Brand · Camp Gear
An RTIC cooler comes in two shapes for a hunting camp: hard ice chests, from small Road Trip boxes up to big Ultra-Tough chests, and soft coolers, from collapsible lunch bags to a backpack. Real talk: inside the brand, the choice comes down to three things. Hard or soft, how big, and whether you'll carry it or roll it. (Renee says I don't pick coolers, I interview them. The interview has three questions.)
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RTIC sells two kinds of cooler that show up on this site: hard coolers and soft coolers. Inside those two, the grid above splits into six groups:
The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go, so I'll write about the groups and what separates them. Values marked in the grid came from Amazon listings. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash.
RTIC also sells drinkware and bags, per Wind Point Partners' description of the company. This site doesn't list those.
These are the big, square ice chests most people picture when they hear "RTIC cooler." The listings call them hard coolers and size them in quarts, and some add a can count. The range runs from a small chest you could carry with one hand to a long one that needs a person on each end.
The big sizes are deer camp sizes. Penn State Extension's venison guide tells hunters to bring a large cooler filled with ice or snow and to cool the meat quickly, to 35–40°F. A small chest won't hold a quartered deer and the ice it needs. A large one, loaded, is a two-person lift.
Real talk: before you buy the biggest chest, measure the truck bed with the tailgate up. Then measure it again with the cooler you already own in there, because you're not leaving that one home either. Sizes across brands are on the large cooler page and the rotomolded cooler page.
The Ultra-Light listings say these coolers are 30% lighter than rotomolded coolers. That's the maker's claim, and the listings don't give the empty weight in the data we hold, so the grid can't show you the exact number. What the grid does show is capacity and wheels.
Ultra-Light sizes run from a small cooler to a mid-size chest you'd use for a weekend. Several come as wheeled versions with a handle. Same idea, different way of moving it.
The wheeled models in the grid are all Ultra-Light coolers, per their listings, from a small roller up to a large one. Wheels matter on two surfaces: a parking lot and a long gravel walk to a campsite. They matter less on leaves, roots and porch steps, where you're lifting anyway.
Renee says the wheeled cooler is "the one I let other people carry." She has a point. A wheeled cooler is the easiest one to hand off. More rollers across brands are on the cooler with wheels page.
The Road Trip coolers are the small end of the hard lineup: an 8-quart personal cooler and a 16-quart, per their listings. Think lunch, a few drinks, a sandwich for the stand. A cooler this size rides on the truck seat, not in the bed. The small cooler page has more of these across brands.
The Ultra-Tough soft coolers are tote bags sized by cans, from a small one up to a large one. Most of their listings name a waterproof zipper, call the bag leakproof, and state 48 hours of ice retention. The listings don't say what conditions that figure comes from: how much ice, what temperature outside, how often the lid opened. Read it as the maker's number for the maker's test.
The Pro versions of the 20-can and 30-can bags carry the same listed specs in the data we hold: waterproof zipper, tote carry, 48 hours claimed. The grid shows both, so compare the listings side by side if you're choosing between them.
A soft cooler is a different tool from a hard one. It's lighter empty and squishes into a full truck. It won't double as a seat or a step, and it won't hold a quartered deer. The soft cooler page covers the type across brands.
One soft cooler in the grid carries on your back: the 48-can Ultra-Tough Backpack Cooler, with a waterproof zipper per its listing. Shoulder straps are what you want for a long walk in, both hands free for a chair and a bow case. (Renee has watched me try it with a tote. The chair lost.) Backpack coolers from other brands are on the backpack cooler page.
The Everyday coolers are collapsible soft-sided bags, sized from a small lunch bag up to a mid-size tote. Their listings don't name a waterproof zipper or an ice-retention figure. The Everyday Insulated Tote is a larger zippered tote, and the Chillout 2-in-1 is a tote too.
These are lunch, grocery and day-trip bags. At deer camp they're the bag that brings sandwiches from the cabin to the truck, not the one that keeps the venison cold until Monday.
Start with what the cooler has to do. Meat and a long weekend point to a hard cooler. Lunch, drinks, or a walk in on foot point to a soft one. Hard coolers can be stood on and sat on; soft ones fold or flatten and weigh less empty. The coolers page lays out that trade across brands.
