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Roto Molded Coolers

bigjbear

bigjbear

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Not trying to start a bash Yeti thread. Thinking about buying one to sit on the back deck. Right now I’m using a metal sided Colman for the purpose and it kind of sucks- gets hot to the touch, ice won’t make it through the weekend, and it needs a new latch. Had a plastic Igloo before that and it was fine until it wasn’t. Seemed like everything broke on it at once (which is kind of a good thing). I’d like to move that Coleman to party only duty and pick up something else for daily use.
Requirements: Needs to live outside, look kind of nice on the deck (no camo or big graphics), ~50 liters, hold ice for at least 4 days in 90* temps, prefer Made in the USA, and under $300. I thought about some of those “cooler on a cart” things that Home Depot sells, but they look worse than what I have now as far as functionality. I’d rather have a better cooler and just put on my little metal outdoor rolling table.

So what do you like? Yeti is the big name, and looks like it has a $100+ premium. RTIC is made in China. That gets rid of the two obvious choices. Looked at Orca, Cabelas, Kong, Pelican, Bison, Kenai, and Grizzly.
Really liked the Kong for features and the Kenai for price.

So, what have you got? Like it? Hate it? Some cool brand I’m missing or some reason not to buy one I’ve listed? I’m all ears :ears:

Edit to add: this will also go on fishing and car camping trips. :truck:
 
RTIC is a near duplicate of Yeti, or used to be at least.

Even some of Yetis stuff is not made in the US, I heard the Tundra is though. I’d bet the cabelas and other ls are also made overseas.
I like the Yeti, but I’d grab an RTIC if I needed a bigger cooler.
 
bp71k5 said:
RTIC is a near duplicate of Yeti, or used to be at least.

Even some of Yetis stuff is not made in the US, I heard the Tundra is though. I’d bet the cabelas and other ls are also made overseas.
I like the Yeti, but I’d grab an RTIC if I needed a bigger cooler.
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RTIC used to be close enough to Yeti that they got sued and had to change their design. You do have to watch which Yeti you’re buying to verify domestic vs import. Since this something I don’t “need” I’d like to try and stick with domestic, even if it costs me extra $
 
While I don't own one, Grizzly gets my vote. Awhile back I looked at head to head reviews and testing, from a couple of different places. I decided that Grizzly was the winner for me. USA made, not with drawing support from 2nd amendment and the equal if not better performance to Yeti for less $$
 
we have a few rtic coolers with no complaints. But between the yeti and rtic tumblers we have both my wife and I have noticed a difference in ice staying power. Not a lot, but enough to notice separately.
 
Smokinthehippies said:
we have a few rtic coolers with no complaints. But between the yeti and rtic tumblers we have both my wife and I have noticed a difference in ice staying power. Not a lot, but enough to notice separately.
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I really like the Yeti tumblers. I’ve got 3, plus 4 knock offs. The best one I own is actually a Walmart Ozark Trail. I put the Yeti magnet slider lids on all of them.
 
Wes Harden said:
While I don't own one, Grizzly gets my vote. Awhile back I looked at head to head reviews and testing, from a couple of different places. I decided that Grizzly was the winner for me. USA made, not with drawing support from 2nd amendment and the equal if not better performance to Yeti for less $$
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I think Grizzly also makes Kenai. I also saw a lot of good stuff about those two brands. I’m going hunt for a head to head on them.
 
bigjbear said:
I really like the Yeti tumblers. I’ve got 3, plus 4 knock offs. The best one I own is actually a Walmart Ozark Trail. I put the Yeti magnet slider lids on all of them.
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back when Rtic first hit the scene I ordered a couple of tumblers from them. I later got an email where I could order a case of 30 for $200. guess what I gave away as Christmas gifts that year :pimp1:
 
I have a big china knockoff rotomolded one from amazon. Company was called armbox. The usual random nonsense names they put on the import stuff. Its sweet. Super tough, ice for days, nice rope handles, metal latches and a center divider that I filled with salt water and keep in the deep freeze.. With some coupons and amazon deals I got it delivered here for about $75. Keep your eyes open, there are serious deals to be found. There is no real technology advantage of the brand names, its just a plastic rotomolded box with foam inside.
 
fourwheelerjeff said:
https://www.lifetime.com/customerservice/search?q=cooler

I don't know if these are USA made or not. I have seen them at WalMart and have often thought about getting one.
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I have a 55qt lifetime cooler the year before I got my arb fridge. Got it on sale at Wally world for $99. It works. 5 days on ice in 90° heat or better. On mountain trips with less ambient heat loads I didn't even worry about the ice.

I think they are made in Utah too.

Even though I have the arb in the truck the lifetime still gets used when we go to the lake or weekend events where the arb isn't really required.

They have 65 and 77 qt versions now too.
 
fourwheelerjeff said:
back when Rtic first hit the scene I ordered a couple of tumblers from them. I later got an email where I could order a case of 30 for $200. guess what I gave away as Christmas gifts that year :pimp1:
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ZooMad75 said:
I ha've a 55qt lifetime cooler the year before I got my arb fridge. Got it on sale at Wally world for $99. It works. 5 days on ice in 90° heat or better. On mountain trips with less ambient heat loads I didn't even worry about the ice.

I think they are made in Utah too. ^

Even though I have the arb in the truck the lifetime still gets used when we go to the lake or weekend events where the arb isn't really required.

They have 65 and 77 qt versions now too.
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That looks nice. Only knock I can see is it’s blow molded not rotomolded. But if it’s holding up on wheeling trips it probably doesn’t matter. That style is usually lighter, too. Thanks for the tip guys.
:thumb:
 
Blow molded, roto-molded, eh. All I know for the price it worked. The previous year before I got it, I used two marine style coolers that were 80qts each. I must have gone through $100 of ice over a week. The next year I had the lifetime for all of our drinks. My buddy brought a 12v fridge for our food. I think I added a bag of ice 4 days in to top it off to keep the cooler full, offsetting the drinks we pulled out. They work best with the entire volume of the cooler full.

The sides are just as thick as any roto-molded cooler. Stands to reason they would keep ice just as good as the other ones.
 
ZooMad75 said:
Blow molded, roto-molded, eh. All I know for the price it worked. The previous year before I got it, I used two marine style coolers that were 80qts each. I must have gone through $100 of ice over a week. The next year I had the lifetime for all of our drinks. My buddy brought a 12v fridge for our food. I think I added a bag of ice 4 days in to top it off to keep the cooler full, offsetting the drinks we pulled out. They work best with the entire volume of the cooler full.

The sides are just as thick as any roto-molded cooler. Stands to reason they would keep ice just as good as the other ones.
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Cool. That’s the kind of feedback I’m looking for.
 
If it’s on your deck can you just build your own cooler with nice thick insulated sides and a few cup holders built in?
 
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