Read some reviews on here and agree the Yeti is an awesome cooler, However I keep hearing of other coolers, like the Pelican for example, that perform as nicely, but a less cost. I am curious if anyone has seen or done comparisons. Gonna by a nice cooler and just trying to save some money. Any other brand recommendations appreciated.

I've been looking at both also, haven't made a decision.What gets me on most coolers is they mold those lousy cup holders into the lid right where the sun hits. With the cup holder indentation, there's no foam insulation there letting all of the sun heat in through the lid. How dumb, but on the other hand, people keep buying them...........Bill

Someone messaged me to try the RTIC cooler. Reviews look good compared to Yeti, and the 65 is only $199! That is what I am looking for, so any comments on that brand are wanted.

Read the negative reviews on Amazon.Also understand that if you use it for a drink cooler and you are in and out of it all day, it wont work any better than a cheap cooler.

Both the Yeti and Pelican are good choices. I have experience with both in my group that I camp and recreate with. In the end, I preferred the Pelican and bought a tan 65 quart model from Costco for about $250. I like the build quality of it and the price is much better for $ per actual capacity. I have used mine now on several trips and if you use it right, you can expect several days real cooling out of it. The downside to the Pelican 65 that I have is the weight. It's a handful for one person to move when loaded. The rigid handles make it pretty easy for two to move it. Also, warranty is better and it's made in USA.

Another one to look at is the Grizzly. We carry them in our archery shop. They are about 20% cheaper than the Yeti and they are more accurate on their quart size than Yeti. There are a few tricks I have learned for all the people that doubt these type of coolers. They hold heat just like they hold cold. So if yours is sitting outside in the backing sun with nothing in it and you just open it up, throw drinks in it, and throw ice it in you aren't going to get very good results because you have basically a hot cooler trying to hold that heat in and the ice isn't going to last long. If nothing else open it up and bring it inside your house for a few hours to cool it off. Or what we do is fill it up outside with cold well water and let that water cool the cooler down before loading it up.

Yeti or Pelican | Good Sam Community

Dick_A
Explorer
Dec 24, 2015
Too many off-topic posts.
patperry2766
Explorer II
Dec 23, 2015
WTP-GC wrote:
Johnny_H wrote:
...it is made in Texas and not China as with Yeti and the others.

Not sure where you get your information from:

***Link Removed***

"Our coolers are manufactured in the USA at facilities located in Iowa and Wisconsin as well as at a facility located in the Philippines."

of all the coolers listed in my above link, only Yeti has a mfg plant outside of the USA and has the shortest warranty at 5 years.

All the others, ORCA, Canyon Cooler, Pelican & Grizzly are 100% American made and have a lifetime warranty.

Another thing to consider it that all of these are bear proof. When we were in Colorado a couple of years ago camping in bear country, the park ranger made me put everything back in the truck and lock it up with the exception of my Pelican. We were even advised not to keep food in the pop-up camper so as not to take a change on luring one into the campground.
WTP-GC
Explorer
Dec 23, 2015
Johnny_H wrote:
...it is made in Texas and not China as with Yeti and the others.

Not sure where you get your information from:

***Link Removed***

"Our coolers are manufactured in the USA at facilities located in Iowa and Wisconsin as well as at a facility located in the Philippines."
patperry2766
Explorer II
Dec 23, 2015
cooler review

I have the big Pelican and have been happy with the results so far. I got 3 1/2 days this summer out of the cooler in August in Austin Texas (100 deg temps) with it sitting in direct sunlight and being used as the primary cooler with three boys digging in it multiple times during the day.

I think that if it was in shade, filled with more ice and only opened a couple times a day, then five days +/- a few hours would be more realistic...in the Texas summer.
Johnny_H
Explorer
Dec 23, 2015
Bumpyroad wrote:
Sam's club carries a Coleman or igloo? knock off. don't see any engineering miracles in a cooler myself. get a cheap Igloo and glue some extra sheets of insulation board on the sides. :)
bumpy

The Igloo "Sportsman" from Sam's is the same design concept as the Yeti, keeps ice for days, tough as nails,cheaper and most of all it is made in Texas and not China as with Yeti and the others.
hypoxia
Explorer
Dec 23, 2015
minnow wrote:
One can buy a lot of ice for a cheaper Coleman than for a $400 premium priced cooler. Unless you are going to be out in the wilds of the earth and not near a convienance store to buy ice every 3-4 days, I don't see why the average person needs something like this.

The average person doesn't need them & they probably aren't the folks that buy them. Spend some time on Lake Powell in the summer buying ice at Dangling Rope :E & suddenly a good ice chest makes sense at any cost.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Dec 23, 2015
majorgator wrote:

Always love the silly tests that don't take into account real world application. Put those coolers in the sun, on the boat, sloshing around all day in the bed of a truck, and that's your test criteria. There's more to a cooler than just how well it holds ice sitting stationary on a table being opened once every 4 days LOL
.

well I got bored and didn't even make it thru the introductions so can't comment on test criteria but I noticed that the yeti lookalike at Sam's club coleman or igloo??? wasn't representative of those in the test, and the igloo marine I didn't think that that was a High end unit.
But I do NOT think that you need real world applications to test and compare their ability to protect/keep stuff cold. as long as all coolers are tested in exactly the same manner I fail to see what that is not a valid comparison.
bumpy
TOMMY47
Explorer
Dec 22, 2015
Coleman Extreme 5 day at Walmart for about $45.
Keeps a block of ice for 4-5 days with opening few --5-7-- times per day.
Just got some cheap movers blankets at Harbor Freight to wrap it in as exterior insulation. I expect it to keep the ice longer.
nevadanick
Explorer
Dec 22, 2015
We use ours when we are a few days out and nowhere near a place to get more ice. I have also transported frozen meat to give to family. Not everyone is sitting in an rv park on wifi with ice nearby.
Andymon
Explorer
Dec 22, 2015
We've always like the Norcross soft side coolers.

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