in, that, and pre chilling your cooler makes a big difference in how long any chest will hold ice.

If you are buying one of the premium coolers for ice retention my advice is to save your money. They are much more durable than the standard igloo tough. I had a pelican I was so proud to get, I ended up hating that ice chest. Too heavy and bulky, ice retention was no better on a day of fishing used side by side with my Igloo 5 day ice chest. I sold the pelican on Craigslist and bought 2 more 5-day igloos.

several years ago when the Academy opened in Houma they ran igloo 48 qt ice chest on sale for 5 or 10 bucks for their grand opening. I bought 6. Still have all but one and use them for everything. The one missing got backed over by a drunk cousin in a big 4wd truck. The rest are fine and I just drug 2 of them on our road trip. I bought a bunch of hinges latches and plugs once on sale and put them in a box in the shed. I have changed many a part and they keep going with little maintenance. They stay cold 2 or 3 days depending on use. For the price I am very happy. Sure I buy about twice as much ice. But I cant even imagine spending that kind of money on a cooler.

If you really want to keep your beer cold in your premium ice chest, Load it up w/ all your beer and food on friday night and load it up w/ ice. Dump a box of kosher salt on top and close the lid. guarantee cold food and beer for at least 5 days.
BTW if you do follow my instructions , make sure and bring a jack hammer on your trip.

Most people who say ice retention sucks in any ice chest just chunk luke warm drinks into a luke warm ice chest then throw ice in, and are perplexed at how quickly the ice disappears.

Precool that bad boy and the drinks and prepare to be amazed