BRUTE coolers.. Opinions??

I have one, have had it for a year now, and I regret to say that I'm not very impressed. Curious for input from other Brute owners.

Really....man I'm totally opposite, I Love my Yeti but those latches on my 156 Brute are the Bomb and I really enjoy that Cooler..there office is by mine and awesome guys to deal with and I will buy another soon...

I'm with you, I love the latches, but the ice retention on mine is not too good. I have a friend w/a Yeti, and his keeps ice a lot better than my Brute.

Really all depends on what you are using it for. None of those types of coolers are very effective when you open and close them a lot. I bought a 50qt two years ago, and don't regret it one bit. The latches and quality are awesome. I bought the cooler because I got tired of other coolers breaking after being sat on or stood on. I think you could drive a tank over mine and it wouldn't hurt it a bit.

Ok, I put ice in mine yesterday... 2 bags over 24 beer cans. It is in the garage, where the temp has probably never gotten over 60 degrees. We are not opening & closing it any more than normal, & it is mostly just ice water now. I would expect more w/outside temps being where they are. Am I expecting too much?

Was the beer hot to start with? And where does 24 beers last 2 days. But seriously I have a Coleman extreme 5 day that's actually good for 3-4 days if the drinks are cold when they are put in. If the drinks are room temp you don't stand a chance with the first round of ice. It's kinda like the old coffee thermos made of metal. If you preheat them your coffee will stay hot for hours. If not its a matter of minutes. Did your drinks melt your ice?

Is it tan or white? I have found that the white coolers hold ice longer...well in my Yeti's anyway...Now on to your question...only two days in 60 degree or less weather? that sucks as far as I am concerned, the ice should easily last five days if not a week...time to move on to another cooler, hey Igloos will do better than that at a lower cost...and I buy very little ice these days, compared to my igloo days....I had always been of the assumption that the Brutes were the same as Yeti's except for the latches.

You might try freezing some water in milk jugs, and putting them in your Brute the night before you load it up...then add ice. It will help.

Have one of the first model brutes and the latches are junk.

Guess I have three different brands...

Yeti, Brute, and I think the other is Canyon plastics or something like that.

Not sure why the companies competing against Yeti always talk about the latches. How does it get any easier or better than the way the yeti latches?

I have three brands and always use the Yetis first.

This
Brute was my first super cooler ,,,,have not had to buy another ,,

I guess you are expecting the cooler to make ice, no complaints here, going strong for a couple years now.

Now, I'm only saying this 'cause you asked, not to start a Ford v. Chevy debate. Personally I don't like the rubber latches on the Yeti. I've got a Pelican, not that it's any better or worse, but I like the hardware style latches on it.

As far as the ice retention goes, I wasn't particularly fond of my Pelican at first either. There's a few things you can do to make it last like it's supposed to:

-Pre chill the cooler. Throw a bag, or the tray from your freezer, in it the night before. The sacrificial bag. It'll "set" the temp inside the cooler.

-Pre chill the contents. Kind of a PITA if you're running around last minute throwing things together for the trip, but it makes a huge difference.

-Big blocks of ice. I use a couple metal baking pans that are like 12x18x2 inches deep, throw a bunch of ice cubes in it and then fill it with water. You can stack a couple of these in the freezer and have big, flat chunks of ice. Put those in first, then the contents, then the bagged ice. As the bagged ice melts, the chunks keep it super cold, and it takes a lot longer for them to melt.

-Take 4 beers, I mean sports drinks, out at a time. Every time you open the lid, it introduces +freezing temps to the contents. Take a few drinks out at a time to reduce the number of times the lid is opened. I keep an old 6'er cooler by my camp chair that's got a little salted ice water in it. Grab three or four beers out of the Pelican, and put them in the little cooler. Keeps a few cold ones close to me, the big cooler lid stays shut, and I don't have to walk across camp to grab another.

Doing all this, I've had ice in my cooler after 9 days, where the cooler was in direct sunlight the first 4 hours of every day.

I also have a first model with the junk latches. Have had to have them replaced. Never been impressed with ice retention either. Luckily it was cheaper than the models today.

