1world1love
SILVER Star
A Yeti that you already own is hard to beat if it works for you. There are a lot of other ways you could spend 2k to improve your experience.
I would not go back to a cooler now, but we did not have a nice cooler when we bought our LX so it was a no brainer to start with. I absolutely loathe dealing with ice and then ice water, and eventually just water, but if I had a Yeti in hand, its hard to say what my perspective would be.
A lot depends on how much you plan on camping/traveling though.
We love our Dometic 55im. It is super reliable and does a pretty remarkable job with temp control, considering what it goes through. It is good for about 5 days of provisions for our family, but we do a lot of dry goods and are strategic with our perishables. One of the main reasons we went with a fridge is that we wanted a "permanent" solution, meaning we wanted something that would always be ready and we would never have to deal with. We just load it up and go. No muss, no fuss.
Like others have said, we will carry a lot of frozen foods that will thaw during the course of the trip. We also keep a handful of frozen water bottles that help keep things cold and then provide refreshing ice water to drink on day hikes during our trip. None of that is necessary but it helps to extend our rations and also helps keep power draw down.
Notice also that I said 2k above. I would not go cheap on the fridge, or at least make sure that it has a decent compressor. And then you add in a pull out tray, an insulated cover, and a power solution (which turns into its own "hobby"). After all that, you will have no problem hitting 2k. For us it has been worth it and more, but again, we started with a 20 year old igloo, so anything would be an improvement
Also, isn't REI running the anniversary sale right now until Memorial Day?
If you are going to take the plunge, I would suck it up and go save 20% on a Dometic there ASAP rather than waiting. You'll not find a better deal than that on a quality bit of gear.
I would not go back to a cooler now, but we did not have a nice cooler when we bought our LX so it was a no brainer to start with. I absolutely loathe dealing with ice and then ice water, and eventually just water, but if I had a Yeti in hand, its hard to say what my perspective would be.
A lot depends on how much you plan on camping/traveling though.
We love our Dometic 55im. It is super reliable and does a pretty remarkable job with temp control, considering what it goes through. It is good for about 5 days of provisions for our family, but we do a lot of dry goods and are strategic with our perishables. One of the main reasons we went with a fridge is that we wanted a "permanent" solution, meaning we wanted something that would always be ready and we would never have to deal with. We just load it up and go. No muss, no fuss.
Like others have said, we will carry a lot of frozen foods that will thaw during the course of the trip. We also keep a handful of frozen water bottles that help keep things cold and then provide refreshing ice water to drink on day hikes during our trip. None of that is necessary but it helps to extend our rations and also helps keep power draw down.
Notice also that I said 2k above. I would not go cheap on the fridge, or at least make sure that it has a decent compressor. And then you add in a pull out tray, an insulated cover, and a power solution (which turns into its own "hobby"). After all that, you will have no problem hitting 2k. For us it has been worth it and more, but again, we started with a 20 year old igloo, so anything would be an improvement
Also, isn't REI running the anniversary sale right now until Memorial Day?
If you are going to take the plunge, I would suck it up and go save 20% on a Dometic there ASAP rather than waiting. You'll not find a better deal than that on a quality bit of gear.