AllOutdoor Review – YETI Roadie 15 Hard Cooler in Big Wave Blue
Eugene L. 11.29.24
YETI is a name that most know well at this point when it comes to the outdoors, an industry leader in keeping things cold. Be it a big Tundra 350 on the back deck of a Sportfish to keep your day’s catch cold or a small tumbler that keeps your water nice and cold all day long while you’re outside. So back at ICAST 2024, YETI brought out a new offering, the opposite in size from the giant Tundra 350, the new Roadie 15. This is their most compact hard cooler offering yet and absolutely loaded up with features. And after using Roadie 15 for most of the second half of this year, I’m going to be reviewing it today and going over how it held up.
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Specifications – YETI Roadie 15 Hard Cooler
The YETI Roadie 15 is a compact rotomolded cooler that has been loaded up with features to make your life easier; DoubleDuty Strap, LipGrip Handles, BearFoot Non-Slip Feet, BestDam Drain Plug, and several more. Additionally while not built into the little cooler, a cooler lockport can easily be installed on the Roadie 15, using the coupon code sent with the cooler.
- Doubleduty Strap – Designed for easy hauling and comfortable carrying
- Lipgrip Handles – Handles built into the lip of the cooler body, easy to grab and out of the way
- Bearfoot Non-slip Feet – Prevent sliding in the boat or backseat
- Bestdam Drain Plug – Leakproof drain plug, that offers quick-drain convenience
- Permafrost Insulation – Pressure-injected polyurethane for insulation
- Interlock Lid System – Form fitting barrier to keep the cooler sealed
- Coldlock Gasket – Freezer quality gasket to lock the heat out and cold in
- Neverfail Hinge System – Interlocking two-pin design that holds up to abuse
- Anchorpoint Tie-Down Slots – Enlarged tie-down points for easy attachment of the Roadie
- Fits 22 cans (only)
- Fits 16 lbs of ice (only)
- Wine bottle compatible – Fits most standard wine bottles
- External Dimensions – 16.9″W x 11.2″D x 14.0″H
- Internal Dimensions – 13.6″W x 7.5″D x 10.6″H
- Empty Weight (with Included Accessories) – 9.6 Lbs
- Colors – Navy, Rescue Red, Charcoal, White, Tan, Wild Vine Red, and Big Wave Blue
- MSRP – $200
The YETI Roadie 15s all come equipped with a 5-year warranty. So if something goes wrong, YETI has you covered so no need to worry. So even if they can’t fix it they will replace it with the same or similar product at no charge. They also offer a 30-day free return period, so if you feel like it’s not for you Yeti has you covered as well.
Out in the Wild – YETI Roadie 15 Hard Cooler
Being a smaller cooler the YETI Roadie 15 was a very convenient cooler to just take around with me for any hunting or fishing adventure. While not really large enough to put any of my catch into, it was great to keep food and drink separate from the fish or birds. It fit just right into the front of the large Angler Fish-N-Mate beach cart that I use for both the pier and dove fields. Additionally for long solo road trips, the Roadie 15 will nicely fit into the front passenger footwell of a Tacoma. Giving you easy access to say a white monster or a water bottle while you’re driving through the night to get to your fishing hole.
For use out in the Dove fields, the Roadie 15 was perfect, deep enough to keep a nice layer of ice to keep drinks and snacks cold while still having enough height to keep open airspace to put doves into the cooler. Additionally, the drain was perfect to keep slightly cracked to keep melt water off the doves we shot, a feature that honestly is not that common in coolers of this size range.
For the real-world ice retention test, I kept the Roadie 15 in the cab of the truck for 3 days while I was fishing on the Pier down in Florida. I put in several cans of soda, water bottles, and a couple of energy drinks before topping it off with fresh ice from the fish house. The average daytime temps were in the mid-80s with mostly clear skies except for a few rain storms that swept through quickly. On average, I was grabbing a drink out of the Roadie 15 at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I did not drain any of the meltwater for this test. Over the three days of living in the truck, the Roadie 15 did alright for ice retention-wise. I was removing drinks every day without adding any more so I was taking more and more thermal mass as the test went on. There was a noticeable drop in the ice level by the second morning when I grabbed a couple of bottles for the pier, and by the third morning, the ice was 95% gone. Leaving behind still very cold meltwater and drinks in the Roadie 15.
Final Thoughts – YETI Roadie 15 Hard Cooler
The new YETI Roadie 15 is an awesome little cooler, loaded with a ton of comfort-of-life features. But there is one big thing to factor in when it comes to this compact little cooler, that being the price tag. At $200 this is a big pill to swallow for a little cooler. So would I say this is worth that price tag? For the right person, yes I think it would be worth it to them. The build quality is there with the Roadie 15, while rotomolded coolers are nothing new, the features of this cooler puts it ahead of others in its size range. The new latch design makes it super easy to get into while on the go, which is a big thing for me when I often drive 300 miles without a copilot. The doubleduty strap is also very well made, and easily comes off so when you want to clean the cooler it doesn’t get in the way. Lastly just having a drain is great for a little cooler, that way I can just crack the drain and leave it in the truck bed while I work on something else, instead of having to tip over the cooler and try to drain the meltwater through the lid. I’ve dumped a cooler more than once on accident trying to do that. This again falls into the territory of “buy once cry once” I can see these coolers lasting a long time for the average user, probably well past the 5-year warranty on them.
The DoubleDuty Strap is easily removable for easy cleaning.
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