30oz Tumbler shootout. YETI vs RTIC

By now I'm sure everyone has caught the 30oz tumbler craze that swept through over the holidays.  With YETI being the buzzword, I had a been following another company that was up and coming in the space.  Although YETI products are top notch, I've always been turned off by the price for general use.  Enter RTIC products.  Pretty much the same thing, less the buzzword mark up, but how do they square up?  For our test we are going to compare both products 30oz tumblers.  While double wall insulated thermos has been around a long, long time, large tumblers are kind of new to the space.

In a side by side comparison, they are pretty much identical.  

The RTIC is a 1/4" taller, but overall they are extremely similar.  

The diameter is pretty much identical and the lids are actually easily interchanged.  The RTIC does have a little different slot to drink out of as they have added a hole to better allow a straw.  Other than that there is no real difference.  Having had both tumblers since their release, I can honestly say I don't notice a difference other than the price.  In the initial purchase we dropped roughly $35 (though now they are insanely higher) on the YETI and $20 on the RTIC.  That's a pretty solid difference.  Now to really test their performance.  

These were started out of the same ice water, stirred and poured the same amount, less the ice cubes.  They both have a starting baseline temperature of 41.8°F.  This is the basic test, the house is 71°F where the tumblers are located.  Above was taken at 3:30, below was taken 4 hrs later.  The result was actually a little surprising, but is testament to them both being great quality products.  

Maybe in the future I will update this with a test in a higher temperature, but with the quality of both of these products, I highly doubt there would be much difference (if any) in the end result.  You just have to decide which you would rather have.  Do you prefer more bang for your buck, or more name for your buck?

Review: Hot Cooking Bands - Cheap and effective

Ever wanted to easily group items on the grill?  Don't want to bother using cooking twine or trying other methods to wrap items together?  Enter Hot Cooking Bands.  After various searches, I decided to go with the Harold Import Silicone Cooking Bands (MULTI, 1) for $7.99.  Upon arrival I was kind of excited for a quick, reusable way make a nice grilling cluster.

The bands say they are good up to 600 degrees so that is plenty hot for most applications.  Below I tested just to see how far they could stretch so you'd know what you are getting in to before hand.  

Looks like around 7" is around the max diameter so you can wrap a majority of whatever you decide needs wrapping while maintaining that sear all around we so love.  The tenderloin below was wrapped with green pepper, jalapeno, onion, and bacon, then grilled at 375-400 until the proper internal temperate was reached. 

Will I use them...Yes.

Would I buy them again...Yes

Are they a good deal...Yes, for $8, it's a win!

Have a good experience with them, let us know!  Have a bad experience, let us know!