Anyone use premium ice chests?
 

I have been looking at ice chests at the local hardware store because my old Coleman one has a broken hinge, and I found out that the new hinge parts don't fit. I've been using one large Coleman and one Cube forever.

The Yeti ice chest is around $500. I just can't get my head around that much money for an ice chest. I think it's a status symbol, which is stupid.

Then online I saw a Pelican cooler. No affiliation with Wayne I'm guessing. It's around half that price.

Then there are the stupid bling ones with built in speakers, bluetooth, and blenders. I won't be buying one of those.

This is for work. I have a crew of around 12 people who will be opening and closing it all day for around 3 months. I will probably use it in the truck and stuff in the off season, so it's got to be durable.

Anyone else have experience with high end ice chests?

Pelican is a brand. They also make plastic cases.

Why high end? Buy $25 ones from Walmart and if they last a year you get 10 years of use for the same amount you were going to spend on one case.

The hinges always break. Even when they were made of metal they break. When they break use Duck tape to hold the lids on. Cheap, functional. :)

Had a Gott for 30 years and still going strong..........reasonable price.......good insulation!

Any of my Igloo or Rubbermaid marine coolers, will hold ice for at minimum of two days, and they are a 3rd of the price of a Yeti.



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Work crew....buy cheap one.

I have a Yeti that was given to me....EXCELLENT cooler. Keeps things colder for longer than any cooler I have ever owned. For a personal cooler where you were going on an extended trip I would heartly recommend a Yeti. For day to day use where you replenish ice every day any cheap cooler will do.

I had never heard of a Yeti. I went on a rafting trip down the Salmon river and everyone has yeti coolers. It keeps a block of ice for a week plus. The food that my fellow rafters brought was amazing. Tri tip, Salmon, chicken. If I did a lot of extended camping I would spend the money for a Yeti.

I just did a research on coolers. If you are going for more than a week with no access to ice and do this on a regular basis, a Yeti or comparable cooler is worth the money. Otherwise, igloo makes a comparable cooler sold at Sams for half the price that is just as good. On the cheaper end Coleman makes an extreme 5 or 6 which are 5 or 6 day coolers that rated almost as high as the Yetis for a fraction of the price.
Some helpful tips I found were to precool the coolers the night prior to packing the coolers with a mixture of ice and water. Empty that out the next day and line the bottom of the cooler with blocks of ice (they thaw slower than cubes) put the food in and cover with cubed ice to the very top so there is no air space. Use one cooler for food and another for drinks, the drink cooler will get opened more often letting the cold out. I did this on a week long camping trip the week before last with the Coleman extreme 5 coolers. The coolers still had cubed and block ice at the end of the week in 100deg peak heat.

My wife has a Yeti. It's nice on the boat, you can stand/sit on it and we don't need to keep filling it with ice every day. Ice does not keep for 7 days, we get about 2-3 days in the heat of summer.

Try using leather as a hinge. As was mentioned above the stock hinges break frequently. I use an old shoe - heavy duty.

Idaho with Jim.

in camp we had his two Yeti chest..my brother had a Engel and a Brute. four extreme coolers. i brought my Igloo ultra. side by side, every ice chest kept the same ice. exactly. but my igloo blew up both hinges on the drive home..and the latch broke when i got home.

i replaced them with new stuff bought at a local marine store. they have broken again.

i think the biggest benefit of the high end chest are the real hinges and latches. if i used one daily, i would buy one. zero doubt.

i have a friend looking at this one for me at SAM's club. looks more than fair.
Igloo 55-qt. Sportsman Cooler - White - Sam's Club

downside to them? they are all heavy empty!! filling them up makes them brutal.

I'd look at the compressor-driven fridge/freezers from ARB etc. $700-800 but with your crew's daily use, probably save the difference on ice in a year or two.

We have a freezer, small fridge, and the ice chest is for crew sodas. Also a big Igloo water container. I'm buying ice constantly all day, every day. Seriously, I spend many more times on ice than I would on a Yeti.

We use the hell out of the ice chests. I just bought the Pelican one. I'll post pics when it arrives. From the comments here, I think I might buy a small Yeti for myself if the Pelican works out well.

On a side note, we use the hell out of walkie talkies too. I found from experience that the Motorola talkabouts last 1 season. Midland radios last 3 to 4 seasons. Buy Midland if you use FM 2-way radios.

I've had a Coleman Extreme for at least 6 years. On extended trips it easily holds ice for a week - but we don't constantly open and close it. Thick insulation means that it is large for it's capacity.

Hinges failed last year. The replacement hinges seem more durable.

I have no complaints - it's a great cooler for me. If I was lashing it to a whitewater raft I might be looking for something more durable.

