YETI Rambler 26 Review

The Rambler is a durable, vacuum-insulated bottle that accompanied us everywhere during our three-month testing period. It sat by our side at work, was our go-to for climbing days and day-hiking days, and was the ideal road trip bottle with its ability to hold both hot and cold drinks. The Rambler has a 26 oz capacity, making it a more reasonable option than the hulking 36 oz version. Its major positives are the width of the mouth, which is significantly wider than most bottles, and the lid design, which is easy to clean and has a very comfortable, built-in carrying handle. The big pros and limited cons ended up landing the Rambler our top recognition for a daily reusable bottle.

Performance Comparison

The updated Yeti with the Chug Cap insert is shown here. We appreciate how low profile the Chug cap is - you can hardly see it's there!

Photo: Jane Jackson

Ease of Use

This bottle is about as easy and convenient as it gets. A simple, easy-to-hold carrying handle, an exceptionally wide mouth, and a smooth rim to the bottle make it easy to fill and drink out of. These factors also make it super easy to clean - a simple lid and a wide body make for a quick and easy rinse. In our second run of formally testing this bottle, we tested the Rambler with the Chug Cap insert. Our testers agree that this upgrade improves the overall drinking experience of this bottle.

The Chug Cap spout fits inside the wide mouth and has a narrower spout, which eliminates spillage and allows for easy one-handed drinking, and even allows for taking swigs while walking or driving. We are big fans, as this is a common drawback of wide-mouth bottles. We love wide-mouth bottles for their ease of cleaning, filling, and because they accept ice readily, but they usually require the user to stop moving to take a successful swig. Even then, sometimes we spill. This new drinking spout solves this issue without losing the advantages of wide-mouth bottles.

A detailed photo of the Chug Cap.

Photo: Jane Jackson

The simplicity and pleasure of using this bottle helped sky-rocket this bottle to the top of our favorites list for daily use. Any bottle will work for carrying water, but this one makes the experience better.

The drinking spout makes for easy one-handed drinking and reduces spillage.

Photo: Jane Jackson

Durability

Making durable, heavy-duty products is Yeti's claim to fame as a company. Their bottles are built like their coolers—well insulated and incredibly durable. The Rambler is no exception, and takes the cake in terms of durability in our performance comparisons.

Like other vacuum insulated bottles we tested, the Rambler is durable simply because of its design and materials. The 18/8 stainless steel construction makes the bottle resistant to punctures and dents. The double-walled design of the vacuum insulated bottles also helps them in the durability metric.

The new dual lid design adds another layer of complexity and more opportunities for leakage, but we found that the Rambler still aced our leak test when the lids were tightened down completely. The Chug insert didn't leak at all when the bottle was shaken, nor when it was left on its side for a few hours. Even when the bottle was dropped with the plastic spout exposed, it still passed our drop test without a scratch.

The sturdy lid on the Yeti Rambler is easy to hold and extremely durable. This bottle is built to last.

Photo: Eric Bissell

Weight

Here, the Rambler comes up a bit short, as its girth makes it durable and functional, but also makes it one of the heaviest bottles in the fleet. At 22 ounces, this bottle isn't the one to take on overnights, ski tours, or other extended excursions. The Chug Cap adds a tiny bit more weight to the overall heft of this bottle, but the addition is negligible when considering the overall weight of the bottle itself. Typically, metal bottles that are not vacuum insulated are a lot lighter. For use at home, the office, the gym, and even shorter day hikes, most of our testers have no problem bringing this bottle along in a backpack or messenger bag.

Taste

When we performed the standard taste test on the Rambler, we were happy to find that the Rambler did not hold flavors for long periods. We filled the bottle with electrolyte powdered drink mix, which often lingers in water bottles after one use, and left it in the bottle for a few hours. Then, once the drink mix was finished, we rinsed the bottle once with water and refilled it, finding that the taste of the mix was hardly detectable.

The Rambler has the benefit of the wide mouth opening, so it's easy to clean frequently, which helps it to avoid taste buildup. The wide mouth and the fact that the threads are on the outside of the lid make the Rambler one of the easiest bottles to clean, and thus lingering tastes are less of an issue here. One minor downside to the updated cap is that there are more threads to clean and more plastic surfaces for flavors to get caught in. We were still impressed by how easy it is to clean the Chug Cap, but its added complexity means that the bottle may require more frequent cleanings.

In part because it is so easy to clean, the Rambler nailed our taste tests.

Photo: Jane Jackson

Value

The Rambler is sold online for a pretty penny. This is becoming the norm for high-quality insulated bottles. The efficiency of the bottle's insulation and its longevity make the Rambler a bottle that is well worth the price tag. As long as you don't lose this bottle, it will last far beyond the lifetime of a standard water bottle. We have had our first version of the Rambler for five years and it's still going strong. This is a great bottle and though it's expensive, it is a solid investment and worth taking good care of.

Whether it's filled with ice water or tea, the Rambler does its job well.

Photo: Jane Jackson

Conclusion