The first Gear Guy video I produced for 国产吃瓜黑料 in 2013 is, to this day, my most ambitious. It was also the scariest thing I have done while testing gear. I have always taken pride in testing gear rigorously enough to put myself in danger at times. On other assignments for this publication, I have ice climbed on thousands of feet of exposure on mixed routes in Chamonix, shivered next to a feeble fire in shorts through a night when a freak , and triggered a loose wet slide avalanche that I outskied on Mt. McLoughlin. Those moments stick out as scary, but they pale in comparison to the cold, butt-puckering, fear I felt while I faced the camera and delivered the lines 鈥�…and punished it鈥� while my dear friend Saylor fell a 50-foot tree onto a 听behind me.

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We dropped the dead tree legally and in an environmentally sound manner, but I still regret the decision because it was just so fucking dangerous. I could have been crushed if Saylor messed up his chainsaw work by an inch. I wanted to pretend it was no big deal, so I didn鈥檛 look back at the tree while speaking into the camera. Our camera operator, Pat, told me he would yell 鈥淏ail!鈥� if the tree looked like it was coming our way. When I heard the crack that let me know the tree was on its way down, life moved in slow motion. I could see the shotgun mic on Pat鈥檚 camera jiggling from his shaky nerves.

The tree hit its mark beautifully and the cooler beneath it survived the ridiculously massive impact. The middle of the lid was a little warped from the hit, but the hinges still worked and the body held strong. My buddy Saylor used boiling water and a rubber mallet to restore the cooler to near-new鈥攁nd used it on river trips for half a decade after the test. I haven鈥檛 been able to top that level of gear testing since then (nor would I want to now, as a forty-one-year-old father).

Professionally testing outdoor gear for the ten-plus years since then has been a dream job. Also: professionally testing outdoor gear limits the number of topics outdoorsy acquaintances want to talk to me about. I have lied about my job at parties because I knew that if I mentioned what I did for work, the night would descend into backcountry ski touring binding talk and I would miss an opportunity to connect in any real way. I have answered thousands of questions about gear over the last decade.

But the one question I have been asked the most, by far, is: 鈥淚s the Yeti [insert product] worth the money?鈥� I have been texted the question so many times that I had to type an automatic answer on my Notes app about roto-molding and insulation to be ready to copy and paste.

So, Are Yeti Products Worth the Money?

Yes. If you are here because of the headline, my TLDR is Yes. Yeti products are worth their high price tag. The rest of this article is more of an answer to why I think the super-premium, ridiculously overbuilt products are worth the money. That 鈥渨hy鈥� isn鈥檛 simple.

First, I want to address the large mythical snow monster in the room: I have not paid for any of the Yeti products I have tested over the years. I have also held on to many of the ones I did not destroy while testing and still use them to this day. Many would say that the fact that I haven鈥檛 paid for these products would discredit my belief that the high price tag is warranted.

I have never, however, paid out of my pocket for any products I have tested for 国产吃瓜黑料 (I would hemorrhage money if that were the case). The fact that I have tested them all for free gives me freedom to address the price based solely on the merits of the product. The fact that I have not paid for the products does make the conversation about price more philosophical since my own bucks aren鈥檛 in the game.

Yeti Products I’ve Tested

After a decade of dedicating my life and career to testing gear, I have gone the deepest on Yeti products, investing hundreds of hours to test dozens of products鈥攁nd opining on their value. If you have not been closely following my column for 国产吃瓜黑料 (don鈥檛 worry, my parents still tell their friends I work for Outdoor Magazine) here is a list of 15 times I weighed in on whether Yeti products are worth the price, and my verdict:

• Original Tundra Cooler review (): Oh, hell yeah.
• Rambler 18oz Water Bottle (): Body is worth it, lid isn鈥檛.
• Rambler 10oz Stackable Lowball (): Worth twice the price.
• First generation Hopper Tote (): Kinda OK?
• V Series Cooler (): Not really
• April Fools Casket ($4,114): Har har, but, well, yes?
• LoadOut GoBox 30 ($250): It depends (sorry)
• Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler (): Yup.
• Rambler One Gallon Jug (): Totally.
• Rambler 36oz Water Bottle (): Sure.
• Roadie 24 Hard Cooler ($250): Yeah.
• Rambler 16oz Stackable Cup听(): Absolutely.
• Tundra Haul (): Sure.
• 1Rambler 10oz Stackable Lowball鈥攁gain (): Best for Rowdy Campers (only $20!).
• Hondo Base Camp Chair (): No.

As you can see, the overall result leans pretty heavily towards yes, the two exceptions being the V Series cooler and the Hondo camp chair. But to be fair, the V Series cooler got a rough treatment. And while I was diplomatic about my assessment of the original Hondo, I could have been quoted at the time saying, off the record, 鈥淥nly an asshole would buy themselves a $300 camp chair and watch their family sit in cheap ones, or pony up $1,200 for camp chairs for everyone.鈥�

Since Yeti products test so well, it’s tempting to want to jump to a simple answer to the 鈥渨hy鈥� question. If the end product is usually better than its competitors, it should be worth more. While that could offer a clean answer for individual products (particularly when comparing their first-generation Tundras to just about any other cooler on the market) it isn鈥檛 a satisfying answer when you look at Yeti as a company that posted 68 million dollars in sales internationally in Q3 of 2023 and now makes dozens of products beyond just coolers. I feel like completely focusing on individual performance to gauge value would demand a value call on each of the dozens of products they offer. But, before I take you all too deeply into those weeds, let鈥檚 take a quick refresh on the Yeti brand as a cultural phenomenon.

Behind the Brand

Brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders founded Yeti in 2006. The brothers were anglers and hunters based out of Driftwood, Texas, and their father, Roger, had seen success inventing super durable, high-performance, two-part epoxy fishing rods that sold at a premium price point. Because Roy was initially in the boat business, he wanted to make a super durable cooler that could also serve as a casting platform鈥攕omething that would be virtually indestructible and irreplaceable. To achieve that goal, the brothers听eventually landed on using on the exterior of the coolers鈥攖he same technology that made whitewater kayaks exponentially stronger in the 90s鈥攁nd jamming them full of a shit ton of insulation. The result was insanely durable and lightyears better than most of its competition. It was also way more expensive.

I brought up covering Yeti coolers in an editorial meeting in 2011 while I was a junior member of the staff at 国产吃瓜黑料. My pitch was clumsy and utilized my signature brand of rapid-fire, sweaty upper-lipped excitement鈥攁nd I got crickets.听 I remember one editor, who happened to be one of my idols, looked down and shook his head in painfully visible disappointment. At the time, they were just coolers. Or were they?

