Basket Case: What to Buy at YETI, According to Our Editors

Welcome to Basket Case, wherein your trusty VICE editors scour the proverbial aisles of our favorite online retailers to bring you a smorgasbord of the absolute best things to buy. In this installment, we're shopping till we drop at YETI, bringing you everything from apocalypse-proof hard coolers to the best water bottle in the world.

YETI is for all of us. Truly the everyman’s outdoor brand, YETI specializes in ultra durable, super efficient coolers, drinkware, luggage, apparel, and even cookware. And when I say ultra durable, I don’t mean just that it’s gear will keep your coffee hot while you go mountain climbing (though it absolutely will); I mean that it feels like I could drop my YETI water bottle off the Empire State Building and it would (probably) be completely fine.

You’re just as likely to see something from YETI at a Dave Matthews Band tailgate party or on a highway construction site as you are in the Range Rover of a yuppie weekend warrior or cooling French wine in a rich dude’s backyard. On the first day of my first office job as a food journalist, I wanted to pull up with some gear that would let ‘em know I was there to party, so I bought myself YETI’s cult-status 14-ounce Rambler coffee mug. In my mind, it said, I make pour over at home and am a hard worker who has no time for Starbucks breaks during the day, but I’ll also get wild if “Thunder Road” or “Snowblind” come on the radio. TBH nobody cared about the tumbler, but it kept my coffee perfectly hot and delicious for hours, which was ultimately the point. Plus, I felt very cool using it every day. Since that moment, I’ve had a serious love connection with YETI.

YETI coolers and mugs are definitely investments, but worthwhile ones that leave you confident that you’ll be enjoying ice cold beer and very hot coffee from them for decades. I still have that coffee mug, and still love it. If you’re searching for that perfect cooler or tumbler, or that ideal duffle bag that’ll get you safely through years of travel, read on for some official recs from someone who legitimately loves this shit.

This cooler is a goddamn tank. It’s got very serious, heavy-duty wheels and an extendable periscope handle, so you can easily take it hiking or to the beach; but it also features a sleek, modern, boxy vibe that makes it fit in at whatever party or event you’re using it for. Just transporting some ice? This thing can hold over 50 pounds of it. Or it can hold 76 cans of beer. The point is that this cooler is huge. I recently took it on a weekend road trip to Michigan and it kept (what felt like) a metric ton of food and wine cold door to door.

This is the kind of soft boy you love to see. It’s the ultimate in style-meets-function, the perfect size for a nice lunch for two (complete with a few cold beers, obviously), and with its Coldcell™ rubber foam insulation, you can be sure it’ll keep that hummus colder than virtually any other soft cooler.

Doing that classic party thing (i.e. posting up in the kitchen or backyard while homies roll through, secretly wishing these fucking people would stop trying to rearrange your already chaotic and full fridge to try to get their whole ass IPA sampler pack in there?) Sorry to say it, but ultimately that’s on you for telling them to BYOB. Stave off all current and future refrigerator hell by just getting a premium hard cooler. These babies have PermaFrost™ insulation and YETI’s Interlock™ (aka: hella closed) lid system, meaning your Bud Light—sorry, DDH Hazy NE DIPA—will stay chill all day, even in the “era of global boiling.”

At risk of being hyperbolic, I’m an obsessive water maniac who cannot go five whole minutes without sipping on god’s liquid manna. I’ve searched for the ideal water bottle for many years, and having tried a number of them (and also, you know, plain old water glasses), and the YETI Rambler, with its leakproof design and double-wall vacuum insulation, is my favorite. The “chug cap” is the perfect size to drink from—gone, finally, are the days of taking pulls from big mouth rims while driving or laying down and spilling water everywhere. If you like water or having containers to keep water in, this is literally the best thing you can buy.

Going literally anywhere? Need to keep a whole bag of spaghetti hot? Just kidding—this duffel bag is beloved for its durability and its ease of carrying (you can wear it as a backpack). In addition to its puncture resistant shell, this bag is waterproof, and even contains a couple mesh pockets (which is more than most duffels can say). This 50-liter bag should be enough to get you through a weekend journey, but in case you’re really bringing some gear, there are 75- and 100-liter versions.

We conclude with the mugs that began my YETI journey so many years ago. These are durable as hell, perfect for travel, camping, or just sipping coffee in your backyard, and the MagSlider™ lid makes them super easy to open and close at your convenience. Most importantly, these are iconic, timeless mugs that will keep your coffee hot and your cold brew cold until the end of time (or at least the end of the day). I’ve enjoyed everything from lattes to wine to whiskey out of these.

I encountered a YETI (and all I got was this amazing cooler).

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.