Coolers

Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Messages
1,527
Ahhh coolers! Keeps my water and beer cold!

Yeti 65,105 and Coleman 120 and 150. Keep the contents cold and the right amount of ice and you will have no issues! My Coleman’s are always in a state of repair!


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Agustas

FNG
Joined
Dec 1, 2019
Messages
25
I did a bunch of research before I bought an RTIC 65 theres a bunch of cooler tests on Youtube and they all get compared against yeti and all seem to do better as far as ice retention goes. RTIC seems to have some good sales
I’ve owned both.....for me Rtic hands down.
 
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
406
I would just like to have a reasonable priced one that I can clean the inside of, put it in the back of pickup and forget it until I need to store some meat in it. But everyone I've had lately, including a Coleman Extreme, leaks rain water profusely. Unreal that you have to spend hundreds to get a cooler that is rain tight. So for now I just turn the Coleman upside down until I need it.
 

rich99

FNG
Joined
Dec 10, 2019
Messages
18
i have a couple of the 77qt lifestyle coolers from walmart and they work just fine.
 
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Messages
1,902
Location
Florida
Still using the cheaper coolers but I keep the traveling to a minimum. Also not as concerned if someone takes them while hunting since they are so cheap
 

ID_Matt

WKR
Joined
May 16, 2017
Messages
1,345
Location
Southern ID
i have a couple of the 77qt lifestyle coolers from walmart and they work just fine.
I would second this. I have the 33, 55, and new 65. As far as bang for buck goes, I don't think you are going to find anything better. Just wish they made something in the 120 range. You can buy 3 of these lifetimes for the price of 1 of the more expensive brands. I have found them to hold ice just as well and it seems most reviews say the same.
 

BluMtn

WKR
Joined
Nov 24, 2016
Messages
1,013
Location
Washington
I have an RTIC 65 plus a couple colemans. I thing I have noticed on the RTIC is every now and then I will go to open the lid and can't. I have to open the drain to equalize the pressure in the cooler to get the lid to open. Other than that I really like my RTIC as long as it stays in the bed of my pickup. Loaded I am not man enough to unload it.
 
Joined
Sep 23, 2018
Messages
1,936
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
I use an RTIC 135 and this year loaded it up with about 100 pounds of ice, a week and a quartered mule deer later there was probably 60 pounds left and the meat was damn near frozen. It is a heavy sucker though. No way you’re moving it when it’s loaded.
 

mxgsfmdpx

WKR
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
Messages
4,183
Location
Central Arizona
In my opinion coolers are all about the application. Many guys don't match their cooler size and specs to properly meet what they are trying to do with them. Another issue is dealing with hot temps when we hunt in California and Arizona.

Also, unless you are simply keeping drinks cold for a one or two day barbecue, stop buying bags of ice. You are throwing away money and this is the quickest way to get frozen water to melt (crush up the ice and space it out in a cooler). The countless "cooler comparison videos" where some random guy (wearing sunglasses is mandatory btw) dumps bags of ice into different coolers and throws them outside makes me die a little inside haha. I can't believe people actually watch those videos and make buying decisions based on them.

I have used just about every cooler out there these days. Most of them do a great job if properly loaded, properly iced, and not opened and closed all the time. A dedicated ice cooler is a must if you're planning on hauling out lots of meat and keeping it cool for long periods of time.

At the truck/trailer or base camp, we keep a Pelican Elite 250 or 150 depending on group size, filled to the brim with frozen 1 gallon water jugs. As an example, the 250 can hold over 30 frozen 1 gallon jugs. This cooler never gets opened unless we show up back at the camp or truck with an animal and need to take some jugs out and move them to one of the meat coolers. We don't like to use the milk jugs, they are thinner plastic and an odd shape. The rectangular water jugs with the thicker plastic work much better. This cooler is purely for storing ice and moving ice to smaller coolers to keep animals cold until we get home to butcher.

The smaller coolers are chosen based on size of the animals we are hunting, and limiting empty airspace inside. Anywhere from a 50 quart to a 150 quart depending on how long the trip is, and what size animals we are hunting... We move the ice blocks into the appropriate cooler and put the meat on top, shut the lid and don't touch it until it gets home.

I am not endorsed by any companies but I have switched to using the Pelican Elite line of coolers for just about everything now. Their ice retention with frozen jugs is ridiculous. Lifetime warranty, awesome latches from their gun cases, true freezer grade seals, amazing heavy duty handles, molded in tie down points, bear proof... Tested this shit out this, this July on a family camping trip. We had black bears coming into our camp site in Lake Tahoe every single night for 10 nights. We ended up ratchet strapping the cooler down to keep them from trying to push it into the woods to work on away from the camp site haha. Cooler and latches are just fine.