Whether or not people asked for a $400 cooler, they have proven willing to pay for one in the past 14 years. I feel personally vindicated by Yeti鈥檚 bonkers success. In 2023, Yeti launched 15 new products. Their investor report for Q3 expected that for the 2023 year, they would have, 鈥淐apital expenditures of approximately $55 million (versus the previous outlook of $60 million) primarily to support investments in technology and new product innovation and launches.鈥� Yeti now has dozens of communities of superfans ranging from Grand Canyon raft guides to octogenarian golfers. The company鈥檚 main business campus takes up 175,000 square feet. In other words, Yeti is massive.

Superior quality is a huge part of the story of Yeti鈥檚 success. I don鈥檛 think it is the entire story, but it most certainly is the foundation on which this juggernaut was built. I had heard of a low-key secret testing facility that Yeti had built to stress test their products somewhere in the mid-aughts and had pitched touring it for years. Last fall I had an opportunity to go see it and judge for myself how much effort they put into making sure their products could withstand abuse.

Their Innovation Center is an unmarked warehouse attached to office space, part of a sea of barely distinguishable buildings outside of Austin, Texas. When I entered, I was greeted with the noises of Yeti products getting their asses lightly and repetitively kicked everywhere. The first noise I heard was a Roadie Haul handle being extended and dropped by a robotic hand named Tripp every ten seconds. Tripp is one of the three UR5 Robotic arms that are in near constant use and are named for the heroic interns of yore (in this case: Tripp Arnold) who were employed to hand zip the original Hopper Soft Coolers 2,500 times, keeping track with a baseball clicker.

Throughout my two-hour tour of the facility, I saw dozens of machines that gave me more existential fear about robots replacing my job as a gear reviewer than any AI writing software has. There was a machine that dropped coolers from very precise heights over and over again. A robot that opens and closes four cooler lids at a time. A carousel that took rollie coolers on a circular course over obstacles like slatted decking and climbing holds before giving the wheels a stamp of approval. All told, there are 21,120 square feet devoted to testing Yeti鈥檚 vast range of products.

I have toured factories before鈥擨鈥檝e watched Keen employees carefully place soles on work boots and the folks at Benchmade expertly craft kitchen knives in state-of-the-art facilities here in the US. I have never seen anything close to this type of rigor on the industrial testing side, though. This whole space, the size of many factories, was devoted solely to testing and prototyping the gear. It was truly incredible and I desperately wanted its awe-inspiring magnitude to directly assign value to the Yeti products I have spent so much time testing.

In service of that goal, I badgered Matt Bryson, Senior Manager of Innovation and Validation Engineering at Yeti, for superlatives throughout the tour. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the most weight you have placed on a product?鈥� 鈥淎re there any products that took an incredible beating but failed at the last second?鈥� 鈥淲hat is the craziest test you have performed on a product?鈥� His answers were both incredibly smart and very unsatisfying in the way only a hyper-intelligent corporate product specialist can deliver.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 know what somebody is going to do with a product. It could be wild, something that you never even thought of. We have to prepare for anything. Since you don鈥檛 know everything someone can do, we typically over-index on everything,鈥� Bryson said. 鈥淵ou can break anything. There is a point we call something abuse. You can鈥檛 set a cooler on fire and expect it to still work. We balance that fine line between heavy use and abuse really well.鈥�

For the record, I think that is a fabulously smart answer. But it wasn鈥檛 enough to satisfy my obsession. I was begging him to give me a quote that would not only answer the 鈥渨hy鈥� for this article, but for me, personally, as well. Honestly, I wanted the onus to be on him to assign value to this iconic outdoor gear category.

I was asking for more than manufactured tests could deliver. I was asking not just for impressive proof of the Yeti products鈥� performance and durability, but a statement that would sum up their significance in people鈥檚 lives. Honestly, though, a real-world scenario months before my visit had given me the answer. A solid cooler did benefit my life in ways that actually matter.

The Impact of a Well-Built Product

During a decade of testing, I have tested the crap out of Yeti products I have written about. I have thrown them from cliff tops, drug them behind moving vehicles (please note the plural), and filled one with hundreds of pounds of a fabrication shop鈥檚 debris and dropped it from a fully extended forklift. I have burned through at least six kitchen thermometers and hundreds of pounds of ice performing backyard thermoregulation tests.

While I took pride in the rigor of these contrived tests, it had been years since I depended on a cooler to show up for me performance-wise. Due to my life as a dad and waning desire to take risks, it had been a while since I had a real-world stress test scenario. Until last summer.

Last August, my then five-year-old daughter Josie and I found ourselves lightly stranded on the far northern California coast when wildfires shut down the highway that is the most direct arterial from the beach to our home. The town adjacent to our campsite, Crescent City, lost power for over a week. I heard reports from town asking people to stay out to keep the scarce resources open for firefighters.

I had a special week planned with my kiddo, however, so I checked in with the camp host to make sure that we weren’t taxing community resources if we kept to our site and the beach, and decided to wait until we ran out of ice or the road opened back up to head home. To be clear, this was not a real emergency鈥攚e could have driven the ten-hour drive home on the detour routes. The length of our trip, though, depended on the performance of our cooler.

Yeti Roadie 48 Wheeled Cooler

We had brought two coolers, an and a . Both coolers had an even distribution of food, root beers, and La Croix鈥檚, and each held a block of ice tucked into their right corner. I used the ice-maintenance tools honed over 20 years of multi-day rafting trips (basically, keep the fucking cooler shut!) to maximize our ice use, and we went about our solitary business.

It became clear on day two that the Yeti Roadie was doing its job better. I began moving prize cooler items鈥攖he block of Tillamook Cheddar, ravioli, Kerry Gold butter鈥攐ver to the Roadie to hedge my bets against losing them. Every morning, Josie and I would eat the highly processed donuts in our sleeping bags (I called it her raft guide training), walk outside, take a super quick peek at our ice situation, and then make the call if we would take the long route (lengthened by about five hours from shut down roads) home or stay and surf for another day.

That trip was the most magical one of my year. I kept my phone charged using a solar panel and bank and we checked in with my wife in the mornings and evenings. Otherwise, it was just Josie and me. I talked and played with my five-year-old in the sun for hours with zero distractions. One day we played on the beach for nine hours and saw three other humans and two dogs.听 Another day, we didn鈥檛 leave a 200-foot radius and remained completely entertained with conversation, art projects, and learning tricks on her new bike. I spent as many uninterrupted and fully present minutes with her during that trip as I normally would in weeks鈥攎aybe even months.

Every morning I would silently pray that we鈥檇 still have ice in the coolers. By day five, the ORCA鈥檚 ice disappeared. On day seven the Yeti cooler still had a baseball-sized chunk in it. Josie and I could have easily stuck it out for two or three more days if we didn鈥檛 get called back home by a surprise visit from relatives.

I arrived at my parents鈥� house in Ashland utterly exhausted, with a truck bed full of camping supplies and a spectacularly dirty and happy five-year-old. I gave the dinner party a light recounting of the previous week鈥檚 challenges鈥攁n adventure that was really just an inconvenience mitigated by good gear. Somewhere in the middle of my story, Uncle Bob made eye contact with me over his slice of pepperoni pizza, and I saw it coming.

