I am going to start out by saying I love my RTIC 20 cooler. For that reason I am going to do this really short RTIC 20 review. For my birthday my family decided to buy me an RTIC 20 knowing full well I wanted one, but I was just too cheap to pull the trigger myself. 
The RTIC 20 is the smallest cooler of the RTIC line and retails for $125. If you are familiar with these kinds of coolers, you know that this one is half the price of the YETI Roadie. Are there any differences between the YETI and the RTIC? I don’t know, but in my opinion they look cosmetic only. 
Sorry YETI, even though you are the original in this space, your price point puts your cooler out of the reach of many, many folks.
I have used the RTIC 20 a few times now and I can say for sure that the contents inside stay colder much longer than my other cheapie coolers. Don’t believe the marketing hype for any of these cooler companies about keeping Ice for 5+ days. If you fill the cooler with ice and never open the lid, you could get 5 days out of it for sure. But in the real world if you are using the cooler and opening and closing the lid, then expect much less ice time if you know what I mean. The latch system works awesome and the seal between the cooler and lid is solid. But just most things, it is not perfect.
I really do not care for the foam around the handle. It only took me two trips to rip it. If the cooler is full of drinks and food, it’s heavy. The foam handle is too soft to handle the heavy load and it just tore on one side. Not to worry, a quick email and picture to RTIC customer service and a whole new handle was sent to me. I wasn’t expecting a whole new handle, just some foam. Nope, I got a whole new handle. Thanks RTIC! I plan to paracord the old handle and make it badass.
Pro’s
- Fit and finish is excellent
- The price point is where it should be in my opinion if you are willing to pay for a premium product
- Customer Service was excellent and responsive
- holds ice and ice packs longer than cheap coolers.
Con’s
- The styrofoam handle on this cooler needs to go.
I am really happy with this cooler and the customer service. For that reason, I plan on buying the RTIC 65 one day.
On a final note, check out this picture I stole online (do a google image search for “RTIC 20” and you will find it) while looking for pictures for this article. It shows a cutaway for an RTIC cooler which shows the insulation of the cooler……pretty cool.
Leave some feedback if you have a premium cooler.
Jim,
Thanks for the review. I still believe all these coolers are made in the same factory. I can’t justify paying so much for a cooler.
I get it with the price, thats why I couldn’t pull the trigger all this time :). I look at it now like this…Buy once, cry once, and then you have a kick-butt cooler. I’m going to tuck a $1 here and there into my fishing-fund piggy bank and take the plunge one day to get the big one.
Great review. Just got my tan RTIC in the mail today. I was pretty pleased but noticed some small flaws. I agree with you about the handle. That was my first thought, its going to split after a few uses. Another thing, the logo on the front was sticky to the touch and feels like it will rub off. Was that the case with yours? The rubber foots aren’t even as well and it kind of wobbles on solid ground. Also, I noticed the rubber seams on the inside lid is split with a tiny gap. Wonder if that will cause any issues. Finally, the drain plug doesn’t feel like it tightens correctly. Thinking I might have gotten a bad egg or maybe it’s just a bit lower quality than I was hoping. Do you have any of these same issues? Again, thanks for the review. Your family got you a great gift!!
Yeah, same flaws but we’ll see. Got mine for $100 on amazon before settlement with Yeti had taken effect. My big yeti is great and finished much more nicely but I got it as a “flawed” unit (small scratch that has been eclipsed by real use the first week) from REI for $200 instead of $400.
I have had my Arctic cooler now for 5 days. One noticeable problem is already become an issue for me is that the handle pull straight out of the side of the cooler when you try to slide it out of your truck. The handle is Spring loaded to stay clipped to the cooler. But if you pull it out by the handle it will pull the handle right off of the cooler
That’s happened to me also. Love the fact that it stays put!