I was looking to purchase a higher end cooler a couple years ago and after a lot of research and checking them out in person, I went with a Brute...and I've never turned back. Everyone is right about pre-chilling before use...best to do this with any of these types of coolers. I use a combo of cubes and frozen water bottles. Works great for me. I've had ice in my 100qt for almost two week before. Was so impressed with their coolers, I became a dealer for them. If anyone ever wants to check them out in person (in Houston) let me know.

That's terrible. The ice didn't even last 24 hours?

I have 3 Yeti's and wouldn't trade them for anything. Here's an example of one of my hunting trips.....go dove hunting, outside temps in the mid to high 90's....Fill up Yeti with 1 or 1.5 bags of ice and cooler full of drinks from fridge on Friday around noon. Open and close all weekend while the cooler sits outside in the shade, temps still in 90's. Get home Sunday and still have almost 1/2 ice and 1/2 water. Empty drinks. Leave cooler in garage, temps still in the 90's. Open on Weds and a few small pieces of ice, but water still very cold.

It's the same for me every time. Ice always lasts 4+ days even if I am opening and closing it multiple times per day. I do agree with the others, if you put hot drinks in there it will melt the ice a lot faster, but it should still last 2 days easy.

Dgilbert, what do you mean.... It's supposed to be making ice for me?? Ha ha. I so appreciate your totally useless input. I guess I will start pre-chilling it, as so many of you guys have suggested. The cans that I put in it were already cold. But, I will definitely try the pre-chilling. Thanks for the useful input!!

Get the Yeti then. Not a worthless post just try to get few more posts under my belt. Good grief. I will keep supporting the Made in the U.S.of A.

Yeah, you're right, I need to find one like yours that makes it's own ice. Then, I will have it made, just like you do.

How big is your cooler? That much beer in my 50, the ice doesn't last long. But I don't think I can get two bags with that many drinks.

He would cry about that one also

I was disappointed in mine also after all the rave reviews. I was expecting more. Not much better than my igloo.

Wow. Y'all are paying hundreds of dollars for a so-called "super cooler" and needing to do this and that to your cooler and/or drinks in order to "pre-chill" them so they will work?

Crazy...

I left home last Friday evening, with my Engel, one gallon frozen milk jug, and some food stuff; I added one bag of ice about 2 hours later, and it still has ice in it this morning when I checked to see if there was a Diet Mt Dew in there, since I am out in the fridge; Amazing products, and I've heard nothing but good about Brute; and both Brute and Engel are way cheaper than Yeti....

Howdy, if your cooler is only keeping ice for a day, something is definitely wrong but we'll get you fixed up! We've made about 5 revisions to our gasket design and it's likely this is the issue. We may ask you to do a few quick tests but rest assured we'll get you taken care of at no cost whatsoever. If you're ever unhappy with the performance of your cooler just let us know by emailing us at Warranty@BruteOutdoors.com.

Regarding ice retention... the vast majority of the time we will outlast Brand "Y". It's always a factor of how much air is in the cooler, how often you open it and how warm the contents are. Minimize the amount of air in the cooler by topping it off with ice. If any cooler is 75% air and 25% ice/drinks, ice won't last so do what you can to leave as little blank space as possible. Having cold drinks and pre-chilling your cooler help but it's not mandatory. I'd recommend this when you're going off the grid for more than a weekend.

Aside from having better ice retention, they're also quite a bit tougher than anything on the market It's nice to know the product will hold up well over time. Thanks!

No complaints here, love it....

I have been very impressed with the performance of my Brute 50 cooler.

I have a 120qt/5 day igloo that is about 5 years old. Hinges and latches suck. But I improvised and keep it working. Tuesday I left Missouri with two deer quartered up in it and no ice as it was 16 degrees up there. 12 hours later I put 20 pounds of ice on it and filled it with water starting my brine soak. I used another 20 pounds finishing the soak and letting it sit over night. I cut up half yesterday afternoon and am about to finish it. There is still ice on the meat.

I put two bags of ice in the cavity on a little deer shot Thursday morning and thru a blue tarp over it. Friday morning when I took it in there was almost two bags of ice remaining. Get a blue tarp. The hinges never wear out...

