After 3+ years of RVing, our Amazon cooler that plugs into car or camper has died. It had a fan and was advertised to keep things cold but you were recommended to cool items first and then put in the cooler. We typically kept it plugged in outside our camper for 5-7 days at a time, primary for drinks and condiments. It would cost about$120 to replace in-kind. Anyone have suggestions on a replacement? Is it worth $400 for a decent size Yeti? We camp 30+ days a year and will for the foreseeable future so upfront costs aren’t to much of a concern as long as it’s reliable. Thanks
The rotomolded coolers are pretty heavy, but they work well. Most of them contain instructions to cool the inside of the cooler first, so that won’t change. The upside to a quality cooler is that they are extremely durable, hold ice for several days, and require no electricity to cool.
There are a number of brands, and you can find youtube videos of people comparing them. I don’t think that you can go wrong with Yeti, but since they are so expensive you may be able to find another great cooler for a little less money.
If you enjoy researching items before you buy, you will have plenty of information and comparisons to go through. On the other hand, if you just want to buy and start using - Yeti will work fine.
A few other brands are RTIC, Engel, Pelica and Grizzly.
Have you considered a 12v refrigerator? You can look at dual battery options and even add solar to power.
Yeti’s are great, but if you are wanting to keep things cool for a week at time- while still accessing it regularly- you will likely be disappointed. If your use extends far from the vehicle they have their place as well
I have a large Yeti and use it regularly for some truck based camping trips- a total of 8-12 days per year. It works great for about 4-5 days depending on the outside temperature, then I need to find ice. That ice reduces the capacity as well. If I were to do it again (and especially if I was using it for 30+ days per year) I would get a refrigerator for truck based camping.
Lots of info on dual battery installs with solar options on youtube and assuming you have any skills, you can do it yourself.
We have a fridge in the RV big enough for all our needs for a week. This cooler is purely for convenance for drinks and/ or stuff for dinner prep when grilling. We’re currently at the ocean and anything we can do to reduce sandy feet in and out is a plus
We have a fridge in the RV big enough for all our needs for a week. This cooler is purely for convenance for drinks and/ or stuff for dinner prep when grilling. We’re currently at the ocean and anything we can do to reduce sandy feet in and out is a plus
I see, that changes things. A Yeti or comparable will serve your needs.
if you do go with a “yeti” for your solution, don’t buy an actual Yeti. Get another brand, there are a bunch of competitors out there. Basically same rotomolded cooler for half the price.
These rotomolded coolers have a lot less space inside them than you would think…less than regular coolers.
As with any cooler, if you’re in and out of them opening the lid all the time, you’re not going to get much sustained cooling from them. They work best when you access them once or maybe twice a day to pull out what you need.
ETA: i see you’re just using this as a convenience thing to suppliment your fridge. Roto coolers are heavy as hell. Regular coolers are much more portable and convenient if you don’t actually need to keep shit cold in them for days on end without ice replacement.
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I’m pretty sure jmh is referring to something more along these lines…
ETA - a bit more affordable
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Have used RTic for a similar purpose on boats. They work pretty good, and certainly better than regular coolers. This was in the Caribbean, so hot, and depending on direction of travel and swing the cooler will get some direct sun. So, with lots of opening and closing for drinks and such we still need to replenish ice every other day at least.
I will also add that if you have a Yeti, you constantly need to worry about people stealing them, so you need to lock them up when you’re away. which is a pain in the ass.
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If you can have electricity…either 120V or 12V, I strongly recommend a 12V refrigerator/freezer. Ours is made by ARB and has been going strong for a decade now without a hiccup. It’s very nice to not have to deal with ice (or the space it takes in the cooler), being able to set the temperature, and it having the ability to a take things well below freezing. Although, like a Yeti, I wouldn’t leave it unattended outside my trailer at a busy campground. It’s convenient to have for a lot of non-camping uses as well.
I was able to grab a Yeti Tundra 65 for $249 off a random Amazon Flash sale a couple of years ago.
It’s been awesome for camping. Yes it’s heavy, but it does keep things super cold, especially if you pre-chill it before filling up with your stuff. It’s pretty great to take it car camping for a long weekend and not have to buy more ice and not worry if the burgers will go bad while we’re doing a long day hike.
Would I pay full price for one today? Probably not, I’d buy a cheaper roto-molded version (Ozarka, Igloo, Amazon Brand, etc). But after getting the Yeti, I’m sold on the concept.
I have a cooler addiction.
Honestly for your use case on igloo extreme will work great. We have a lot of high end coolers for rafting and when we are not at risk of food poisoning a week into the trip - we almost always grab our igloo extreme.
The walls are really thick on the others - so your storage space to cooler space is really low.
My husband just broke our igloo after two decades power washing it and despite having a yeti, a canyon, an Orion and one other I can’t remember the brand of but is actually my favorite- the igloo is used over and over again.
After reading one of your other posts, do you have a source for ice when you are camping or are you wanting to buy ice once and have it last for most of your trip?
If you can restore the ice each day without too much cost/hassle, I would go with one of the lighter coolers. As others have said, the roto-molded coolers are heavy. If you get a Yeti 65 and fill it with ice and drinks - it will take two people to move it.
We bought two Ozark Trail coolers which are the Walmart brand. One is the 20 (ish) and the other is around 60. They both work great, but are heavy as all get out. The 20 is manageable, but I typically grab an igloo instead of the 60 if I’m only going to need ice for a day.
If I’m car camping and out for days without easy access to ice refiles, my general process is to use the Roto cooler to hold ice only (I pre-frees 1 gallon jugs of water for block ice…it lasts much much longer than cubes). Then I replenish the daily use coolers with ice from this. The daily user coolers have all the drinks and food that people are in and out of all the time. so the roto cooler stays shut all the time except for a few seconds a day where i’ll grab another ice jug.
roto coolers are not made for moving around or carrying. too damn heavy.
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I’m pretty sure jmh is referring to something more along these lines…
ETA - a bit more affordable
That and our class A RV had a slide out tray that a storage frig sat on. Keep in mind at these usually can be ran as a freezer as well. So you did not have to actually lift it ( taking it in and out of the camper )
After 3+ years of RVing, our Amazon cooler that plugs into car or camper has died. It had a fan and was advertised to keep things cold but you were recommended to cool items first and then put in the cooler. We typically kept it plugged in outside our camper for 5-7 days at a time, primary for drinks and condiments. It would cost about$120 to replace in-kind. Anyone have suggestions on a replacement? Is it worth $400 for a decent size Yeti? We camp 30+ days a year and will for the foreseeable future so upfront costs aren’t to much of a concern as long as it’s reliable. Thanks
Our new RV trailer has a freezer in the mini-fridge, so I can just make a block of ice and drop it into our cooler as needed. It’s just a basic Coleman, and will keep things cold for a couple of days (stored in the shade, usually. You could do something similar with an ice maker, as long as you have sufficient power supply.
These posts have been helpful and after all the feedback I think I’ll go with the status quo. On longer trips (# of days) I’m pushing my vehicles capacity if I bring a lot of firewood and I like not having to worry about a cooler being stolen which rules a lot of the suggestions.
Why not another electric cooler? I just bought this one from amazon.
. https://www.amazon.com/...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This one had decent reviews for a lower cost option. If money is no object, the a Dometic may be the best one. I just thought i would get this one now and maybe move up to a Dometic If if find i use it a lot.
This looks promising and the direction we will go in. I don’t want something I need to move inside lock up etc
That’s essentially a mini fridge that looks like a cooler. Why not just buy an actual mini fridge?