鈥淚鈥檝e gotta ask, Joe. Are those Yeti coolers worth the money?鈥�

I invited Josie to sit in my lap and looked down at our dirty feet.

鈥淵es, Bob,鈥� I replied. 鈥淵es, they are.鈥�

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The humble cooler went through two major evolutions in the last 70 years. The first was when foam was sandwiched between听 cheap plastic, which worked OK for many decades. Phase two began with the proliferation of roto-molded coolers, most famously those made by Yeti, which hit the market in 2006. These coolers featured thicker plastic shells and a whole lot more (and better quality) foam insulation and now a whole host of companies make them too. These were a great leap forward for keeping your food and drinks colder for longer, but they were significantly heavier and bulkier than what came before. Now we’re entering phase three: double-walled, vacuum-insulated coolers. The ($500) is the first of its kind on the market鈥攏o foam at all, just aluminum walls鈥攁nd the company is making some pretty big claims about its efficiency. Naturally, we had to put it to the test.

How the Oyster Tempo Cooler Is Built

If you鈥檝e ever used an insulated Thermos or Stanley bottle鈥攐r any of the myriad water bottles from brands like Hydro Flask or Yeti鈥攜ou鈥檙e already familiar with how incredibly good vacuums are at keeping liquids hot or cold. Case in point: I opened a container of soup after 48 hours on a trail and found it was still too hot to drink. The principal is the same with the Tempo. The cooler is made almost entirely out of aluminum, and the walls are sealed without any air inside. This accomplishes a couple of things. Not only does it do a great job of keeping things cold, but because vacuums are so much more efficient than foam, the walls can be much, much thinner. The result is that for the same internal capacity you get a cooler that is vastly smaller on the outside, and it鈥檚 a whole lot lighter, too. Polyethylene (which most cooler shells are made of) and foam both weigh a fair amount, whereas aluminum is about 2.5 times lighter as a shell. And vacuums weigh literally nothing.

What Oyster Claims

This is where things get wild. According to Oyster, you don鈥檛 even need to put ice in this cooler. They say you can just toss in cold items and that they will stay cold. I will note that performance will vary greatly in the real world, depending on a number of factors like how cold the items are before you put them in, how much mass they have, and the ambient temperature (I won鈥檛 bore you with the physics, but items that are colder with more mass will stay cold longer). Better though, is to use the included ice packs. The Tempo comes with two familiar blue squares that are designed to fit perfectly at the bottom of the cooler, maximizing the usable space. With those in the bottom, you can still fit 36 12-ounce cans in the cooler. Most ice chest manufacturers will suggest that you use a two-to-one ratio of ice to food or drink for the best results. To say that cuts into your usable capacity would be an understatement (you lose two-thirds of your space to ice alone), so this really is somewhat revolutionary, if the claims bear out鈥攚hich we will get to. (And yes, the Tempo can also be used to keep hot things hot, if you so desire.)

How the Oyster Tempo Cooler Measures up to the Competition

Oyster Tempo

Dimensions: 19.37鈥� W x 12.5鈥� D x 11.57鈥� H, (2,801.4 cubic inches)

Orca 26 Quart

Dimensions: 23.63鈥� W x 17.75鈥� D x14.63鈥� (6,1236.3 cubic inches)

Roadie 24 Liter

Dimensions: 16.6″W x 14.0″D x 17.4″H (4,043.78 cubic inches)

It’s worth comparing some of the specs to roto-molded coolers of a similar capacity, starting with my long-time favorite the ($275). It has slightly more internal capacity than the 23 liter Oyster, but Orca says its cooler can hold just 22 cans with a two-to-one ice ratio. But it鈥檚 the outside where you really see the difference. Yes, the Oyster is less than half the Orca鈥檚 size, but with just three liters less carrying capacity. Even Yeti鈥檚 smallest hard cooler, the ,($250) is significantly larger. And it鈥檚 not just real estate: the Oyster Tempo weighs in at just 12.34 pounds, while the Orca 26 comes in at 25, and the Yeti Roadie 24 weighs 13 pounds.

Notes on Functionality

The Tempo includes both an aluminum handle (for carrying by hand) and a nylon strap (to sling over your shoulder), and it鈥檚 easy to swap between the two. On each end of the cooler is a removable knob (which Oyster calls the 鈥淯nimount鈥�); inset the knob, give it a half twist, and you鈥檙e good to go (just reverse order to remove it.

Make sure the Unimount Key is fully clicked in. I made that mistake and the handle popped out of one side, which caused the cooler to drop and the handle to bend. It was user error, and it was easy enough to bend back into shape, but it would be nice if it were more idiot-proof.

It鈥檚 nice to have the two carry options, but I found the aluminum handle a bit uncomfortable to use once the cooler was fully loaded. The strap was better, but it was still a bit awkward, because the hard box bumps against your side as you walk. I really wish it had two built-in handles on the side like most rotomolded coolers so I could grip it tightly and lift it high enough so my thighs didn鈥檛 bump it while walking. This was my least favorite thing about the cooler, but Oyster gave themselves an easy way to fix it: They could just release a pair of individual handles that attach to the Unimounts and instantly eliminate this issue. I, for one, really hope they do.

The lid (which is also fully vacuum insulated), has a latch on the front and the back, so you can easily open it from either side or remove the whole lid, which I thought was a nice touch. And if it gets completely destroyed the whole thing is fully recyclable. Speaking of, it鈥檚 not bear-proof. Another feature that鈥檚 missing is a drain. This is part of Oyster鈥檚 Anti-Ice agenda, and not having a drain hole probably improves the insulation a bit, but it would be a nice option to have. Also worth noting: it鈥檚 a very handsome cooler, and compared to its roto-molded plastic cousins it looks sleek and compact.

How We Tested the Oyster Tempo Cooler

The Oyster Tempo in a head-to-head test with the Orca 26. (Photo: Brent Rose)

Test Number One: No Ice

To evaluate Oyster鈥檚 claims about the Tempo needing no ice at all I filled it nearly to capacity with 24 cans and bottles of varying sizes along with two full-sized bottles of champagne, all of which started out at 39 degrees Fahrenheit. I kept the cooler in a room at 72 degrees. After six hours, I pulled听 a can out from the middle, opened it, and stuck a probe thermometer in. It was听 44 degrees, which was nice and cold. At 18 hours another can from the same regionhad come up a bit more to 48 degrees, which would still be pleasant to drink on a hot day. At 24 hours the cans were at 50 degrees. Not bad.

Test Number Two: Ice Packs

This time I essentially repeated the test above, but I put the two Oyster ice packs at the bottom. The drinks started out at 38 degrees (room temp was still 72). I didn鈥檛 do my first check until just after 24 hours had elapsed. I pulled a can up from the bottom and to my surprise it had actually dropped to 33 degrees. Yes, it was touching the ice pack, but that鈥檚 still impressive. I checked again for a second and final time at just over 52 hours, and the drinks were at 48 degrees. Again, still totally drinkable, but if I鈥檇 had some lunch-meat sandwiches in there I think I鈥檇 start getting a bit leery鈥� I certainly wouldn鈥檛 want to use this method with actual oysters.