I have a first generation Brute Cooler and love it...as everyone has said, the latches could be better, but I'll be buying one of the new ones soon enough. One thing I have learned is that not all ice is created equal. I learned after several times with less than expected ice retention that the ice from the "twice the ice" machines do not last as long. I get better ice retention when I pre-chill my cooler and get ice from one of the "Ice" bins outside the gas stations and the ice lasts significantly longer.

My ice was from a "twice the ice" location.

Nope, works just fine as a weekend cooler, just like the cheap ones. All that is what you do to make the ice last 9-10 days, something that's just not possible with a walmart cooler.

^^^ This.

Had my Brute 75 for over a year and couldn't be happier. I've used it for food on long camping/hunting trips, and never had issues over 5 days. Never have to add ice. I've used it to age about 5-6 quartered deer...barely get any water drainage in 3-4 days. I've used it as a beer cooler over long summer weekends and dove season. Never had to add ice. And we drink a lot of beer. It gets opened/closed every 10-15 mins. While that is the main issue for short ice life, I've still had no issues. As you see above, Brute will stand by it personally. I love mine. It's tougher and they're local to TX (Keller).

If you want beer storage for the garage that stays cold after opening over and over again, get a cheap fridge for the same price or less.

I rag them but it's on my list to get one.

There you go, from the source!!!

Couldn't be happier with mine. Works great on the construction field. Specially when I have to go out of town and only need to buy ice once a week. Not to mention when out hunting.

Bought a soft side Brute for my son's Christmas present today. They sent me this link for 15.00 off: Brute Link

'Thought it might help one of you guys considering one.

We use Brute !

If you are only getting 24 hrs out of your ice in a brute, something is wrong with it, let them check it out, I have a 155 qt and it will keep ice for a long time. And we carry it on the front of our Mule Trailer so it take alot of abuse from the road too. Awesome coolers. I do need to get with them about replacing a latch though, but no biggie.

I've got a coleman extreme 60 qt that holds ice for over 4 days and cost about $40. With that kind of ice retention for that price, I don't think it can be beat. I have no desire to spend hundreds on a cooler that probably only holds ice a day or two longer.

Been in the back of the Truck since Friday, been in and out of it many many times ... Love it

I don't own a "super cooler" but when I buy one it will be a Brute.

I own 3 BRUTES, the 25,75, and the 155 in the old model. These coolers have served me well. Jeremy and his staff are top notch. Save your hard earned money and buy BRUTE, you won't be disappointed. I get brand "Y" given to me by my company and have 3 coolers. Good thing they are free, because I wouldn't buy them.

Priced too high for me. Plus they weigh a ton. But I would happily take a free one.

I have a couple of yetis but these look to be just as good and little less money

I own a 75 qt and love it. I only wish I would have gotten the bigger one.

I have a Brute and a Yeti, and had I known about Brute before I got the Yet, it would be Brute all the way.
IMO a better cooler, cheaper.

What you need to understand is the super coolers are so well insulated that pre-cooling is recommended in order to start with a cold cooler. Then you have way less heat loss when you put the item to be cooled in plus ice. Cheap coolers will not keep ice for a week whether you pre cool them or not.

Catering businesses have used "coolers" for years to keep BBQ hot while they transport it. They are insulated well for all uses. Once warm or hot or cold inside they stay that way. I always leave my coolers propped open just a bit so that the outside air can get inside. I then wash them out with cold well water to clean them and take the inside temp down. Makes ice last much longer. I use ICEHOLE brand made here in Texas.

Let's face it, these super coolers are a redneck status symbol. I won a Grizzly and I am quite happy with it's performance. Not sure how they stack up to the other brands. I will say it is made by vacuum forming similar to Coleman just 4 or 5 times thicker.

I have a yeti 45 quart and think it's great. It does keep ice a lot longer than my coleman extreme. The main thing that I like about it is that it's tough and don't have to worry about it breaking. The brutes I have looked seem as well built or better than the yetis. The bottom line IMHO is buy it for it rugardnes, not so much for its ice retention.

If Brute offers a THF group buy with 15% off or something like that I would definitely buy one!

Just an idea...