# RTIC Coolers



## Bosco (Jan 2, 2017)

I hope they are ok coolers, I just ordered one. Placed order online, 5 minutes later received email confirming order had shipped, with tracking numbers.
I know they have been in the news lately concerning Yeti, thought I would try one while I could. By the way they are running a pretty good sale, got the 45qt. reg. price 174 for 122, just info, no connection to the company.


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## chuckitfar (Jun 29, 2014)

I have no personal experience with these coolers. I also have been pondering a purchase. From all that I have researched and have seen on youtube, I think that you will be more than happy with your purchase. And with all of the money that you have saved, think of the gear you can buy with it!


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## DaBig2na (Aug 7, 2011)

Yeah, well you get what you pay for!

If you're going to baby the cooler it will probably be ok.. I think their (RTIC ) 20qt would make a pretty good " bait cooler" but I think over time you'll find the RTIC will not hold up. The lid will warp and not be as sealed as you think. You can feel the difference in the plastics. Along with that THIRTY DAY warranty.. Let us know how that works out when you need customer support.

Yeti says five years warranty, but I've called them over a cooler that was well over five years old and they never asked how old the cooler was. Sent me what I needed free of charge. I've had them replace anything from tee shirts to lid seals at no expense to me. They replaced a cooler recently that had a small defect. I sent them a picture they made a decision to replace the entire cooler FREE. 

Pelican is another company that also has top notch customer service . Lifetime warranty!
Orca, and K2 also back their product well. 

The whole THIRTY DAY Warranty would send up a red flag with me.


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## Bosco (Jan 2, 2017)

2na of all here I certainly value you're opinion. We only use our coolers 3-5 times a year so hopefully it will last a while. If not I can get another and still be ahead of Yeti price, I'm sure they are good, just not in the budget. Thanks for the honest input.


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## js1172 (Jun 5, 2012)

just read today that Rtic settled with yeti, they won't be selling someproducts any more, anybody got the scoop on that?
js


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## bronzbck1 (Jun 13, 2007)

Yeti won and you might have gotten the last cooler


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

those rotomolded coolers are meant for long term storage leaving it closed ... for a cooler you are in and out of all day long they are not needed


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## DaBig2na (Aug 7, 2011)

Sorry surfchunker".. You don't know what you're talking about ... Even if you are in and out of it all day it still hold ice better than a cheap igloo or whatever...I own about six yeti coolers of different sizes. And have had the, for a number of years..

On the Yeti vs RTIC suit... RTIC has to pay yeti a cash settlement which I figured they would. RTIC has to redesign all hard side coolers and Hoppers. I'm not sure what they are doing with existing inventory. Most likely dumping it before getting caught. Probably means the end of the line for RTIC..

Yeti was sold last year to a huge investment company for just over 3.billion dollars. So they have some of the very best lawyers and lots of money for law suits.


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## digiRAMbo (Dec 16, 2015)

Bosco said:


> I hope they are ok coolers, I just ordered one. Placed order online, 5 minutes later received email confirming order had shipped, with tracking numbers.
> I know they have been in the news lately concerning Yeti, thought I would try one while I could. By the way they are running a pretty good sale, got the 45qt. reg. price 174 for 122, just info, no connection to the company.


Man... Not sure if I should thank you or not. Just spent some $$ on a Roto-Molded and a SoftPak... Definitely an impulse buy, thinking that they will either be sold out or removed from their website soon. I own both Yeti and Rtic tumblers and really don't have a preference (in terms of performance) one over the other. I also saw that replacement parts are all sold out... There might be people hoarding these parts to sell them at a premium in the future.


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## obxchap (Dec 21, 2014)

I love my 65qt rtic have had it since they first came out. I have never had any issue with it that I had to call customer service to try and get anything replaced. I use it alot when summer comes it is pretty much used everyday. Great cooler and not over priced


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## DaBig2na (Aug 7, 2011)

I'm not saying that the RTIC is a bad investment. Just know at you get what you pay for. I felt when they first came out a couple years ago and Yeti had them tied up in court it wasn't going to end well for RTIC . Coupled with the fact that you had to pay for the coolers and wait in some cases more than ninety days to get your cooler was another issue altogether. 