Overall, I鈥檇 call the results decent, and certainly good enough for a two or maybe even a three-day trip, depending how hot it was. But I wanted to do more of an apples-to-apples comparison.

Test Number Three: Oyster Tempo Versus Orca 26 Liter

For the final test, I pitted the Oyster Tempo directly against my trusted Orca 26 Liter. When I recently the Orca dominated the Ice-Melt Test, beating all the other modern roto-molded coolers, retaining some ice for more than a week. So, I threw a 24-pound bag of cube ice into each of them, with nothing else. Both coolers had room to spare, but the Orca had a bit more room at the top thanks to its extra three liters of capacity. I then left both coolers outside, in the shade, on my balcony in Los Angeles, California where temps ranged from 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The results were fascinating.

At 24 hours, the Oyster was going strong. The ice cubes were still separate and easy to manipulate with my hand. With the Orca, though, the ice had started sticking together and was tougher to break apart. Looking closer, I could see that the ice had melted and shrunk away from the walls a bit, sort of turning it into one big block. This actually backs up one of Oyster鈥檚 claims: the thin aluminum walls cool off much faster than thicker plastic walls, so it didn鈥檛 take as much thermal energy from the ice to bring it to equilibrium.

The writing was on the wall early on鈥攖he plastic Orca was just melting much faster. The ice wanted to form into a block, and I鈥檇 break it up every day. The Oyster was retaining its ice much better, and the cubes stayed looser the entire time (I would break both up each day in the name of fairness). By day seven the Orca had just a few handfuls of ice floating at the top, and by day eight it had completely melted and was a water bath sitting at 46 degrees. More than a week is still an excellent result.

At day eight the ice in the Oyster Tempo was still roughly half cubes and the water on the bottom was a bone-chilling 33 degrees. That is simply an incredible result. It didn鈥檛 turn all the way to water until midway through Day 11. I would be willing to bet that had I started out with the two blue ice packs on the bottom (which would have fit just fine), it probably would have lasted a full two weeks. It鈥檚 hard to wrap my head around how efficient that is, and I would most certainly trust it with dairy, meat, and fresh-caught fish.

Final Thoughts

It was definitely annoying that I had to pick it up and dump it afterwards instead of using a drain hole, but it was nice that the lid came off. The fact that the cooler itself is pretty light meant that the task wasn鈥檛 exactly back-breaking.

I do wish it had better, built-in handles on the sides, and I that it came in more sizes (the 23 liter Tempo is currently the only version available), but it offers unsurpassed performance, and it does so in a smaller, lighter package that鈥檚 just so much more convenient to use鈥攅ven with the several drawbacks I noted. I can鈥檛 say enough how nice it is that it takes up so little space in my garage.

Of course, this all comes at a price, and that price is a whopping $500. That is a lot for a cooler, and way more than the Orca 26 ($275) or the Yeti Roadie 24 ($250), but again, the Tempo outperforms those and does so at 45 percent and 69 percent of their size, respectively. It鈥檚 worth noting that Oyster isn鈥檛 the only entrant into the double-wall vacuum-insulated arms race, either. Most notably, Yeti recently launched the . But it currently only comes in a larger 60-liter capacity, it鈥檚 actually a mix of plastic on the inside and stainless steel on the outside, and it costs $800. It also weighs 34.4 pounds empty, so it鈥檚 not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. There are others that are vacuum insulated that are all plastic, like the , which only costs $200, but its ice-retention claims are close to that of the roto-molded coolers. Overall, the Oyster Tempo is an impressive first-generation product, with some details that I suspect will be improved in future versions. Whether the stellar performance is worth the price is up to you.

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Austin, Texas-based cooler company Yeti has recalled nearly two million of its soft-sided coolers and gear cases after the they pose a health risk. According to the CPSC, the Yeti products in question contain high-powered magnets that, if ingested, can cause injury or even death.

The recalled Yeti products include the Hopper M20 Backpack, SideKick Dry gear case, and two iterations of the Hopper M30 tote-style cooler. The problems impact all colors for each product. The CPSC advises consumers to immediately stop using the products and contact Yeti for a full refund.

Each of the four products feature closure systems that utilize the magnets, and the CPSC reports that 鈥渄egrading or failing鈥� products can release stray magnets. 鈥淲hen two or more high-powered magnets are swallowed, the ingested magnets can attract to each other, or to another metal object, and become lodged in the digestive system,鈥� the CPSC said in a statement. 鈥淭his can result in perforations, twisting and/or blockage of the intestines, infection, blood poisoning and death.鈥�

According to the CPSC, no injuries or ingestions have been reported, but the group has received 1,399 reports of complications with the magnetic closures. The recalled products were sold between March 2018 and January 2023 at various retailers, including Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods and ACE Hardware.

In a statement provided to听翱耻迟蝉颈诲别,听Yeti said: 鈥淲e made this decision after learning the magnet-lined closures of these products can fail and result in detached magnets, which poses a risk of serious injury or death if two or more are ingested. While we have not been made aware of any injuries as of the time of the recall, the safety of our customers, the quality of our products, and the integrity of our brand are non-negotiable. We ask that any customers who currently have these products to immediately stop using them and follow the recall instructions, which can be found here: | CPSC.gov.鈥�

The impacted products are below:

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Yeti dropped two new coolers, the and , last week. Every time the Texas brand releases a new product I find myself feeling like 鈥攁蝉 国产吃瓜黑料鈥檚 Gear Guy, I鈥檓 flooded with inquiries about whether the new product is worth the price tag. But I鈥檓 used to it: some variation of this question is the one I鈥檓 asked the most in this position. To answer this eternal query, I鈥檝e dropped , dragged them behind my car, and filled them with welding refuse and released them from a forklift. Depending on the results, the answers have varied from 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� to 鈥渕aybe鈥� to 鈥渄epends.鈥� But after testing the new Yeti Roadie 48 for three weeks, I can say with confidence that it鈥檚听a totally worthwhile investment.

Portability

This is the most maneuverable hard cooler Yeti has created yet, and that鈥檚 a big deal. None of the brand鈥檚 products are light, so moving them around is often the crux of owning one. While it鈥檚 not the first wheeled cooler Yeti has built (that would be the ), this one uses a telescoping trolley handle, which more closely resembles a wheeled carry-on bag than the non-extendable, wagon-style handle on the Haul. It is also taller and thinner than its predecessor which adds to that maneuverability. I spent over three hours giving my 25-pound daughter rides around my front and back yards in this cooler in a testing/COVID quarantine multi-task. (Yeti has a large sticker saying not to put kids in coolers for obvious reasons, but since I was physically holding the cooler the whole time and my kiddo was having a blast, I did it anyway. We do not recommend this activity, although it provided good results.) During the test we rolled down stairs, ran through pea gravel, zig-zagged around raised beds, and rolled through deep dirt. The Roadie 48 thrived in each scenario. It really was remarkable, and will save me many frustrating truck-to-campsite trips in years to come. It would be an welcome companion for crowded tailgates, concerts, or beach days.