Maybe look at an ice machine?
Some examples from the depot...
Ice Makers - Freezers & Ice Makers - *The Home Depot

Yeti's are status symbols in FL. They sell as many t-shirts and caps and stickers as coolers it would seem. If you really want to be cool put a Yeti sticker on the back window of your jacked up 4x4. :rolleyes: (next to your Rebel flag)

If you go to an outdoor forum or off road/Jeep forum you'll see threads and threads on them.

I decided to upgrade my old standard cooler by putting a foam liner in it. YouTube is full of guys doing the same and that's where I got the idea. I used 1/2" foil backed iso board from HD. Used real metal foil duct tape to seal it. I use a bungee cord to keep the lid tightly sealed. Keeping the lid sealed is 50% of the battle to keep the heat out-cold in. Yeti uses a o-ring seal and rubber latches to really pull it down tight.



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Then I made one for my smaller cooler. I use this one for drinks so the lid upgrade if different for quick access.

I made both liners for about $20.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436135727.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1436135803.jpg

Good idea.

So Paul what were the results ? And how do you think the tape will hold up when the ice turns to water ? I think it's a great idea just curious.

I've used them at least 6 times now and the tape is not effected by the water. The box is watertight actually.

As someone said above, it is best to keep food in a separate cooler from the drinks. I went to Sebring and it was in the 90's (or so it seemed). Hard to say how much better they are but it is an improvement, no doubt.

Hey, thanks for the link. I wish I saw that last year. I was looking for a used hotel style ice maker actually 2 years ago. I thought about renting one from a local ice delivery guy, but time ran out, and we got busy. I'm going to be building the new workshop/ store later this year, and I will have room for an ice maker. In order to sell ice, you have to have your water filtered and inspected regularly, with records. I am going to sell bagged ice and will have walk in refrigerators and stuff. So only 1 more season of buying Walmart ice up the yin-yang.

Ury, I suspected that about the Yeti coolers. No other reason for people to pay ridiculous money for one. What I like about the Pelican is the price first of all, but also the quality latches that don't require you to pull on them like the Yeti. They operate more quickly, and we're opening and closing it dozens and dozens of times per day for 3 months. I wonder if expanding foam would work better for your application?

Full disclosure - I work for Pelican so I will try and provide some unbiased advice. If you are simply looking for a cooler for the weekend and are ok about replacing it every couple of years then buy an Igloo or a Coleman. They are good coolers and will be fine for light applications. If you are into sports fishing or like to buy "lifetime" products then look at the higher end coolers like Yeti and Pelican as they are built to keep your contents fresh for 7-10 days (depending upon how often you open the lid) and are made with quality materials. Those of you who have been in the service over the past 20 years may have used Pelican cases for your deployment equipment and we build our coolers to the same standards and build them here in the US. But they are not inexpensive so look hard at the Colemans and Igloos first.

If you want to build your own kick-ass cooler use Vacuum Insulated Panels. We have a division that supplies the medical market with coolers for biopharma applications and we use VIPs to really ensure that the contents stay within 2-8C for days on end.

Most sides (and lids) of the cheap coolers are hollow -- fill them with this

GREAT STUFF 16 oz. Gaps and Cracks Insulating Foam Sealant-162848 - The Home Depot

A standard (not frost free) refrigerator with a solar setup will certainly beat the price of ice over your time period.

If you are thinking about Yeti check this
 

RTIC Coolers - Reserve Now

They should look familiar. Get them before Yeti files the inevitable lawsuit

This Techni-ice is awesome. lasts a long long time keeping things cold.

comes as a flat as paper sheet, that you then hydrate to fill/plump up.

you can also cut the quilted sheets to what-ever size you want.

conforms for wrist / knee injuries too under an ace wrap.

Super sweet stuff, not very well known made in Australia.

google different ebay deals and amazon or other sources. this is cool sheet!

Amazon.com: Techni Ice HDR 4 Ply Reusable Ice & Heat Packs 20 Sheet Special

I have also used frozen salt water in plastic bottoms in the cooler instead of just ice cubes. It worked but I don't know if it was worth the effort.

I clean out and freeze ice in 1/2 gallon cardboard juice cartons. I squeeze the carton before I cap it, otherwise the ice expanding splits the carton.

These cartons of ice are a convenient dimension to fill a cooler. The ice keeps longer and as they do start to melt you can pour drinking water off of individual cartons.

If you are storing food a couple of these keep the whole cooler cold.

My dad started this years ago - I don't know if he came up with it himself or if he learned it from someone.

These don't work the best for beer or other beverages - but who keeps beer on ice for a week?

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oh, that chest...sorry ;)