YETI YETI Tundra 45 Cooler

This cooler was such a good purchase! It keeps everything cold for days and is definitely built to last, it stayed cold for our entire 5 day trip. My only issue is that it’s heavy when fully loaded, so I needed help carrying it, however, my boyfriend had no problem carrying it. Overall, it’s a 5 star product for its performance and durability. Highly recommended for anyone needing a reliable cooler.

Everyone addresses this, but I thought it would work for me. I love this cooler. It’s beautiful. Keep stuff cold. All the stuff you hear.

I cannot carry it to the car by myself loaded. This leaves me with the option of carrying it to the car, empty, and then filling it, or asking someone to help. As someone who camps alone, that’s a pain in the butt.

The first thing to note is that YETI marketing is misleading. So the number in the product name DOES NOT indicate actual capacity. For example, I have the YETI 45 and it does not hold 45L. It’s less. But I’m guessing this is due to the space needed to make this a bad a** cooler that can keep ice for days. If you’re new to YETI, a first time buyer, you may be at a dilemma on which size to get. You can’t look at outside dimensions and compare it to a non-YETI cooler that you may be using and say it’s the same. Because it’s probably not in terms of capacity. At the same time, the physical dimension of the YETI is still something to consider if you have space constraints and are looking for a drop in, same size replacement. For me, I was attempting to replace an igloo MaxCool and I had a space constraint to work with. I was “hoping” to get the mighty YETI cooling power AND have the same capacity/footprint as my Igloo. But that’s not possible. I was deciding between the YETI 35, 45, Haul, and 65. The sizing for YETI seems intentionally offset to other brands so I felt the size I needed was in between the 45 and 65, ex. if they had a 55 that would have been perfect. The 35 is essentially a drink only cooler for day trips like the traditional old school hand carry igloos. It’s small. The Haul is actually larger than the 65, I think, which is HUGE. The 65 would have been the one I should have went with for capacity but it wouldn’t meet the footprint I needed to meet. So I went with the 45. When it showed up it was a bit disappointing as it’s more of a bigger cooler for mainly drinks like beach parties or maybe day trip. I was hoping to use it for multi-day camping trips for food and drinks. HAHAH… dreaming. There isn’t a whole lot of space and I’m guessing best case it’s enough for a 2-day camping trip for a family of 4. Maybe for 1 person you can do drinks/food for multi-day camping. But again I think it’s more for drinks. It does come with a YETI basket, which is nice but something I’m likely not going to use. Space is too much of a premium to use a basket. All of this was made up for by the amazing cold retention of the cooler. We had ice for days (3+ days) and food cold with some drinks. I ended up using both my igloo for drinks and the YETI for food for camping. It worked out very well.

The 45 is heavy but not too heavy for a strong person to carry, even fully loaded. I do think if I got the 65 and it was fully loaded, there’s no way one person can carry it. My igloo comes with wheels but the YETI didn’t. This was one reason why I was considering the YETI HAUL. Wheels are nice when you need to transport or move from the parking space to where you need to go. I did find out that you can buy 3rd party, after market wheels for the YETI 45. They are expensive but may be worth it.

Overall, it’s a YETI and it delivered on what it’s known for. Just realize you’re getting less in capacity for the same physical size.

REVIEW

I bought this cooler because my Pelican 45 is way too big on the outside of the cooler and doesn’t fit in any car trunk that I have owned. I want to be able to take my 45 with me for car trips. So far I’m really happy with the size and how well it keeps ice. It is also significantly lighter than the Pelican. The Pelican has and needs wheels, but this Yeti just doesn’t feel like it needs them. I’m not too crazy about the rope handles yet, but the Yeti has solid handles built in too and these work like a charm.

I measured the actual internal capacity of this with water. It can hold just about exactly 32 liters of water and still have the lid close. For comparison, the Pelican 45 with wheels measured in at 35-36 liters (but also has a little lift in the lid that would allow a bit of extra space form the Yeti).

Pros
* 10 day ice retention seems great, especially in a compact size.
* Quite light for an injection molded cooler.
* Easy to carry with the molded handles.
* Fits in many car trunks, including my Civic. Compact. Not a square!
* Nice color.
* Quality construction.
* Solid: doubles as a seat, step stool, etc.

Cons
* Price.
* Would prefer closures like the Pelican has to the rubber straps.

THE TEST

I wanted to know how long this cooler will keep ice before I did a review, but I didn’t want to wait for next summer, so I set up another indoor test.

Test conditions:
* 23 degrees Celcius for ~12 hours a day and 18-22 degrees Celcius for the other 12.
* Lid opened briefly once a day at the same time to check ice level.
* Cooler pre-cooled with icepacks for one hour before starting.
* Cooler filled to the top with large ice cubes (you know: the kind your grandma/great-grandma made manually in the freezer trays), these cubes are much larger than store bought cubes and will last longer as a result.

Test Result:
Still had a little ice after 10 days. Cold water was all that remained on day 11.

I don’t like other tests where they “simulate real world useage” by opening the cooler multiple times a day and digging around in it. I want to know how long a cooler keeps ice, not how long ice takes to melt in a cooler that is open…so I kept opening to a minimum. I know the cooler will keep for a shorter time if I’m opening it and keeping food in it instead of solid ice, but that isn’ the point.

See pictures for the start of the test and the various milestones (Starting, two days, five days, eight days, and 10 days).

Muy buena.
En climas de 32-35 grados Celsius le cuesta mantener el hielo, pero el frío si se conserva. Por lo tanto hay que echarla a enfriar una noche antes.
Opte por colocarle botella de agua congelada, empiezan a dar frío así al meter las bebidas la hielera ya tiene cierta temperatura.
Tiene buena capacidad solo hay que saber organizar las cosas