Thermoregulation

It was pretty cool when I tested coolers in my local college鈥檚 physics lab, but it honestly didn鈥檛 get me more information that is useful for your average weekend camping enthusiast. I kept this one simple. I put ten pounds of ice in the cooler with six lukewarm La Croixs. I took the temp of one La Croix from the same package, closed the cooler and rolled it to a full sun part of my back deck through a 93-degree weekend. I tested the temp of a La Croix at 48 hours and then monitored when it finally ran out of ice.

After 48 hours it delivered a frosty 38-degree La Croix. I pushed this test to four full days with highs in the nineties before all of the ice was gone and the La Croixs came out (at hour 96) at 67 lukewarm degrees. All in all: it meets the standards I hold for Yeti hard coolers. Is this a quantum leap when compared to other Yetis I have tested? No. Would I trust this cooler with raw meat on a three-day river trip? Absolutely.

Durability

I did not intentionally try to destroy this cooler. The bonded plastic is of the same quality and heartiness of the half-dozen Yeti coolers I have beaten to hell in the past and I closely combed all of the seams and found them to look both clean and sturdy. I did fill the cooler with 20 pounds of ice and drinks and swung the cooler by the telescoping handle in various contortions for a half an hour to make sure it didn鈥檛 fail. It felt as solid in hand as the single-piece metal handles in Yeti鈥檚 other rolling coolers. Credit the wide square shape of the aluminum telescoping parts and the brand鈥檚 dedication to toughness.

The Takeaway

A hard cooler that thermoregulates well is always going to be heavy. All the more so when you load it up with food and drinks for a weekend. The 48, which I tested, is a great cooler for a family of four car camping for a weekend. The 60 would work well for a larger group or one family鈥檚 full week camping trip. The fact that this new cooler from Yeti makes moving a heavy load significantly easier brings me to one verdict: the Roadie is easily worth its high price tag.

The post Why Yeti鈥檚 New Cooler Is Worth the Money appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Yeti and other high-end cooler brands have changed the way we store and transport food outdoors. They鈥檝e also changed the amount people are willing to pay for a plastic ice box. Do you need to spend a lot of money? Wes Siler explains what makes Yeti coolers special, and offers some of the more affordable options out there, while also explaining how to get the most out of them. He argues that there鈥檚 still a place in your arsenal for that cheap Playmate.

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Lars Alvarez-Roos, co-owner of听adventure travel听company Bio Bio Expeditions and legendary camp cook, has seen every type of outdoor cooking disaster imaginable in his 35 years as a guide鈥攆rom burgers charred like hockey pucks听to the time he used oven mitts to extinguish my flaming hair after I got overzealous with lighter fluid when I was working for him as a young guide. Here are his tips to help you avoid camp kitchen nightmares.

The Problem

Mixing vegetables and meat in a cooler. The result on day two or three of a听trip is meat juice permeating the cooler as the ice melts. 鈥淚t gets into everything and ends up contaminating it all,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says.

The Fix

鈥淥n a multi-day event, use a separate meat cooler, dairy cooler, and vegetable cooler,鈥� he says. That avoids cross contamination. 鈥淚f you are camping with just your family and are bringing enough food for a weekend, I would say everything should be separately vacuum packed,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says. Meats and cheeses need to be vacuum packed or at least in airtight containers or听resealable Ziploc bags,听but sometimes those can be penetrated by water if they鈥檙e not fully closed.

The Gear

If you鈥檒l be using it a lot, invest in a听 ($150). Otherwise,听you鈥檒l need airtight containers, resealable plastic听bags,听or a spare cooler.

The Problem

Not using enough ice.

The Fix

鈥淢ake sure you have at least one third of the cooler dedicated to maintaining your thermal reservoir,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says. That means that should should have a one-third ice to two-thirds perishables ratio at the beginning of your trip. 鈥淚f you pre-freeze vacuum-sealed meats, you could look at those as ice blocks,鈥� he says.

Alvarez-Roos also recommends using sealed ice containers so you don鈥檛 have to worry about melt water like in problem number one. 鈥淭ake gallon containers of milk, clean them out, fill them with your clean drinking water, and freeze them so you have good clean drinking water as the ice melts,鈥� he says.听Distribute the icea as evenly as possible throught the cooler.

The Gear

Any container that can hold frozen water. This also might be a good time to think of upgrading to a larger cooler if your current one doesn鈥檛 have enough space for all of your food with the appropriate ratio of ice.

The Problem

Forgetting the butter or oil. 鈥淭his is the number one thing people leave home when camping,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says.

The Fix

Have a designated camp cooking oil container with the date you last poured oil in on there. I use electrician鈥檚 tape and a Sharpie to label what it is and when I last topped up, and it lives in my camp kitchen box.

The Gear

Alvarez-Roos suggests the ($2) as a container to store your preferred cooking oil.

The Problem

Bad cutting board hygiene. 鈥淎 lot of times people cut the chicken on a cutting board then use the same one for lettuce and tomatoes,鈥� Alvarez-Roos听says. 鈥淭hat is a major no-no.鈥�

The Fix

Bring two or three cutting boards if you can and designate different boards for different types of food prep鈥擨 use one for meat and two for veggies, fruit, and cheese. It鈥檚 even easier if you get different colored boards and designate a specific color for a specific type of food throughout your camping trip. If everyone knows that the red cutting board is contaminated with things that could sicken us all and overfill our groover in mere hours, no one assumes it is clean and whips up a salad on it. Taking the assumption out of the equation leads to heaps less miscommunication.

The Gear

While wooden cutting boards are nicer to serve from, plastic cutting boards are easier to transport, easier to disinfect, and generally less expensive. You can get away with听flimsy ones, but I find that the extra rigidity like the boards in ($18) makes transporting food significantly easier.

The Problem

Burning things, or having the flame blow out on finicky camp stoves.

The Fix

Alvarez-Roos recommends orienting your stove so the prevailing wind is blocked and then keeping an eye on the actual size of the flame, especially if you鈥檙e not used to cooking on gas. 鈥淜eep an ear on it, too: the louder the noise the bigger the flame,鈥� he says.

The Gear

I have personally found that Camp Chef鈥檚 Rainier Stove ($170) has听a good simmer mode and enough wind-blocking capabilities to mitigate blow-outs on all but the windiest days.

The Problem

Cooking and cleaning in the dark.

The Fix

鈥淢ake sure you pack a headlamp for cooking听and also another light source,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says. 鈥淚f you get to camp after dark, it is really hard to cook dinner without.鈥� He recommends having two headlamps that live in your camp kitchen kit.

