RTIC Coolers

[Robert Haynes]

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?

[bobo23]

Originally Posted by Robert Haynes

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?

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 $.

[Robert Haynes]

Originally Posted by bobo23

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 $.

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

[redchaserron]

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.