As a Food & Wine editor and outdoor enthusiast, I’d heard praises sung for Yeti coolers from all sides. Need a bear-proof cooler with wheels? A soft cooler for snacks and drinks? Insulation to keep smoked brisket warm? (Yes, really.) Without me asking for it, Yeti continued to come up as the recommendation time and time again. So, when I wanted to upgrade my cooler, I knew where to start.
I live in Texas where summer temperatures hover around 100°F. In addition to serious insulation, the ultimate cooler had to be leak-proof, as ice eventually melts even in the best coolers, and no one wants to turn a car trunk into a wading pool. All of the Yeti coolers we’ve tested at Food & Wine check these boxes, but I wanted one I could easily transport, too. So I decided to test out one of Yeti’s backpack coolers, specifically, the Hopper M20.
Yeti Hopper M20 Backpack Cooler
Food & Wine / Yeti
Right now, you can grab the Hopper M20 in seasonal camp green (one of our favorite Yeti colors to date) for 20% off on the Yeti website. While you can’t go wrong with Yeti’s core colors, the brand’s seasonal shades are limited edition, and snagging them on sale is especially rare.
I received a sample from the brand about a month ago, and put it to the test. For me, the first challenge (and perhaps the most telling) would be how well it could weather a trip to Big Bend National Park, located in the Chihuahuan Desert near the Texas-Mexico border. With highs up to 98°F on the forecast, I wanted to be able to pack a picnic lunch for some day hikes and leave it in the car during others to have cold food and drinks to come back to.
Yeti recommends priming the cooler first, that is, bringing its temperature down. This can mean filling it with a bag of ice for a couple of hours, discarding it, and adding fresh ice with drinks or food. I didn’t have the chance to prime mine, but the results surprised me.
One bag of ice brought eight room-temperature drinks down to fridge temperature in a few hours, all while sitting in the car on a sweltering afternoon. After seven hours in the car, the ice had started to melt, but the drinks were still as cold as if refrigerated. After 24 hours, just a cluster of ice remained, but the insulation kept the drinks cool and refreshing still.
Moreover, the cooler never leaked, thanks to magnets on the opening that seal it shut. I left it on its side overnight to see if the water would spill out as more ice melted. I held it upside down and shook it. I even unbuckled the straps over the opening to see if the magnets would be strong enough to keep the cooler shut when I turned it over. Not a drop. While the backpack doesn’t have a drainage spout for melted ice, as hard coolers tend to, the concave shape of the opening makes it easy to funnel water out.
The Hopper M20 holds up to 36 cans without ice, but when we tested a previous version of it in our lab alongside other backpack coolers, we stopped at 18 cans with ice. Of course, weight is a factor to consider. The backpack weighs 5.6 pounds when empty, and if you have a long walk ahead of you, I wouldn’t recommend filling it to max capacity. Part of me regretted lugging it on a five-mile mountain hike, and I had only packed lunch, a snack, and two liters of water. Still, I started to feel the weight, and the straps that once felt comfortable started bothering my shoulders.
To be fair, the M20 doesn’t claim to replace a hiking daypack, but I found myself wishing it were more like one. The backpack has just one compartment, and the buckles on the top are difficult to unlatch and close again. So, grabbing anything inside required a little detour. I thought it would benefit from an exterior pocket for easy water bottle access and a compartment to keep my phone, keys, and sunglasses case separate from the ice. As it turns out, Yeti makes these accessories, the Sidekick Dry Gear Case and the Rambler Bottle Sling, and all Hopper soft coolers have loops on the front and sides to attach them to. It’s an extra cost, but I’m investing in them for convenience.
That said, I plan on using the Hopper M20 for the long haul. It feels exceptionally durable — it didn’t get scoffed when I checked it at the airport, and the thick material is mildew- and UV-resistant for outdoor longevity. It’s more expensive than a backpack, but it’s not one. It’s a cooler you can take anywhere. Trust me, I took it to the desert with a 100°F heat index, and it held up perfectly.
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Yeti Hopper Flip 12 Personal Cooler
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