RTIC Vs. Yeti Cooler: The Ultimate Guide

Updated by Brandon F. on April 27, 2020

READERS: The lawsuit between RTIC and Yeti has settled and as part of the agreement RTIC had to redesign many of their products in the hard-sided, soft-sided, and tumbler categories. As of 4/24/2018, RTIC has released essentially all of their updated products. In addition, they have rolled out with some totally new products and designs such as new drinkware models and a cooler backpack. You can read more about the lawsuit results here.

To get an idea of how RTIC’s new product compare to other popular coolers that we have reviewed, head over to our Cooler Comparison Chart and click the “Our Rating” area to see what the top-rated coolers on the market are right now that can compete with RTIC. And, as always, we will continue to update this page as new products come out to ensure that it remains the best RTIC vs. Yeti Comparison on the internet!

RTIC Coolers have made quite the splash recently in the news with their lofty statement that they can keep up if not outperform the cooler juggernaut that is the Yeti Cooler. So when comparing RTIC Coolers vs. Yeti Coolers, who comes out on top? This extensive article will break down each company’s primary products and compare various metrics between Yeti and RTIC. We will go over the pros and cons of each product and help you come to the best decision for your personal needs. Both cooler brands bring a lot to the table, but one may stand out more depending on what you are specifically after.

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But before we get into the product vs. product comparison, here is a broad overview of each company and the products they offer. Both companies sell a lot of different types of soft and hard coolers!

Yeti Cooler Overview

Yeti is arguably the most well-known premium cooler line in the industry. They were founded in 2006 in Austin, Texas and since then they have taken the cooler industry by storm. One of their largest target audiences is outdoor enthusiasts, who typically are looking for a cooler that is both tough enough to handle outside elements and also need a cooler with extremely long ice life.

Yeti offers a wide variety of cooler shapes and sizes, both in soft-sided and hard-sided varieties. In addition, they have also expanded to including ice buckets, drink wear, and various other gear. However, for the purpose of this article, we will focus on just the items that keep things cool!

It appears that with the recent release of RTIC’s new lineup, Yeti has begun to expand its products to keep up as well. Some new sizes in their drinkware and soft-sided coolers are in the works and/or have been released and are actively for sale!

Yeti Hard-Sided Coolers

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Yeti Hard-Sided Coolers come in two types, the Roadie Series and the Tundra Series. The Roadie Series is designed for smaller trips where compactness and mobility are a bigger priority than storage size and maximizing ice life. The Tundra Series is their larger cooler which has an expansive range in sizes from very small to enormous.

Yeti has stuck with this lineup for quite some time now and for good reason: it continues to be one of the most expansive hard-sided lineups in terms of size choices. In fact, there are quite a few additional sizes of Yeti hard-sided coolers that were not tested in this RTIC vs. Yeti Comparison simply because RTIC doesn’t have a similar size. These include the Yeti Tundra 50, Yeti Tundra 75, Yeti Tundra 105, Yeti Tundra 110, Yeti Tundra 125, Yeti Tundra 160, Yeti Tundra 210, Yeti Tundra 250, and Yeti Tundra 350. Yes, there are actually that many different sizes!

Yeti Soft-Sided Coolers

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Yeti’s original Soft-Sided Coolers were called the Hopper. They have since expanded this name into two categories: The Hopper Flip and the Hopper Two. The Hopper Two is their larger, more resilient product with a zip-open entry while the Flip is smaller and has a flip-open top similar to your typical lunch box. Two of the three sizes of Hopper Flip are targeted to be released shortly (NOTE: they are now available!) and we suspect the creation of these is in response to higher competition from RTIC.

Since they don’t have hard plastic walls, Hoppers are much more compact, light, and convenient than the traditional hard-sided coolers. However, this comes at the cost of having shorter ice life and also not being quite as tough. Also, it is worth noting that from a toughness and ice life standpoint, we see no major differences between the original generation Hopper and the newer generation Hopper Two.

Recently, Yeti also came out with a backpack cooler that they have called the Hopper Backflip 24. As the name suggests, this larger unit is designed to carry more ice and drinks (approximately 25 pounds and 20 cans, respectively). We hope to get our hands on one of these soon to try out!

Yeti Drinkware

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Yeti also makes specialized drinkware that is engineered to keep your liquids cold or hot (depending on what you are looking for). They have a large range of sizes in these as well, going from small designs intended to hold nothing more than a cup of coffee all the way up to large bottles and jugs that can hold up to a gallon of liquid. They recently rolled out a few additional sizes in their drinkware, including the 1/2 gallon jug and gallon jug.