YETI Coolers & Cool Boxes

Filter

YETI cool boxes hold ice for days rather than hours, which is the whole of the difference between them and a supermarket cool bag. The Roadie is the everyday hard cooler, from the 8 that

Read More

23 products

Choosing between the YETI Roadie, Tundra and Hopper cool boxes

Three families, and the choice is mostly about how you carry it. The Roadie is the hard cooler most people want: rotationally moulded in one piece, with a handle rather than a lid you lift off, and it runs from the 8 — small enough for a few drinks and a lunch — through the 15 and 24 to the wheeled 48 and 60 for a boot or a week under canvas. The Tundra is the classic chest shape, wider and flatter, built to be stood on and sat on. Hopper soft coolers are the other approach: a sealed, flexible bag that carries over a shoulder and packs away when empty, which suits a picnic or a match far better than a hard box does.

Why a YETI cooler costs what it does

The construction rather than the badge. A hard YETI is moulded in a single piece rather than assembled from panels, so there are no seams to split, and the walls carry thick insulation with a gasketed lid that seals when the latches close. That is what buys you ice that lasts days instead of an afternoon. It also makes them heavy and expensive, and there is no point pretending otherwise — if you are carrying sandwiches to a beach an hour away, a cheap cool bag does that job. The case for a YETI is a boat, a festival, a camping trip, a shoot, or anything where losing the ice on day two ruins the rest of it.

Getting the most out of a cool box

Two things make more difference than the model you buy. Chill it before you load it — a cool box left in a warm garage spends its first hours cooling its own walls rather than your food, so bring it inside the night before or sacrifice a bag of ice to pre-cool it. And fill it. Air is what warms the contents, so a full box holds cold far longer than a half-empty one, and block ice outlasts cubes because there is less surface area. Keep it out of direct sun and open it as little as you can. Done properly, the difference between careful use and careless use is roughly the same as the difference between one model and the next.

Browse YETI drinkware, or see the full YETI collection.

YETI Coolers FAQs

Longer than a standard cool bag by a wide margin, though the honest answer depends more on how you use it than which model you buy. Pre-chilling the box, filling it completely, using block ice rather than cubes and keeping it shut all matter more than the difference between one size and the next. YETI publishes retention figures on individual product pages.
The Roadie is the upright hard cooler with a carry handle, in sizes from 8 up to the wheeled 60. The Tundra is the wider chest shape, built to be sat or stood on. The Hopper is the soft option — a sealed flexible bag carried over the shoulder, which packs away when empty and suits picnics and shorter trips.
The Roadie 8 holds a few drinks and a lunch. The 15 and 24 cover a day out or a family picnic. The 48 and 60 are wheeled and made for a car boot, a weekend or a week camping. A box that is too big is worse than one that is too small, since air warms the contents — buy for how you usually pack, not for the largest trip you might take.
Both Yards Store shops stock the brand: 13 Old Bank Street in Manchester and 86 Pinstone Street in Sheffield. At these prices the size is worth judging in person, since the outside dimensions are considerably larger than the capacity suggests. Ranges differ between the two, so ring ahead.