YETI Hopper Flip 12 vs 18

Whether you’re going for a long-time car camping or a one day trip to the backcountry, an insulated durable cooler is essential for you, and when it comes to coolers, no doubt the first brand that pops into mind is YETI, and to help you to pick the most suitable model for you, I’ve compiled everything you should know and consider to decide between YETI Hopper Flip 12 vs 18.

If you’re in a hurry, YETI Hopper Flip 12 has a capacity of carrying 13 cans by only weighing 3.1 pounds, it’s the perfect option for one or two-day adventures for a maximum of 2 people. YETI Hopper Flip 18 on the other hand with a weight of 5.1 lbs, is bigger and heavier than Flip 12 but it can carry 20 cans with a better ice retention performance, which makes it the better option for longer trips. 

Skip the reviews and go straight to the detailed comparison.

YETI Hopper Flip 12 Review

• WEIGHT: 3.1 lbs
• OUTSIDE DIMENSION: 10” × 11.5” × 12 5/8”
• INSIDE DIMENSION: 8” × 9” × 11”
• CAPACITY: 13 Cans

When you need a small, soft-sided cooler that’s durable enough for years of use, and that is light enough to carry around on your backcountry trips, YETI Hopper Flip 12 offers everything you’re looking for.

With a 2:1 ice to can ratio, it can take 13 cans. Even though it depends on what you prefer to carry in your cooler, this capacity should be enough for at least two-person, but don’t expect the cooler to be keeping your beverages cool for a couple of days, since it’s a soft cooler, ice starts to melt after the day one, but it’s more than enough for daily trips.

It’s made of waterproof 840-denier double-sided thermoplastic urethane, which is an extremely durable material for a soft cooler, you can throw it from a moving vehicle it wouldn’t break.

And thanks to this material and its Hydrolok Zipper, the cooler is extremely waterproof, if you’re planning a fishing or kayaking trip, it won’t allow water to get inside or melted ice leak through the zipper.

I should mention that the one downside of this cooler is the zipper, there is nothing wrong with the functionality but it’s a little bit tight, you might find it a bit hard to unzip the zipper.

Last but not least, it has two handles on sides, one handle on top, one handle on the very back, and it features one shoulder strap which makes it very convenient to carry, and also it features Hitchpoint Grid, to easily attach small accessories such as bottle openers.

Color Options for YETI Hopper Flip 12

• Field Tan (view at Amazon)
• Charcoal (view at Amazon)
• Coral (view at Amazon)
• Fog Gray / Tahoe Blue (view at Amazon)
• Navy (view at Amazon)
• River Green (view at Amazon)

YETI Hopper Flip 18 Review

• WEIGHT: 5.1 lbs
• OUTSIDE DIMENSION: 10.75” × 13” × 16.25”
• INSIDE DIMENSION: 8.5 ” × 10.25 ” × 14.25”
• CAPACITY: 20 Cans

Although YETI is mostly famous for its hard coolers, soft coolers in YETI’s line are getting more and more popular each day. And YETI Hopper coolers are loved more than the other soft coolers in YETI’s line by the community.

And YETI Hopper Flip 18 especially is the optimum cooler for 2 to 4 person, one or two-day trips. A common misunderstanding is people think Flip 18 can carry 18 cans but actually it can take 20 cans, and it’s light enough carry by hanging on your neck, when it’s full it might be hard to carry by one person but for that, it has two handles on each side, so you can divide the load with your partner.

YETI Hopper Flip 18 features a Dryhide shell which is basically a very durable, mold-resistant material, and the liner is also made of FDA-approved food-grade material in order to keep your food in the cooler without any concern.

Due to its cold cell technology, it offers roughly 40 hours of ice range (40 hours is an approximate ice range, it actually depends on many factors).

The YETI Hopper Flip weighs only 5.1 lbs and given the features above the cooler strikes the perfect combination of longevity, ice retention, and lightness.

Color Options for YETI Hopper Flip 18

• Sagebrush Green (view at Amazon)
• Field Tan (view at Amazon)
• Charcoal (view at Amazon)
• Coral (view at Amazon)
• Fog Gray / Tahoe Blue (view at Amazon)
• Navy (view at Amazon)

Specs of YETI Hopper Flip 12 and Hopper Flip 18

Detailed Comparison of YETI Hopper Flip 12 vs 18

Capacity

Yeti recommends two to one ice ratio when it comes to Capacity, which means you need to fill 2/3 of your cooler with ice, and 1/3 of your cooler with cans or soda bottle.

With that being said, you can put 13 cans to your YETI Hopper Flip 12 to fill up the 2/3 of the cooler with ice. You might wonder why 13, not 12? It’s because you can fill 12 Cans vertically and put 1 can horizontally on the other 12 cans. Therefore, YETI Hopper Flip 12 has the capacity to carry 13 cans.

YETI Hopper Flip 18 on the other hand, can carry 20 cans, you can place 15 cans vertically and 5 cans horizontally on top of the other cans.

But cans should not be your only consideration factor when comparing capacity, you will be putting bottles in your cooler too.

And since YETI Hopper Flip 18 is 16.25″ wide, it can take 1 L of soda bottle (when placed horizontally), YETI Hopper Flip 12 on the other hand is only 12 5/8″ wide therefore it’s not possible to put 1 L of Bottle neither horizontally nor vertically.

Size

Depending on your needs, you might need a smaller cooler, for example, if you need a cooler for kayaking you need to make sure that the cooler you’re aiming for fits in your kayak, or you might be car camping with a small trunk, therefore, it’s important the know the sizes of both coolers.

