Yeti has 聽by selling $400 产别补谤-辫谤辞辞蹿听肠辞辞濒别谤蝉聽that keep food and beer cold for days.聽The company now makes other products,聽including a line of bottles and growlers, that have equally shocking price tags but purport聽to聽carry the same indestructible聽DNA. To find out whether Yeti鈥檚 newest offering鈥攖he $40聽 bottle鈥攊s as bomber聽as the coolers, we put it through a torture test that included smashing it聽with a bat and dropping a kayak on top of it. Here鈥檚 how the bottle聽held up.聽聽
The Test
The only way to test a Yeti product is to beat the shit out of it, so I hit the bottle with a baseball bat, dragged it behind my car down a dirt road, and dropped a 45-pound kayak onto it. I drank water, tea, and coffee from聽it for a week to determine usability. I also filled it with boiling water, attached the top, and measured how well it insulated over the course of four hours.聽
The Results
Durability: I was able to put only one good dent in the bottle鈥檚 body after five minutes of batting practice. That means you鈥檇 be fine dropping it off picnic tables聽or from your car聽for years without the body getting too banged up. I did make direct contact with the plastic lid on one swing鈥攊t cracked but didn鈥檛 fail, and the liquids never leaked. The bottle and lid didn鈥檛 blink when I dropped the kayak onto it, and the bottle was fine after being dragged behind my car at 20 miles per hour. The lid, however, did come apart during the drag test and was rendered unusable.
Thermoregulation: To find out how well the double-walled vacuum insulation in the bottle works, I poured in 203-degree water and let it sit for four hours. When I opened the bottle, drips from the lid actually burned me鈥攖he water was still a piping-hot 171 degrees. I tested other insulated travel聽mugs back in December, and a 32-degree heat loss would have put the Yeti in second place overall,聽behind the Zojirushi mug, which destroyed the competition with just a 25-degree loss over four hours.
Usability: I liked the wide mouth, which was easy to drink from and made cleaning a cinch. The diameter is perfect for a one-hand hold, and it鈥檚 small enough to fit in most vehicles鈥櫬燿rink holders聽but not so small that it聽rattles around on dirt roads. The top was easy to thread, and the plastic loop was great for attaching the bottle to bag straps.
Bottom Line: There are less-expensive bottles that thermoregulate better than the Yeti, and the lid wasn't as tough聽as we would have liked.聽But when it comes to the durability of the bottle itself,聽the Rambler wins. Whether you need a bottle that can stand up to a baseball bat鈥ell, we鈥檒l let you be the judge. Of course, there鈥檚 also the聽coolness factor:聽Yeti is now a status symbol at campsites and trailheads聽across the country, and it feels damn good in your hand.