The Gear

The ($20) won my听inexpensive headlamp test a few years back.听Bringing a simple, reliable, solar lantern听听($25)听is another great way to hedge your bets against washing dishes in the dark.

The Problem

Not fully cleaning or disinfecting your dishes. This can lead to people getting sick.

The Fix

鈥淥n river trips, Bio Bio Expeditions uses a four-bucket system,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says.听Here鈥檚 how the system works: scrape your dishes into a garbage container, then soak them in a pre-rinse to soften tough food particles. Then, scrub like crazy in a bucket of dish soap and water. Step three: dip those dishes in a rinse听bucket of clean water to get the suds off. Finally, disinfect the dishes in a bucket of water with a capful or two of bleach in it and air dry.

鈥淚f you have the luxury of a river right there, that is ideal.鈥� Alvarez-Roos says.听The river affords a great deal of water to fill buckets with, but we do not suggest washing your dishes in the river. Please closely follow the local guidelines听to properly dispose of your grey water after use.

The Gear

Build a sanitizing station with dish soap, Clorox bleach, and a Sea to ($25).

The Problem

People burning themselves.

The Fix

Bring oven mitts and long tongs. Alvarez-Roos suggests using the longest tongs that storage space will allow. It is rare that you wish you had shorter tongs, but you will always be听thankful for extra distance when cooking over an open flame.

The Gear

Oven mitts听from home. If they can fit in your kitchen bin, some ($7).

The Problem

People not helping out in the kitchen.

The Fix

鈥淧eople cook better when they are happy, and people are happier when they have music,鈥� Alvarez-Roos says. 鈥淢ake sure there are some speakers and a way to play music in your outdoor cooking space.鈥�

Alvarez also taught me a rule that I have used for nearly two decades: if you鈥檙e on a cooking crew and don鈥檛 have a job, you should check in with someone who is busy and offer them a drink. Getting a cold lemonade served to you while flipping burgers in the heat is a quick path to happiness.

The Gear

I love the sound quality from JBL鈥檚 ($120). It nails a wide range of music, from sweet folk-tune voices to solid base drops. It鈥檚 slightly smaller than a classic 32-ounce Nalgene and听has about a 12-hour battery life, so a single charge can get you through a weekend鈥檚 worth of meal preparation and cleaning.

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Most dads are notorious for not caring about looks鈥攗sually听because we just want to get onto the next adventure. I鈥檓 not saying we鈥檙e a bunch of bums, but most of us could certainly try a little harder. To help, I鈥檝e rounded up eight simple Father鈥檚 Day gifts I鈥檝e tested that will definitely help us improve our style.

Huckberry Weekenders Sunglasses ($35)

These glasses are wildly popular because you get a set of sturdy frames and polarized lenses for less than it would cost to take Dad out to dinner. When Huckberry first launched the Weekenders, they came in one simple style and a few colors. Now the company offers a whole host of fun designs, my favorite of which is this modern version of the classic Wayfarer silhouette. Any color you choose will look听great, but I suggest something like Maroon, which is bold but classy.

Wellen Towel Polo ($68)

A polo is the perfect compromise between a t-shirt and a button down. With a collar, it has just enough style to fit in at work, but still comes with an easy-wearing, pull-on, no-fuss design that dads love. I like this one from听Wellen because it鈥檚 made from an organic cotton terry that has a sturdy but soft feel on the skin. The fabric has a vintage look right from the start and will take on a nice patina over time.

Readywares Deluxe Utility Apron ($55)

Chances are听your dad likes to fix and tinker. Maybe he works on bikes,听cars, or is right in the middle of remodeling the bathroom. Whatever he鈥檚 doing, this apron will help. Made from 20-ounce waxed canvas, it鈥檚 designed to protect his clothes and keep his most important tools right at hand. And the dirtier it gets, the better it looks. I鈥檝e also used the apron for summer grilling and love how the two front pockets are the perfect size for my favorite cans of beer.

Mission Workshop Axis Modular Waist Pack ($130)

Your dad is cool enough to wear a camo fanny pack听like this one from Mission Workshop. Built from a tough, 500-denier nylon, the Axis is big enough to hold all his everyday essentials (wallet, keys, sunglasses) plus a small camera and a light shell or thin cold-weather layer. He鈥檒l wear it around his wait听while running errands on his bike, or while on a group ride with听friends. Then he can sling it over his shoulder like a mini messenger bag around town, or on vacation with the family.

Civilware Brad Leone Carbon Fiber Puncher Knife ($140)

听is听most well-known as a Bon App茅tit and YouTube chef, but from the looks of his Instagram, he鈥檚 also a fun dad and husband. He certainly loves to adventure and doesn鈥檛 take life too seriously. This knife, which he designed with Civilware, is beautiful to look at thanks to the carbon fiber handle and modified drop point blade. At 2.5 inches, the blade has enough heft听for most jobs but not cumbersome to haul around. As a lefty, I love the easy, ambidextrous, one-handed opening mechanism.

Huckberry x Chaco Z/1 Agave Sandals ($110)

Pops has probably owned a pair of Chacos, but I鈥檓 positive they鈥檙e not as bold as these. The straps come in a dark, rich tan, and each one is covered with small illustrations of the agave plant, which we鈥檝e all come to know as the source of听tequila and mezcal. Worn with a pair of shorts or rolled up pants, these sandals command attention but never come off as gaudy. Your dad still gets the supportive footbed and all-terrain soles that Chaco is famous for.

Shinola The Runwell Quartz ($595)

Your dad would never buy himself an expensive watch, which is exactly why you should. I love this one from Shinola because it鈥檚 made in Detroit and has a simple but elegant design that won鈥檛 make him self conscious. You also get features including an accurate, reliable, and maintenance-free Argonite 705 quartz movement, a scratch- and shatter-resistant sapphire glass crystal front, and a bespoke leather strap. The price tag is steep but reasonable when you realize that it will last him for decades to come.

Yeti Rambler 10-Ounce Tumbler ($20)

I鈥檓 recommending this well-known and oft-reviewed cup in large part because it now comes in a bright, beautiful orange. Dad will definitely stand out while enjoying his coffee each morning and his favorite iced drink at night. The colorway also has a cool story. It鈥檚 inspired by the orange color of the king crab and the orange bibs worn by the king crab fisherman of the Pacific Northwest.

The post 8 Style Upgrades for Dad, Just in Time for Father鈥檚 Day appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Car camping is wonderful because it鈥檚 so accessible. Vehicles let us bring luxuries, offer an easy exit in case of disaster, and make it so we don鈥檛 have to be so picky about our gear. It鈥檚 also how the majority of people get introduced to sleeping outdoors. For those who haven鈥檛 experienced that yet, the good news is that you can put together an entire car camping kit from used gear and comfortably sleep outdoors all summer. I asked Matt Endress, manager of Get N鈥� Gear, an Ashland, Oregon, outdoor gear consignment shop, for tips on how to pick the right items. Besides these things, you should have anything else you need at home already.