• YETI Hopper Flip 12 has the dimensions of 10” × 11.5” × 12 5/8” and it has 1452 in³ of volume
• YETI Hopper Flip 18’s dimensions on the other hand are 10.75” × 13” × 16.25” which equals 2271 in³ volume

So, volumetrically YETI Hopper Flip 18 takes up %56 more space than the YETI Hopper Flip 12, and here is a size comparison of the two coolers:

Weight

When empty, with a 5.1 lbs of weight YETI Hopper Flip 18 is 2 lbs heavier than the YETI Hopper Flip 12 (3.1 lbs).

And if we look at it from a different angle (let’s call it the efficiency angle):

• With Hopper Flip 12, you will be carrying 3.1 lbs for 13 cans, so you will be carrying 0.23 lbs of the cooler for each can
• With Hopper Flip 18, you will be carrying 5.1 lbs for 20 cans, so for each can you will be carrying 0.25 lbs of the cooler

Although the difference is not big, for the YETI Hopper Flip 12 vs 18 comparison Flip 12 is the winner in the weight department.

BUT the most important issue here is, will you be able to carry the coolers by yourself when they’re full or how hard will it be to carry the coolers when they’re fulled.

YETI Hopper Flip 12 weighs around 25 pounds when it’s full of ice and cans, on the other hand, Hopper Flip 18 weighs roughly 38 pounds when it’s full. So if you’re thinking of carrying the cooler by yourself, Hopper Flip 18 might be too heavy for you.

But that is for only carrying ice and cans, if you’re thinking of carrying sandwiches or fruits as well, the cooler would be much lighter.

Ice Retention Capacity

First things first, ice retention varies on very different factors, such as:

• How warm was the cooler before you fill it in with ice?
• How warm were the things you put in the cooler?
• What is the outside temperature? and many other factors…

But, for the comparison of YETI Hopper Flip 12 vs 18, Hopper Flip 18 is the winner in the ice retention department.

Although it depends on many factors, I can say that while the Yeti Hopper Flip 18 will keep your drinks cold for about 40 hours, the Hopper Flip 12 will keep them cold for about 30 hours.

It’s important to mention that when it comes to keeping your food cold, due to YETI’s closed-cell foam technology, the YETI Hopper Flip series does a much better job than almost every soft coolers out there .

Color Options

Similarities of YETI Hopper Flip 12 and 18

Zipper & Waterproofing

Although YETI uses a very high-quality zipper for flip 12 and 18 it’s maybe the only downside of the coolers.

Yes, this waterproof Hydrolok Zipper definitely doesn’t allow water getting in the cooler and it prevents melted ice from leaking out from the cooler, for functionality, it’s perfect, but the downside is, it’s very tight and hard to zip and unzip.

Since the zipper is made of hard material to make the cooler more durable and waterproof, getting something from the cooler quickly is not as easy as cheap light coolers.

Durability

All YETI Hopper Flips are made of 840D double-side thermoplastic urethane/foam insulation/EVA bottom, this high-density fabric called Dryhide shell is mold, puncture, and UV resistant.

It is also worth noting that the Hopper Flip soft coolers are not bear-proof like YETI hard coolers. But still, for soft coolers, they are as robust as it gets.

YETI Hopper Flip Design

Both YETI Hopper Flip 12 and 18 have the same design, the only difference is their size. But for those who’re not familiar with the design, it’s important to mention its features.

Hitchpoint Grid

YETI Hopper Flip series has multiple tie-down loops on both front and back, you can either use this loops for attaching the cooler to your vehicles such as your car or your motorcycle to make it more stable, or you can attach equipment to the cooler itself using this loops, such as YETI MOLLE Bottle Opener.

Although they both feature Hitchpoint Grids, YETI Hopper Flip 18 has four loops on each line, Flip 12 on the other hand has three loops on each line.

Handles

This design offers too many options to carry the cooler, and these options are:

• Side Handles: The coolers feature two easy-carry handles to ease the carrying process, this is especially important for YETI Hopper Flip 18, you may carry Flip 12 by yourself when it’s fulled, but you’re most likely to need a hand when carrying YETI Hopper Flip 18.
• Top Handle: Hopper Flip Series also features one handle on the top if you prefer to carry that way (it’s more comfortable to carry this way when the cooler is light).
• Back Handle: There is also a handle at the very back of the cooler.

Besides the handles, Hopper Flips comes with a shoulder strap, if you didn’t fill up the cooler so heavy, you can carry it with the shoulder strap as well.

The shoulder strap is made of really tough material so no matter what you carry there is no way it rips off, and also it features a rubber backing to prevent it from sliding off your shoulder. And the cool thing is it’s optional, the strap comes off very easily if you don’t want to use it.

Lastly for the design, since both coolers have a robust design and a smooth top surface they can be used as a small table too.

Accessories for YETI Hopper Flip

YETI ICE

These ice substitutes are mainly used for increasing the efficiency of ice retention. Contrary to popular belief, YETI ICE alone is not enough to keep your beverages cold for a long time, but when used with your ice stash, it increases the ice retention performance.

YETI ICE comes in three different sizes: 1lb, 2lb, and 4lb. Here are the dimensions of all three sizes:

All are compatible with Hopper Flip 12 and 18, and fun fact, 4-pound YETI ICE actually fits perfectly to Hopper Flip 12. 

YETI MOLLE Bottle Opener

Whether you have one on your keychain, in your car, or on your cooler, having a bottle opener is crucial. And it’s a tool that is usually forgotten, the good thing about the MOLLE Bottle opener lies on that actually, since it can be attached to the Hitchpoint Grid it’s literally impossible to forget it.

Also, it’s made of durable corrosion-resistant material for years of use. Check out the latest price of Molle Bottle Opener on Amazon.