There has to be enough difference in the coolers as not to infringe on your competitors. RTIC just didn't have enough. The Tumblers and other drinkware is not a new idea and stainless tumblers have been around long before Yeti ever started marketing them. The Ozerk Trail 30 ounce tumbler Walmart sells for ten bucks looks exactly the same as the yeti and is of equal quality. I can't see paying the Yeti price in that case.

If you can get an RTIC super cheap, I say buy it. 

It's still better than a cheap igloo, Gott, or Coleman and will hold ice far longer even if you are in and out of it. When and if it becomes damaged or the lid warps you'd have probably gotten your $$ out of it anyway.
Im pretty rough on my 45 Yeti because I stand on it a lot when it's in my boat. The 65 I have gets beat up in other ways besides being pretty heavy when it's full of ice or whatever. Yeti has made everything I have ever called them about RIGHT. Customer service after the sale is important to me, so I don't mind spending the extra $.


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## River (Sep 30, 2006)

I bought my first Yeti cooler approx. 8 yrs ago from Ginger at F & F's .... Prior to that I bought a cooler every 2 yrs, I'm rough on coolers. That 70 qt Yeti stayed cable locked in the bed of my truck for almost 5 years when I lived in Frisco and fished everyday that was fishable, it was opened thousands of times, probably over 50 times by Marine fisheries officers. It bounced around hard, rode thru snowstorms, sandstorms and long trips home for all those years ..... It's sitting out here in the carport covered up now awaiting my return to the OBX .... The rubber latch's are a little cracked and weather from the sun, it has a few knife marks on the top from when the blitz was on and I got in a hurry ..... Best cooler I've ever owned, money well spent .... River


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

I have a yeti 60, a yeti soft and an rtic soft. I can tell you the cost saving in the rtic come in the form of MUCH cheaper components. I like the design of the rtic over the yeti soft but the yeti will still be in use in 10 years. I don't think the rtic will be. Just a hunch. As for the hard cooler, I dropped the cash on a yeti because o was sick of finding my coolers cracked or losing a catch because of a crack (happened once, never again). 

Are the yeti expensive, oh hell yes. Can you buy a lot of cheap color for $300, oh hell yes. 
Have I had a. Issues with my yeti in 5 years? Nope. Would i buy it again, yes! I don't get to the beach as much as I used to but I use the yeti all the time, and the Soft side is killer for picnics, shopping etc. 

As for the stainless steel cups, there is no difference between the yeti, rtic and Walmart versions. I saved my money there and got wallyworld and rtic


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

I've got a collection of good coolers, Pelican, Engel, Calcutta, and a Yeti (thanks 2na). I wish I had bite the bullet sooner when it came to a quality cooler. $pend it , get a good one, you'll never regret it, years from now you'll still be using it long after all those lower price junk was picked up by the trash truck.


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## Got Fish? (Dec 31, 2014)

spydermn said:


> As for the stainless steel cups, there is no difference between the yeti, rtic and Walmart versions. I saved my money there and got wallyworld and rtic


The water bottles are a different story, though. YETI water bottles simply outperform any other bottle on the market. Also, they are seriously indestructible.


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## bronzbck1 (Jun 13, 2007)

The yeti cup is dishwasher safe the others I've seen are not.


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## DaBig2na (Aug 7, 2011)

Got Fish? said:


> The water bottles are a different story, though. YETI water bottles simply outperform any other bottle on the market. Also, they are seriously indestructible.


Not sure how the discussion steered towards drinkware..

Cups, tumblers, water bottles, can coolers
Again , not a new idea! 

Look inside the old green Stanley Thermos ... 

All of them are about the same.. Probably made in the same Chinese factory.. All of them are stainless steel containers with in another stainless steel shell. With an air pocket between them.

As long as you pre-cool or pre heat them all work the same.

