I know its a little off topic, but I will also be using this space to do somewhat of a gear review on the cooler in the photo in my previous post. To give you a little background, I have been looking at purchasing a rotomolded cooler (super cooler) for over a year now. As most of y'all know Yeti is the market leader, but also costs an arm and a leg. Truth be told I have gone to purchase a Yeti cooler (the 65 quart size) at least 4 times, and have been unable to pull the trigger each time.
So after a ton of research, I was right back where I started.... which one is the best and are they really worth it?
Recently I was at Cabela's looking for some camping gear, and I saw that they recently released their own version of the Super Cooler, the Cabela's Polar Cap. They had a big ol' display and they were really showing them off. Interested I started to look into them. On the display they had an article from Field & Stream that reviewed the top 12 rotomolded coolers, and to my surprise the Cabela's cooler was the top dog. Check out the article
here. So I started asking the sales rep some questions about it and he even walked over and grabbed a Yeti (which they also sell) for us to compare.
What I learned and my initial opinions on the Cabela's Polar Cap:
- They are ALL made in the USA - Yeti coolers are made here and in the Philippines and if you want a US version you have to contact them directly.
- It has molded handles as well as the rope handles ( a huge advantage for me)
- It also had a pressure release button on the front, allowing you to open the cooler with ease after it has sat for a while and pressurizes making it incredibly difficult to open the lid.
- It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 10LBS lighter in the size I was looking at (60-65Qt.)
- It holds a true 60qts. where the Yeti 65Qt. really only holds something like 52Qts.
- It has a Lifetime Guarantee, as with anything there are stipulations however Cabela's has been known to have a fantastic return/warranty policy on their goods, and the sales rep said they are likely to replace it if ANYTHING happens to it so long as its not stolen.
- The Cabela's Polar Cap 60 cost $299.99 compared to the Yeti Tundra 65 at $399.99
With all that long story short I bought it. I have had it for a week, and have been running a little ice test on it, and will be sharing the info with y'all. I wanted to try and keep the test as controlled as possible but in reality, when is using your cooler a "controlled" experience?
Semi controlled test:
Day 1 -
I pre-cooled the cooler as recommended with any rotomolded cooler, with two bags of ice on my way to work at 7:30 am
Day 2 -
I added a 6 pack of beer, 1 bottle of water, 2 Gatoraids, and a glass bottle of what else, Sarsaparilla before leaving the house. I went straight to the gas station and piled 4 more bags of ice on top of the contents. Giving a total of 60 lbs of ice for the first "test" day.
Day 3-
I removed a gatorade from the cooler around 4:30pm. You can see the level of the ice drops a bit which is in part due to melting but also partially due to the removal of drinks.
Day 4- I removed 4 ice cold Coors Lights from the cooler at 3:30 and was absolutely blown away at how cold it was when I put my hand in the cooler to dig out a few beers to enjoy with co-worker. Again you can see a drop in ice level in the photos, partially due to melt and partially due to removal of contents. But like I said this is only a semi-controlled test because no one fills a cooler and doesnt take anything out for 7 days.
