Toyota Yeti (Or Not a Yeti) Cooler

That’s not even a YETI cooler but still has a yeti price!

RTIC is the way to go

 

If anyone cares. Its not that big. I believe my years old Igloo is a 48qt.

Worth the money? Probably not but I don't care.

Is it a Yeti? Probably not.

 

This is less about whether or not the dollar is getting a worthy squeeze, but more about a cool addition to your rig that 30 years from now will be nostalgic.

 

I like the bottle openers in the handles. Any stickers showing where it was made?

 

Not one marking as far as I can see. Might be stamped "China" somewhere but I didn't see it. It also comes with some "Toyota" straps and brackets. I'm assuming to tie it down but not sure if the older 4Rs have these points. I'm not going to use the brackets but guess I got some cool Toyota straps.

The bottom has some rubber legs just screwed in. I might try to find some low profile wheels to go under there instead so I can push it around.

 

Agreed. I have a yeti cooler and an rtic cooler. My rtic cooler keeps ice way better than my yeti does.

 

Rtic are made in China.

I went with Lifetime because they're made in the USA.

 

What you really need is the new Yeti V Series. That’s easily worth 800 cool points, or rather $800.

 

That looks like an overpriced version of a steel belted Coleman..

 

The coleman steel belted cooler is a classsic, and imo the most underrated cooler on the market. I paid$100 for mine, take it camping every summer , keeps ice for days.
I'm no spending no three hundo on no yeti knockoff yo!

 

I really like mine as well! The "child-safe" latches kinda suck, though.

 

I think it’s cool. It looks well made too. Worth it, imho. A bit too big for me, or I’d order one myself.

 

It’s really nice not having to worry about ice ever with a fridge

 

Didn't think this would turn into a cooler dick size contest. LOL.

 

I would consider a fridge if I planned on being out of civilization for a week or more at a time. I'm not sure how well it would do sitting in the sun outside of the truck, though.

You DIDN'T??

 

they do pretty well but just like a cooler it’s going to depend on ambient temperature and the internal temperature you are trying to maintain

There’s lot of ways to do the power system, but it’s fairly easy to get a couple days of run time.

I’m going to be getting some solar here before too much longer and I can run indefinitely.

 

I’ve been thinking about going with a plugin cooler setup and adding a solar setup for power.

 

I’m currently using a dometic CFX35, replaced my starting battery with a x2power 27F AGM and voltage boosted via ovtune. This is plenty to run for well over 24 (more like 48 but i’ve never sat long enough to deplete it) hours. I’m usually on the move every day, so i never have an issue. If i was going to be parked for more than 24-48 hours, I’d do some kind of solar or secondary battery like a goal zero lithium.

 

I’m trying to find the happy medium of a week in the woods or traveling around everyday. I thought I was going to get a fridge, but I have all but talked myself out of it.

 

Some Yetis are made in China

 

Me too, I’m trying to keep things ultra light these days. Travelling with a fridge and a kitchen sink isn’t necessary. I saw a guy with a whole mess of wiring powering all kinds of equipment, and it caught in fire. For me, keeping it simple is freedom.

 

Kenai coolers. Made by Grizzly in Iowa. Factory direct line. Got one in May. Best. Cooler. Ever. Held ice, in my runner, (4lbs.) for over 72 hrs. I live in the desert, and the temp averaged over 97 during the 3 days. SWMBO keeps trying to steal it...

 

We recently bought a Massimo 50L Fridge that we rotate between our 4Runner and Rav4.
https://www.amazon.com/Massimo-Kooler-Electric-Portable-Freezer/dp/B086PJ84C9?th=1&psc=1

I still haven't figured out how to get it to run while the vehicle if shut off but it does cool down fast. It's handy for going to Sam's Club (1.5 hours away), buying things that need cooling on the trip home (ice cream etc), and not needing to remember to pack a cooler with ice packs.

I could see adding a Dometic to the 4Runner down the line.

 

Lots of products are designed in the US and manufactured wherever the companies determine it’s to their benefit. The most important benefit used to be profit and a big part of that was cheap, but competent, labor. This paradigm may be changing due to our recent experience with covid, politics, unemployment, etc, and hopefully more of that business will be returning to the US. I cherish my tools and other items that were made in the USA, but it’s really hard to find new products made here.

 

Might be less expensive, but not anywhere near as convenient. Rather have a fridge than a cooler any day.

 

This will depend on how you use it.

I like to pull the cooler out of the truck and leave it at my campsite sometimes. With a fridge, I would need to set up batteries and possibly a solar charging system to do this.

Also, your battery is being discharged every time the cooler runs. I realize they are pretty efficient, but if someone is in there every hour or so, it's going to run a lot. If you're staying in one place for a few days, you'll need to charge the battery somehow.

If I were to be away from civilization for more than a few days at a time, a fridge would make more sense to me. But, I would say that a good cooler is pretty convenient for shorter trips.

But, if the fridge never leaves the truck, and you have battery capacity or a solar charger to let it run for days on end, that would be pretty convenient.

 

For constant power you’ll need to do some re-wiring of an accessory port. For heavy duty usage like a fridge most people run a dedicated fused line directly from the battery to the back outlet, or a new marine type outlet. Or install a secondary battery under the hood. Lots of info is out there about about the ways people have done this.

Or you could use a standalone power source to run the fridge and charge it as you drive. I recently got a Jackery E500 to power a fridge and I recharge the Jackery with a vehicle 12V accessory port while driving (pass through). I’m still testing this out. It draws 36-40 watts when charging the Jackery from the rear outlet. Toyota outlets say 120 watts max.

When charging from my house AC the Jackery draws 78 watts. When it gets in the 95+% range of charge it draws less than 40 watts, at 100% it stops charging.

(Edited to correct power numbers. )

 

I was holding off posting that. If we were all really concerned about USA products we'd be driving Fords or Chevys.
Fiat Jeep is a no go.

 

I disagree.

I buy American when there is a comparable option.

There is basically nothing comparable to the 4runner available from any other manufacturer. The closest competitor would be a Wrangler which are basically garbage based on what I read here.

Since there is no worthwhile US made option, I drive a 4runner.

If I didn't off-road with it, I'd probably buy a Highlander, which is made in the USA.

 

Huh?

I guess I believe strongly enough to buy American when there is an option.

We're talking about coolers. In this case, there are comparable products offered by Chinese manufacturers and American manufacturers. With everything being comparable, I bought American.

A car is a way different scenario. I'm not going to get stranded in the middle of nowhere because my cooler failed. I drive 30K+ miles a year. I'm not going to spend that much time in a car I don't like.

Aside from that, no American manufacturers make anything like the 4runner. That is my main point.