And honestly if you have to have a high priced can hugger to keep your beer cold. You ain't drinking it fast enough. Beer wasn't made for sipping.


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## Les (May 28, 2000)

I happened to be at Dick's Sporting Goods yesterday and walked by their display of YETI coolers. I can't believe anyone would pay that much for a cooler! Must the free window decal.  Seriously, I have a 65qt. Coleman Xtreme that held ice for five days while at Floyd Fest last summer. My wife and I were in and out of the cooler several times a day. I paid $40 for it at Walmart on sale. Just different strokes, as they say.


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## surfchunker (Apr 10, 2006)

DaBig2na said:


> Sorry surfchunker".. You don't know what you're talking about ... Even if you are in and out of it all day it still hold ice better than a cheap igloo or whatever...I own about six yeti coolers of different sizes. And have had the, for a number of years..
> 
> On the Yeti vs RTIC suit... RTIC has to pay yeti a cash settlement which I figured they would. RTIC has to redesign all hard side coolers and Hoppers. I'm not sure what they are doing with existing inventory. Most likely dumping it before getting caught. Probably means the end of the line for RTIC..
> 
> Yeti was sold last year to a huge investment company for just over 3.billion dollars. So they have some of the very best lawyers and lots of money for law suits.


I have one too and can't tell hundreds of dollars difference between it and a Coleman extreme, but now Prechilling one and then loading it up and leaving it locked down they do great but everytime you open one you loose all that cold air, I Like using block ice a lot


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

Les said:


> ...... I can't believe anyone would pay that much for a cooler! Must the free window decal.  Seriously, I have a 65qt. Coleman Xtreme that held ice for five days while at Floyd Fest last summer. ..... I paid $40 for it at Walmart on sale.


The first time you use dry ice and it makes that cooler brittle and it cracks you will see the difference. I held out for years until I went boar hunting and used my xtream that I had used the year before for getting a couple hundred pounds of yellowfin back home. We threw in dry ice. Worked great that time. When I dropped the boar in the bones punched holes in the cooler and ruined it. Fast forward to now. I use dry ice almost every trip back from the OBX. Never had or will have an issue with the Yeti


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## digiRAMbo (Dec 16, 2015)

spydermn said:


> The first time you use dry ice and it makes that cooler brittle and it cracks you will see the difference. I held out for years until I went boar hunting and used my xtream that I had used the year before for getting a couple hundred pounds of yellowfin back home. We threw in dry ice. Worked great that time. When I dropped the boar in the bones punched holes in the cooler and ruined it. Fast forward to now. I use dry ice almost every trip back from the OBX. Never had or will have an issue with the Yeti


Out of curiosity, were you following directions? Coleman website states "Use dry ice to keep food frozen. Place the dry ice on top of the food. Be sure that the dry ice is wrapped in heavy layers of newspaper. Do not let dry ice come in direct contact with the interior liner or your hands."

I started with a 7 year old Igloo (which worked okay) and needed a larger one and bought a Coleman Xtreme. It doesn't hold cold as well as the 7 year old Igloo and there were few times where my Wawa sandwiches were soaked because ice melted too quickly. After watching many youtube videos comparing RTIC to YETI, I thought that it was worth trying. I hope that it really makes a difference. I like my drinks cold and sandwiches dry. I am also too lazy to re-fill the ice, even though that's a much cheaper solution, lol. I think that's the case for many people. Either too lazy to re-fill or they are at places where ice isn't easily accessible.

I am really surprised at what Les is saying about the Coleman Xtreme. Five days is good. For me, half of the ice had melted by the 2nd day in the middle of summer (left in the car). Maybe I have a faulty one.


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

Yes I did. Meat was on the bottom. DI was on the top with a piece of cardboard in between it and the food. I never got any days out of my Xtream, usually a day. That was even after chilling the cooler before I put food/drinks in it. 

any Rotocoolers work better when they are prechilled. if you can get a block of dry ice and leave it in the cooler with some regular ice 24-48 hours before using. If you do this the core of the injected foam gets COLD and will not so quickly warm when you put food in it. Also, less air inside = less cold loss later


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## OldBay (May 15, 2003)

DaBig2na said:


> And honestly if you have to have a high priced can hugger to keep your beer cold. You ain't drinking it fast enough. Beer wasn't made for sipping.