Tent

Endress says that tents depreciate in value quickly, so it鈥檚 relatively common to find good deals.

Sniff It

The way a used tent smells can clue you in on whether the plastic it鈥檚 made from is in good shape or not. 鈥淧lastic tends to deteriorate over time and smell is a dead giveaway. If it鈥檚 funky like Playdoh,鈥� he says, don鈥檛 buy it.

Check the Poles

Look for tents with either aluminum or fiberglass poles since they鈥檙e the most reliable. If they鈥檙e broken, or the tent is missing one, beware. What might seem like an easy replacement or quick fix might become a nightmare. 鈥淵ou can find a cheap tent with a broken pole,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淏ut all of those tents use different lengths and it鈥檚 really hard to get cheap replacements听because they have to be cut to size.鈥� If the poles are metal, watch for discolorations where they might have been bent and re-bent back into place, causing weak spots. Heavily used fiberglass tends to splay at the ends of poles. Both should be avoided.

鈥淩ethreading the shock cord [that runs through many aluminum poles] is something that you can do pretty easily since you can buy lengths of it online,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an easy way to salvage a good tent.鈥�

Set It Up

This one may seem like common sense, but it is important that you erect your new-to-you tent in your living room or backyard鈥攅ven the shop if they鈥檒l let you鈥攂efore bringing it into the field. Making sure you have a fully functional shelter before relying on it in the field will hedge your bets against a camping disaster.

Pads

Inflate It

Always test a used sleeping pad to make sure it holds air. 鈥淒unk it in water [pinhole leaks will release bubbles under water], then leave it inflated overnight,鈥� Endress says. It鈥檚 hard to conduct a thorough test in a store, so make sure that the business has a refund policy before making the purchase, just in case. Or you鈥檒l be stuck making repairs yourself.

Go Big and Comfy

鈥淧eople spend a lot of money on sleeping bags, but if you are trying to stay warm, the most efficient way is solid, fitting baselayers, and a good pad,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淎 lot of coldness comes from the bottom.鈥� We recommend spending a little extra money on a nicer pad with a solid R-value so you stay extra comfortable and warm.

Sleeping Bags

Don鈥檛 Stress About Weight

鈥淪leeping bags start getting expensive when you are talking about warmth-to-weight ratio, but when you鈥檙e car camping that doesn鈥檛 really matter,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淲hen I go with my kids, I bring a bunch of blankets and pillows.鈥�

Look Closely

鈥淐heck the zipper, and don鈥檛 be afraid to shove your nose in the bag,鈥� Endress says. If it smells funky, steer clear.

Rating Matters Less than Wear

If you do go with a sleeping bag, pay close attention to the loft鈥攖he fluffiness of the insulation鈥攐f the used bag, rather than the weight. The puffier the bag, the more warmth it is going to deliver. 鈥淒own loses loft over time,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淭he rating means nothing after a long period.鈥� Pick it up and feel how fluffy it feels. Pay attention to how it is stored. The loft has likely deteriorated dramatically on sleeping bags that are tightly packed for an extended period of time. 鈥淏e very wary of any down [or synthetic] sleeping bag that has been packed in its stuff sack for a while,鈥� Endress says.

Sometimes used bags can still retain some loft, but only in bunched up areas around the seams. Look closely for this because it can make the bag significantly less warm. You want one that has its loft spread as evenly as possible throughout the panels. 鈥淲hen it鈥檚 bad, it鈥檚 like having really good insulation in your house, but a window open,鈥� Endress says.

Stoves

Don鈥檛 Overthink It

Camp cooking can be very simple. If you prep most of your meals at home before you take off, you may require less gear. If you bring chili in a Tupperware container, all you need is a pot and stove to heat it up鈥攜ou could even do it over the fire.

Check the Return Policy

鈥淭he store is probably not going to have it hooked up to gas,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淢ake sure you get a receipt and fire it up right when you get home.鈥�

Go Coleman

鈥淐oleman stoves have been made bascially the same way for decades and are hard to beat,鈥� Endress says. On top of being reliable, these two-burner classics are simple machines that can be fixed with minimal training. Learning how to replace o-rings and clean out the pipes of an means you will never have to buy a new stove again.

Coolers

Keep It Simple

鈥淎 cooler is a cooler,鈥� Endress says. 鈥淵ou can get them dirt cheap. Any garage sale is going to have them.鈥�

Don鈥檛 Sweat the Insulation

鈥淐heck that it actually seals, and look for cracks, but as far as insulative properties, unless you are a hunter and need to keep game in a cooler for three days before you to get back to civilization, you don鈥檛 need a crazy insulative cooler,鈥� Endress says. But how you pack it can make a difference.

Lantern

Replace the Mantles

You can buy a gas lantern and easily , Endress says. It鈥檚 much cheaper than buying one new.

Go LED

There is an unmistakable charm in the light an old propane lantern gives off, but LED lanterns are much easier to work in the field, Endress says.

The post How to Buy a Car-Camping Kit Used appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

At 国产吃瓜黑料, we try our best to reserve judgment about gear until we鈥檝e actually tried it. Most of the time, we don鈥檛 know how a product will surprise us听until we鈥檝e taken it out in the field. But sometimes we鈥檙e just plain excited. The following three pieces were pitched to us for our Gear of the Show awards for Winter Outdoor Retailer 2021. While they didn鈥檛 make that cut, we can鈥檛 wait to get our hands on them and put them through some thorough tests.

Salewa Ortles Couloir Ice Climbing Boot

Ice climbing boots need to be stiff. It鈥檚 what allows you to kick hard and 鈥渟tand鈥� up, even when a good portion of your body weight rests on just the front points of your crampons, sunk a half-inch into the frozen flow. But stiffness comes with trade-offs. Ice boots tend to be clunky to walk in, and even the lightest among them are relatively heavy, which means they鈥檙e only good for climbing. Salewa鈥檚 new Ortles Couloir boot will be the first to truly change that paradigm, resulting in a tool that will be appropriate both for daily wear on alpine expeditions and while swinging tools.

