Two of our Royal Canadian Geographical Society staff took home the YETI Roadie 24 Hard Cooler and found it the perfect companion for both daily life and the ocassional adventure.

The product: 

The Roadie 24 Hard Cooler is a fresh take on a tried-and-true YETI favourite. With no drain plug, you can ditch excess water or ice with a quick flip and the all-new design accommodates an upright bottle of wine. Its slim design means it’ll slide behind the front seat of the car, giving you quick access to ice cold drinks no matter how long the journey.

Mike’s thoughts:

Swapping my other 28 quart cooler for the YETI Roadie 24 as my daily lunchbox has been both a blessing and a curse. The YETI is taller which made my morning lunch packing a breeze as long as I had my water bottles in place to balance out the containers. If not, my Jenga-like tower of Tupperware was sure to topple. I’d add a frozen ice pack to keep my drinking water almost frozen but I’m certain it was overkill and wouldn’t be necessary for most people as Yeti is world famous for their permafrost insulation.

Without a doubt, this cooler has the best hinge system on the market and I wish this would become the YETI standard. I understand this method isn’t bear proof like other Yeti models but
for those of us using these smaller coolers on the daily, in an urban setting, it just can’t be beat.

Now for the curse … The handle and strap was shockingly unimpressive and annoying. With a $280 price tag for this Roadie 24, YETI should have spent a bit more on their end to design a solid, stay in place handle.

Overall, this is the best mid-sized cooler out there but is reduced down to only a good one due to its handle strap and its price tag. If the buyer doesn’t plan on carrying it often, then I’d upgrade the Roadie 24 to the ranking of great. 

Danica’s thoughts:

The Roadie 24 was very sturdy and well built. It’s a good size — not overly large but can fit many bottles of water, pop and ice at one time. The neutral colour was nice, so both my partner and I used it without bias. It is kind of heavy once full though!

We took a small road trip and the Roadie 24 kept drinks cold the whole way. Plus, it’s multi-purpose size meant my partner could use it to take lunch to work. I’m looking forward to taking this one camping in the summer!