Yeti Yonder Review: The Water Bottle I’ve Been Waiting For

No no There is no company easier to laugh at than the Texas-based Yeti. My house is full of hilariously overpriced processed foods. The problem starts when these products become the most useful things I own.

Just this morning, I used the Camino Carryall to haul my climbing gear to the gym. I had to take my daughter’s roller skates out of it, and before that, 15 tiny soccer balls that I took to the park to play with kindergartners. He is five years old and he is like new. And Yeti lowland? I wear this heavy duty blanket to every festival and camping trip. I don’t need to put corners. It glides over every little rock and blade of grass, and it has its own carry case!

I even got my husband on a pilgrimage to the Yeti flagship store in Austin, Texas. On the one hand, I find it disgusting to make such a ostentatious product while spending so much money on a company-branded cooler. Cooler! It’s just something to put in your cola and bait! But everything was so exquisite, so hard in accurate correct colors. As I wandered the aisles, packing up and putting them back down, I felt a deep, primal longing for the Ford F150 and the fishing vest.

Rinse and repeat when I first opened the Yeti Yonder water bottle box, which looked more like a hand-carved sarcophagus for the boy king Tut than a shipping container. The first thing I saw was the gigantic, full-coloured face of climbing and skiing star Jimmy Chin, with his characteristic reckless grin, looming over two sea glass water bottles before a storm. I took one and just never put it down. You guessed it. Over there at 25 ounces now water bottle for my emotional support. I cannot and will not have another.

field of dreams

When I’m at home, I mostly drink from a Stanley glass. But when I leave the house, my previous favorite bottle of water was 26oz Yeti Rambler with Puff Lid.

I have strange requirements for water bottles. I used to have a Nalgene, but it wasn’t insulated, and Nalgene’s hot water tastes just like licking the bottom of a McDonald’s sticky ball pit for a long time. I’m also a chatty, absent-minded drinker who has a habit of pouring water right on his shirt at the gym. (“Put in your mouth, then drink,” I repeat to myself, but to no avail.) A puff cap is a good compromise between being able to gulp down water quickly and not splash yourself in one careless motion.

The Rambler is also dishwasher safe! While my kids use straw-topped bottles for simplicity and convenience, I hate cleaning them. I need special brushes to get the mold off all the tiny valves and tubes and then air dry them every night. I will take on this task for my children, but not for myself. The Rambler is also insulated and I can fill it whole with ice and fill it several times during the day and the ice won’t melt.

Yes, the Rambler is the perfect water bottle, except for one factor – its weight. Even empty, it weighs about 1.4 pounds. It’s fine if you’re in a car, boat, or van, but carrying that much weight on your back for long periods of time is exhausting.

Back Saver

This is where Yonder comes in. When I was flying to CES and faced the prospect of lugging a backpack from 7am to midnight almost every day, taking the Rambler with me was a bleak prospect. No, I only considered one refillable water bottle; a lightweight bottle whose cap I could easily wash and dry in or near the hotel sink.