Amen brother.


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## Garboman (Jul 22, 2010)

"And honestly if you have to have a high priced can hugger to keep your beer cold. You ain't drinking it fast enough. Beer wasn't made for sipping."

I just put some ice on Busch bottled beer, I am at a Motel in KDH, and the ice machine is real close. If I get an inkling that the ice has melted down too much, I chuck another load of ice in. I can not stand huggies, I compensate by drinking fast and not letting the beer warm up.

At the moment the Beer cooler I am using is an igloo 45 quart non Roto-molded, not very expensive does not keep ice much longer than a day or two.

I am thinking about spending some time on Portsmouth Island. 

Icey-Tek was the cooler everyone was keen on a few years back, then Icey-Tek went away and that fella from Walkers Cay started repeating himself "Keeps Ice Longer".

Walkers Cay is no more, wiped out by a direct Hurricane hit, if a Private Equity Firm decided to buy Yeti, you can bet they will not be putting them on sale any time soon. What likely the Private Equity firm will do is what they usually do, they will take out a vast amount of debt based on an unrealistic valuation of Yeti, pay themselves handsomely and some years down the road Yeti will go out of business due to overwhelming debt load.

I am really going to roll the dice by traveling to Portsmouth without a Yeti, but I will just have to live life on the edge...

Went Trout Fishing in KDH this morning, No Trout, No Puppies, got some sun though, somewhere someone may be on the fish, but not me, it was nice walking barefoot, in shorts and a t-shirt with sub 50 degree water that was calm and slightly stained.


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

Garbo ,Good luck on Portsmouth. You may get that "1st."Drum by meeting them as they come north. Very risky going with out a Yeti to keep your beer cold ,May end up with a warm Busch


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## liljoe (Jul 20, 2010)

160z Millers might need a 12oz coozie - lol. Gotta Coleman Extreme,just stop by the "twice the ice" at RIGHTon12 baitshop in Buxton-you can buy a lot of ice for $200...liljoedafishho


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

liljoe said:


> 160z Millers might need a 12oz coozie - lol. Gotta Coleman Extreme,just stop by the "twice the ice" at RIGHTon12 baitshop in Buxton-you can buy a lot of ice for $200...liljoedafishho


You can get a lot of ice for 200.00, But you have to be near someplace to get it, Also that's time spent not fishing and fuel used to go out and back,I know fuel spent will cost more than ice.
So no saving just a net loss . But if your only out fishing once a year a hi end cooler may not be for you. Now if you're a committed fishermen,out many times a year its worth the investment in quality gear. Buy Quality Once, Cry Once. You'll save in the long run. A good friend once said to me "If you don't have the money to buy quality, Save till you do,then you'll only spend it once " I found that to be true.


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## OldBay (May 15, 2003)

When the RTIC went on deep discount 2 weeks ago I ordered 1 of each size. They were cheap enough to give them a chance. Apparently they are so close to Yeti that a court ordered them to make changes. Worth a shot.


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

In a chat exchange with RTIC I have come to find out that they do only have a 30 day warranty now,was 7 years,(sad) But about May they will have new 2017 models with new features and design (you can find it on Facebook) No mention of what the warranty period will be for the new models. I will hold judgment till I see the next generation in May.
Unless they make their Tumblers dishwasher safe I'll have to stay with Yeti on that one.


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

Jollymon said:


> Now if you're a committed fishermen,out many times a year its worth the investment in quality gear. Buy Quality Once, Cry Once. You'll save in the long run. A good friend once said to me "If you don't have the money to buy quality, Save till you do,then you'll only spend it once " I found that to be true.


