My own personal beverage drama every summer has really pushed me to do this review. To me, worrying about the temperature of the drinks I have on my boat is the absolute last thing I want to be thinking about when I am heading out on the water. Cooler’s have become somewhat of a status symbol in the outdoors and many equate the bigger brands with better quality. A higher price tag should mean a higher quality product, right?
I tested the ozark trail tumbler same three tumblers on one of the hottest Alabama summer days in early August. The temperature was in the mid-90s with a heat advisory in effect. The 20-ounce CamelBak Horizon tumbler excels at keeping contents cold.
They’re also leakproof making them easy to take with you throughout your day. Ozark Trail offers a tumbler similar to Yeti for a discounted price. It should be noted, Ozark Trail sells a pink tumbler as well. This pink Yeti tumbler is to honor those battling and recovering from breast cancer.
This vacuum-sealed, stainless steel tumbler will prove to keep your cold drinks cold longer than 12 hours, and hot drinks hot. The sun and oppressive heat continues to bake the tumblers eight hours into the test. The pavement temperature rose to 144.8deg, the highest temperature measured all day. The Yeti had an external temperature of 111.5deg, the orca 104.7deg and the Ozark Trail was measured at 122.9deg. The Yeti drained a total of 11 ounces of water, the Orca 10 ounces and the Ozark Trail 12 ounces. This is the first time that less than half the ice remained in the tumblers and it was melting fast.
By now you have probably heard of Yeti cups that that claim to keep your drinks cold (or hot) for much longer than typical insulated cups. You might also have seen the YouTube videos that prove that Walmart’s Ozark Trail brand tumblers work just about as well as the Yetis… and cost about 3 times less. Knowing how cheap I am, you guys can guess which version I purchased. The Simple Modern tumbler, the lids, and the plastic straw are all dishwasher-safe.
Tumblers, insulated water bottles, and travel mugs are, of course, very similar—they all keep drinks cold or hot for long periods of time. Most insulated water bottles are leakproof (thanks to their screw-top lids, which require two hands to open), and they don’t have sipping ports. Travel mugs, typically intended for warm drinks, have sipping ports that seal securely to prevent leaks. Tumblers, geared more toward cold drinks, may also have lids with built-in ports, but they don’t seal as securely as the ones on travel mugs. Tumblers often have a wider mouth, to accommodate ice cubes, and they may include a straw for sipping.
Vacuum-insulated tumblers keep beverages cold for hours, and you can drink from their spill-reducing lids (through either a sipping port or a straw). These reusable drinking vessels, which have grown in popularity over the past few years, are a great alternative to disposable cups and single-use plastic. If you can’t find our top pick, and you know you’re going to need something with a sipping port, we recommend the 20-ounce Yeti Rambler Tumbler with MagSlider Lid. Its rim has a sloped lip, for easy sipping, and the smooth-operating MagSlider Lid reduces the likelihood of spills when the tumbler is upright. But if you knock it over, this vessel leaks more than our other picks, and it doesn’t keep drinks as cold. Also, it comes with the MagSlider Lid only—if you want to use a straw lid too, you’ll have to buy one.