The Yeti Hopper 30 arrived two days before we departed on our three-week honeymoon. I was excited to see that box come in with the bold Yeti logo on the outside. We had a second cooler loaded in the back of the Tacoma for all of our food items on the trip but needed something to keep water and soda cold. We wanted a cooler for inside the truck so we would not have to constantly have to stop and jump out of the truck to pull drinks out of the bed of the truck.
The Hopper proved to be tough as nails and worked extremely well for all of our needs. This cooler is a great investment. We were blown away with the quality of seams, the zipper, the tough exterior and most of all with how well it worked for us. The first couple of days we deadheaded across the country from Lincoln, Nebraska to Reno, Nevada. The Hopper lived in the cab with us. We filled it with ice, water, soda and Snickers and it held up perfectly. On day three we had a picnic in Lake Tahoe and it was so easy to grab the Hopper, throw it over my shoulder and walk it down to the beach. We still had our original charge of ice and we were pulling ice to fill our tumblers once a day.
We restocked the ice the next morning. We spent the next four days in Sacramento. The Hopper sat in the cab of the truck with average outdoor temperatures over 100 degrees. After four days we checked the Hopper. The ice was melting but still had significant amounts of ice in the cooler and the drinks were cold. The Yeti Hopper 30 holds 24 cans and 30 lbs. of ice. I averaged about 18 cans and 30-40 lbs. of ice along with 2-3 bottles of large water in the cooler fully loaded.
Before the trip, I read a quick review about the best way to keep your drinks at the perfect temperature in the Yeti Hopper. Our trip to the beach gave me the chance to test it out. We loaded up the cooler with the bottom half drinks and ice and threw in a small handful of rock salt across the ice. We dropped in our sandwiches, cheese, crackers, fruit and meat on the top part of the cooler and we had the perfect picnic on the beach. The drinks got ice cold and the water bottles actually began to freeze in the cooler. The ice was not usable for our tumblers due to the rock salt, but the drinks were so cold you didn’t really need extra ice. This tip would be perfect for tailgating.
Our last day in California we hit Lee Vining Creek for some fishing. Between the two of us we caught six rainbow trout on a stream that I used to fish when I was just 5 years old. We cleaned the fish, set them into a Ziploc bag and placed them into the bottom of the hopper for the ride home. I had plans to smoke them on the smoker when I got home so we loaded the ice on top and our drinks on top. The trout made it home safely and ready for the smoker four days later.
Another thing I loved about the Hopper is that when we did stay in a hotel we could fill it with ice from the hotel ice machine. It was easy to grab from the truck, walk it in to the hotel and fill it up without having to lug a huge hard sided cooler into the room with us.
The Yeti Hopper 30 comes with a 3-year warranty, though I am sure this cooler will last longer than three years. We were impressed with the Coldcell insulation, the Hydralok zipper and the Dryhide shell. I love the tan and green exterior and blaze orange interior. We took a serious look at the Hopper 20, 30 and 40 and we settled on the Hopper 30 as the best fit for our needs. The size worked perfectly for us on this trip and fit our needs exceptionally well.
Check out your local YETI retailer or order these directly from Yeti.com.