I should do my own stupid ice retention test with my Elite 250 loaded up with frozen 1 gallon jugs. I've gone 2 and half weeks with 12, 1-gallon jugs and a ton of camping food, getting in and out of it multiple times a day. The jugs were still at least half ice and half water at the end of that trip. That was 85-88 degrees during the day and 53-55 overnight lows in July this past Summer. It would be fun to load the 250 up with 32 frozen 1 gallon jugs, shut the lid, and open it one week at a time and see how long it goes. Maybe I'll give this a go at home this late spring when it starts creeping into the 90's.
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2017
Messages
540
Location
WA
Haven't seen them posted here before, but Kong Coolers are outstanding. Great accessory packages, ice retention, and overall design. Made in the PNW -- Ridgefield, WA.

The only "complaint" I have is that they're slightly larger dimensionally than a Yeti.

A Kong 110 is ~$100 less than a Yeti 110, just for reference.

They get my money for hard coolers.
 

Lil dude

FNG
Joined
Mar 27, 2013
Messages
36
In my opinion coolers are all about the application. Many guys don't match their cooler size and specs to properly meet what they are trying to do with them. Another issue is dealing with hot temps when we hunt in California and Arizona.

Also, unless you are simply keeping drinks cold for a one or two day barbecue, stop buying bags of ice. You are throwing away money and this is the quickest way to get frozen water to melt (crush up the ice and space it out in a cooler). The countless "cooler comparison videos" where some random guy (wearing sunglasses is mandatory btw) dumps bags of ice into different coolers and throws them outside makes me die a little inside haha. I can't believe people actually watch those videos and make buying decisions based on them.

I have used just about every cooler out there these days. Most of them do a great job if properly loaded, properly iced, and not opened and closed all the time. A dedicated ice cooler is a must if you're planning on hauling out lots of meat and keeping it cool for long periods of time.

At the truck/trailer or base camp, we keep a Pelican Elite 250 or 150 depending on group size, filled to the brim with frozen 1 gallon water jugs. As an example, the 250 can hold over 30 frozen 1 gallon jugs. This cooler never gets opened unless we show up back at the camp or truck with an animal and need to take some jugs out and move them to one of the meat coolers. We don't like to use the milk jugs, they are thinner plastic and an odd shape. The rectangular water jugs with the thicker plastic work much better. This cooler is purely for storing ice and moving ice to smaller coolers to keep animals cold until we get home to butcher.

The smaller coolers are chosen based on size of the animals we are hunting, and limiting empty airspace inside. Anywhere from a 50 quart to a 150 quart depending on how long the trip is, and what size animals we are hunting... We move the ice blocks into the appropriate cooler and put the meat on top, shut the lid and don't touch it until it gets home.

I am not endorsed by any companies but I have switched to using the Pelican Elite line of coolers for just about everything now. Their ice retention with frozen jugs is ridiculous. Lifetime warranty, awesome latches from their gun cases, true freezer grade seals, amazing heavy duty handles, molded in tie down points, bear proof... Tested this shit out this, this July on a family camping trip. We had black bears coming into our camp site in Lake Tahoe every single night for 10 nights. We ended up ratchet strapping the cooler down to keep them from trying to push it into the woods to work on away from the camp site haha. Cooler and latches are just fine.

I should do my own stupid ice retention test with my Elite 250 loaded up with frozen 1 gallon jugs. I've gone 2 and half weeks with 12, 1-gallon jugs and a ton of camping food, getting in and out of it multiple times a day. The jugs were still at least half ice and half water at the end of that trip. That was 85-88 degrees during the day and 53-55 overnight lows in July this past Summer. It would be fun to load the 250 up with 32 frozen 1 gallon jugs, shut the lid, and open it one week at a time and see how long it goes. Maybe I'll give this a go at home this late spring when it starts creeping into the 90's.

what do you mean by square water jugs?
 

Hunt41

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Nov 3, 2019
Messages
178
Location
PA
Great advice. But I’ve been happy with my cheapo coolers. Filled with frozen 2 liter bottles.
 

Honyock

WKR
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
821
Location
Edmond, OK
+1 on RTic. Just as good as a Yeti and you don’t have to pay for all the Yeti advertisements and retail mark up.
 

Wassid82

WKR
Joined
Dec 4, 2018
Messages
491
I bought one yeti 165 and found it to be so much better than my other coolers that I also bought a 65 a few years later. I hate the price but I can't argue the quality so I would likely buy another
 
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