Size the hard cooler by trip length and what goes in, not by the biggest number on the shelf. A 50-quart class cooler is a common middle ground, and the 50 qt cooler page compares that size across brands.
Soft coolers are sized in cans, which is how the maker describes them. I can't picture 30 cans as volume, but I can picture 30 cans going up the porch steps. That's the test I'd use: how much will you carry, full, and how far.
My one opinion on this page: run two coolers, one for drinks and one for food. The FDA's guidance on eating outdoors says to consider packing drinks in one cooler and perishable food in another, so the food cooler isn't opened every time someone wants a soda. At camp, the drink cooler gets opened a lot.
A waterproof zipper on a soft cooler keeps meltwater in and rain out, per the listings that name it. A lid with latches on a hard cooler does the same job differently. If a soft cooler will ride on its side in a full truck, pick one whose listing names a waterproof or leakproof closure.
Most cooler care is common sense, but a few points come straight from food-safety guidance:
For venison, Penn State Extension says to keep the carcass or meat out of direct sun and to bag ice or snow in plastic storage bags before packing it in the body cavity. If you rinse the meat, dry it quickly. Dry and cold is the goal.
After the trip, empty the cooler, wash it, and let it dry open before you store it. A cooler shut wet in October is a science project in April.
Both brands make hard coolers and soft coolers, and both turn up in the same searches. On this site the difference is mostly the mix. RTIC's grid is coolers only: hard chests, wheeled Ultra-Light models, personal coolers, soft totes and a backpack. YETI's grid has hard and soft coolers too, plus camp chairs and beach chairs.
Outside this site, Wind Point Partners describes RTIC as a direct-to-consumer brand of coolers, tumblers, bottles and travel bags. YETI's investor site describes a range from coolers and drinkware to backpacks and bags. Compare capacity, wheels and carry style size for size. The YETI brand page has its lineup.
Both brands make hard and soft coolers. The difference on this site is cooling type: Igloo's grid includes electric coolers, and RTIC's grid runs on ice only. If you want a cooler that plugs into the truck, that's Igloo's side of the grid, or the electric cooler page across brands.
Igloo was founded in 1947 and is based in Katy, Texas, according to Dometic, which announced in 2021 that it was acquiring Igloo. The Igloo brand page has its lineup.
Here's what I could verify from sources outside a store shelf:
This page doesn't cover a founding year, where the coolers are made or warranty terms. A ranked list across brands is on the best coolers page.
Pick hard or soft, pick the size you can lift full, and write on the lid which cooler is food. Walt will still open the wrong one.
Here's what can be checked. The listings in the grid give capacity in quarts or cans, mark which hard coolers have wheels, and state ice-retention claims for some models, such as 48 hours on the Ultra-Tough soft coolers. Those claims don't list test conditions. Whether one suits you depends on size, weight and how far you carry it. Compare those specs model to model.
RTIC was founded in Houston by brothers Jim and John Jacobsen, according to Wind Point Partners, a Chicago private equity firm. Wind Point announced on September 2, 2020, that it had acquired RTIC. A 2016 KPRC 2 report described the company as based in Cypress, Texas, and started by the twin brothers.
Several Ultra-Tough soft cooler listings in the grid name a waterproof zipper, and their titles say leakproof. The Everyday collapsible coolers don't list a waterproof closure. A waterproof zipper keeps water from getting in or out through the top; it doesn't make the bag safe to leave in a creek. Read the listing of the exact size you want.
The hard coolers in the grid are sized in quarts, from small Road Trip boxes up to large Ultra-Tough chests. The soft coolers are sized in cans, from small Everyday bags up to the large Ultra-Tough tote and the backpack. A can count isn't the same as quarts, so compare cans to cans and quarts to quarts.
None of the RTIC listings in this site's grid is an electric or powered cooler; all of them run on ice. RTIC also sells drinkware and bags, which this site doesn't list. For coolers that run on a 12-volt plug, see the electric cooler page on this site.
The product grid on this page links to RTIC listings on Amazon US, filtered by hard and soft coolers. Wind Point Partners describes RTIC as a direct-to-consumer online brand. Check the size, color and whether the listing is the wheeled version before you order.