 So true. I use mine for so many things other than just fishing. Outings, tailgating, picnics, hunting, traveling, fishing, (car) camping, school events....I could justify a bigger one if I didn't have a wife 

That being said, the damn things are rock solid. Like I said I feel they are twice as good as an RTIC so I got one.


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## digiRAMbo (Dec 16, 2015)

Jollymon said:


> In a chat exchange with RTIC I have come to find out that they do only have a 30 day warranty now,was 7 years,(sad) But about May they will have new 2017 models with new features and design (you can find it on Facebook) No mention of what the warranty period will be for the new models. I will hold judgment till I see the next generation in May.
> Unless they make their Tumblers dishwasher safe I'll have to stay with Yeti on that one.


Hmm... Why do you think that Yeti tumblers are dishwasher safe and RTIC tumblers aren't? They are virtually the same. I recall seeing "Do not put in dishwasher" on the instructions for the Yeti bottle that I got. I hand wash all of my tumblers because I don't think that tumblers really need to be washed for several hours when I can clean it thoroughly in 3 mins or less. Usually it's less time, since I'm just rinsing off water/coffee/whatever drink. Not like it has grease that needs to be scrubbed off.

After looking around, I think that Yeti initially released them saying that they are not dishwasher safe and after further testing, they changed that statement. You could probably put RTIC in the dishwasher too (ones that are not powder coated), but it's just not encouraged.


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## Les (May 28, 2000)

"I am really surprised at what Les is saying about the Coleman Xtreme. Five days is good. For me, half of the ice had melted by the 2nd day in the middle of summer (left in the car). Maybe I have a faulty one."
Yep, I was pleasantly surprised myself. Most don't perform like advertised. We packed it with about 35# of ice on Wednesday morning on the way down to Floyd Fest. Still had ice in it on Sunday afternoon that I poured out after getting home. The cooler stayed in our VW bus the entire time. I drained water out of it twice during out stay. Never tried dry ice. Fairly expensive and often hard to find.


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## Jollymon (May 21, 2015)

digiRAMbo said:


> Hmm... Why do you think that Yeti tumblers are dishwasher safe and RTIC tumblers aren't? They are virtually the same. I recall seeing "Do not put in dishwasher" on the instructions for the Yeti bottle that I got. I hand wash all of my tumblers because I don't think that tumblers really need to be washed for several hours when I can clean it thoroughly in 3 mins or less. Usually it's less time, since I'm just rinsing off water/coffee/whatever drink. Not like it has grease that needs to be scrubbed off.
> 
> After looking around, I think that Yeti initially released them saying that they are not dishwasher safe and after further testing, they changed that statement. You could probably put RTIC in the dishwasher too (ones that are not powder coated), but it's just not encouraged.


I checked Yeti's website on the dishwasher safe and it was stated in a email I had with them in the past, In my chat with RTIC they said specifically "Hand Wash Only" that suggests to me that there seal isn't as strong and can't take the high heat that you get in the drying.
I must say that I've never tested it as I'm not going to wait to run the dishwasher. 
Being Dishwasher safe tells me that Yeti's are a bit stronger IMHO
As for holding Ice , I have a Calcutta (one of the first knockoffs) I in side by side test held Ice as long as the Yeti just over 3 days,on my kitchen counter, rm. temp.72 degrees 
As for the Yeti or any other Bottles,I haven't been Gifted one yet to test ,till than I'll keep using my trusted Stanly thermos.I know that it works. It held hot coffee till it was gone.
As for the Beer cozy can thing, Well got one for my Birthday, It must work, my Beer stays cold , for the short time it's out of the cooler,


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

I have washed my RTIC cups in the dishwasher with no ill effects. That being said I will not be pissed off if they do get an issue in the long run. I wash them the same way as my tervis. Cups on the top shelf, lids in the wash rack on top


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## Bosco (Jan 2, 2017)

The sale is over, back to normal prices. Chatted w/RTIC, there may be more sales later, unannounced Flash Sales. Keep check on their website.


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## spydermn (Apr 26, 2009)

If you like and follow them on facebook you get notification of their sales


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