Weighing just 725 grams, the Ortles Couloir听will be the lightest ice听and mixed climbing boot on the market when it hits shelves this September. There are plenty of lighter-weight boots for mountaineering, but none that are designed to also scale steep, frozen waterfalls. The Ortles Couloir听is a single boot (no separate liner) with a low-cut, lace-up bootie underneath an integrated, stretchy, waterproof gaiter. But the real magic comes from an external carbon-fiber exoskeleton that goes around the back of the boot, up the ankle, and around the gaiter, enabling a stiff and听supportive yet ultralight fit. A super-thin Vibram Litebase outsole lends still more weight savings, while an exaggerated midsole rocker yields a more natural walking stride than most other ice boots. The $1,000 price tag ensures that this is a niche product for an even smaller group of enthusiasts, though over time the technology may trickle down into more affordable boots. Until then, we still can鈥檛 help getting excited. 鈥擜riella Gintzler

Elan Voyager Skis

When we saw Elan鈥檚 new Voyager ($1,800), a folding all-mountain ski, it immediately raised some questions: why, how, and what could go wrong? It鈥檚 not the first folding ski ever, though that title also goes to Elan for the backcountry-ready ($2,000). This version is made with the traveling skier in mind:听along with the included check-in-compliant roller bag, in theory it听makes storing and getting to the slopes with your equipment easier, since you wouldn鈥檛 have to lug a large bag. Our staff鈥檚 experienced snow vagabonds, however, are skeptical that this is a major problem: modern ski bags are well designed, oversized luggage typically doesn鈥檛 take much longer to arrive at baggage claim, and most ski town鈥揷apable cars have plenty of room for gear.听

But for those skiers hell-bent on saving as much space as possible, Elan went the extra mile. The Slovenian company says it spent the past decade honing the Voyager鈥檚 folding mechanism to make it bombproof enough for all-mountain use and repeated folding and unfolding, while maintaining a smooth flex despite the underfoot joint. In storage, the integrated binding sits atop the front part of the ski. To lock your sticks into shred mode, unfold, then rotate the bindings 180 degrees to slide them onto a 鈥渇our-axis mechanism鈥� that straddles the joint and anchors into a carbon-reinforced plate in the ski. Even after seeing how the mechanism works, we weren鈥檛 convinced听they would hold up, but carried out by Slovenian ski-cross champion Filip Flisar do make the joint appear rock solid on the slopes.

Speculation only goes so far, though. Come next winter, we can鈥檛 wait to test the Voyager鈥檚 limits.听鈥擬aren Larsen

GoSun Chillest Cooler

Coolers have come a long way in the past couple decades. High-quality rotomolded coolers like those from changed the game first by extending the life of ice by days. Then, powered coolers like Dometic鈥檚 offerings hit the scene and removed ice from the picture completely for those who could afford to buy one. But one thing we hadn鈥檛 seen yet was a solar-powered cooler with an integrated battery to power it. GoSun is taking that leap in 2021 with its Chillest cooler, and we鈥檙e excited for the possibilities.听

The Chillest can reach freezer temperatures, which will allow you to stick in an ice cube tray full of water and, a few hours later, be able to make proper mojitos. It鈥檚 potentially more portable than powered coolers鈥攚hich often don鈥檛 have an onboard battery鈥攖hanks to the included 30 watt solar panel and 100 watt-hour听battery, which you can charge at home before you head out and then keep topped up at camp. GoSun claims the battery takes an impressive two hours to reach a full charge from a wall outlet听and says it will last as long as 18 hours or as little as two, depending on the temperature settings and how warm it is outside.

The cooler听comes with an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink list of accessories鈥攁听shade umbrella! cutting board! USB for charging your devices!鈥攆or $800. This evolution in powered-cooler tech has the potential to give you all the benefits of these boxes鈥攏o more soggy sandwiches, no more stops for ice鈥攚ith fewer downsides. We like the sound of that. 鈥擭atalia Lutterman

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With ski resorts implementing strict social-distancing protocol, limiting lodges to takeout, and either closing or capping capacity on indoor spaces, apr猫s isn鈥檛 going to be the same this year.听But fear not, because we have some advice on how to bring the bar with you鈥攐r, rather, to your car at the ski resort鈥檚 parking lot. Here鈥檚 everything you听need for the ultimate portable setup.

Legacy Bar Backpack ($157)

If you want to create a portable bar, you鈥檝e got to move beyond just throwing some beers in the cooler. That starts with a portable cocktail set. is a 16-piece collection that has everything a roving bartender could need to serve up some fancy camp cocktails. It all packs into a waxed canvas carrying case, and there鈥檚 even an insulated main pocket designed to hold three bottles of booze. Inside听you鈥檒l find six cocktail picks, a two-piece strainer, bar tongs, a muddler, a double-sided jigger, a paring knife, a bottle and can opener, a small cutting board, a cocktail spoon, and a Hawthorne strainer. If you don鈥檛 know what half of those things are, just know this: you鈥檒l have no excuse to serve up a bad drink. If you鈥檙e looking for something a little smaller and more affordable, check out this ($125), which comes with similar equipment听but doesn鈥檛 include an area for liquor bottles.

Front Runner Stainless Steel Prep Table with Basin ($275)

You鈥檒l need a place to set up shop once you unpack your kit. I love , because they fold down quickly, don鈥檛 have any extra shelves or add-ons that could break, and feature a stainless-steel top that wipes down easily. The washbasin makes post-drink cleanup even simpler. As a bonus, if you have a on your rig like I do, you can stow the table securely beneath your rack with its听 ($105).

Stanley 国产吃瓜黑料 Stacking Vacuum Pint Cup ($18)

There are a ton of insulated pint glasses out there, but I prefer听Stanley鈥檚 , because it鈥檚听reasonably priced and offers听a secure grip. The vessel is dishwasher safe, and Stanley claims that the double-wall insulation will keep your drink cold for up to four hours. I鈥檝e never had a drink last for four hours, so I can鈥檛 confirm that.

GrowlerWerks uKeg Go ($99)

Although you may not be able to go to your favorite local bar or brewery at the moment, it鈥檚 important to continue supporting them, and picking up a growler of your favorite brew is a great way to do so. If they allow you to bring your own container, the is an ideal听option. Typical glass growlers don鈥檛 keep beer fresh very long, which the uKeg Go remedies听by using a food-grade CO2 cartridge, so your听beer stays carbonated for up to several weeks. And its听double-wall insulation means听it stays cold鈥攁nd you don鈥檛 need to worry about someone dropping and breaking your growler.

High Camp Firelight 750 Flask ($125)

It鈥檚 time to get rid of that old hip flask you got as a gift years ago (you know, the one that leaks and has a tiny opening you struggle to pour booze into). The fits an entire fifth of your beverage of choice听and comes with two tumblers that attach via a magnetic lock system.

GSI Stemless Red Wine Glass ($7)

GSI makes some of my favorite camp cookware, including these BPA-free copolyester . My wife and I have had a set of these for many years, and they鈥檝e stood up to plenty of abuse bouncing around in the back of my truck and getting knocked over by our dogs at our sites. The real beauty is that they鈥檙e nearly spillproof, thanks to the low center of gravity.

Cuisinart PerfecTemp Cordless Electric Kettle ($80)

The alfresco nature of a ski tailgate means you鈥檒l want the option for a hot toddy or cider. boils up to 1.7 liters at a time, heats up faster than comparable models, and has a function that allows you to keep the water at a certain temperature for up to 30 minutes.

Otterbox Venture 45 Cooler ($245)

Otterbox is known for its听tough-as-nails phone cases, and its听coolers are no different. The comes in three sizes, but the 45-liter cooler has the perfect amount of space for everything from a long weekend of camping to a day on the slopes. The cool thing about it听is you can get accessories for it, like a cutting board and drink holders, that attach to the side, giving听your portable bar more versatility.

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