Yeti Coolers

I got to see a Yeti® Tundra cooler (http://www.yeticoolers.com) up close and personal while at the RV Shop in Baton Rouge yesterday. I must admit to being very impressed. A semi-rigid polycarbonate, vacuum formed shell filled with urethane foam insulation, o-ring gaskets, well thought out features for locking and tieing the cooler down to your boat or truck's exterior, an excellent warranty and flat rate shipping. What's not to like? The price. Holy jehosephat, they're expensive. I use a big marine 7 day Igloo and a smaller 5 day wheeled jobbie for everyday use. Total investment twixt the two is about $125. For 3 1/2 times that amount, you can have a Yeti® Tundra the same size as our big Igloo. OUCH!

During the summer in Maine, we were using about 40 lbs of ice every two days keeping meat and other comestibles cold in the big cooler, as well as keeping SWMBO's soda and my Unsweet Tea cool and drinkable in the smaller cooler Iggy drinks from the lake when outdoors, he has a lake water bowl inside, too. I'm guessing a Yeti® might give us twice the duration of the big chest's ice but make little or no difference in the smaller chest as it is opened to outside air too many times a day to offer much increase in the duration of the ice.