YETI Rambler 12 oz Travel Bottle with Commuter Cap Review

If you’re anything like us, you need a great travel mug to get you through the morning. What does that entail? Well, it needs to keep your coffee or tea hot or your water cold, be comfortable to drink from, and be leak-free. It also needs to fit in cup holders and bottle pockets so that you can take it anywhere.

That’s a lot to ask for. Is the YETI Rambler 12 oz Travel Bottle with Commuter Cap the cream of the crop? Let’s find out.

The Rundown

We’re testing the 12-ounce version of the bottle, but we’ve also put the 16-ounce size through its paces if you need more. Truth be told, we like the larger capacity, but if you don’t always need to guzzle as much caffeine, the 12-ounce is worth considering. The smaller bottle is 0.12 ounces lighter, but it weighs 14 ounces (397 g), giving it a slightly worse weight-to-capacity ratio than the 16-ounce bottle, which also weighs 16 ounces (454 g).

Its stainless-steel, powder-coated exterior comes in a range of colors, like most metal water bottles available today. We’re testing Black Forest Green, but there are six seasonal colors and eight core ones, so you have options.

Each comes with a black Commuter Cap made from BPA-free plastic. It comes in two parts: an outer ring that screws into the cup and an inner plug that screws into the ring. It’s easy to take it apart and simple to clean just two pieces, which we appreciate. The entire bottle is also dishwasher safe if you prefer. Smell and taste transfer depend on how fast you drink it and what you drink. We had no issue with Colombian coffee, but then we switched to hazelnut flavor, which stuck until we used it for mint tea, which is what the cap smells like now. That can happen with any travel mug or bottle, though you can prevent it by giving it a quick rinse as soon as you finish your drink.

You can sip from anywhere around the ring with the Commuter Cap, so you don’t have to worry about which way the bottle is facing in the car. Just untwist the center plug and take a sip. However, it takes some effort to untwist the locked plug, and it’s harder to do while driving. We tend to unlock the plug from its completely sealed, leakproof position and turn it just partway back after sipping to make it easier to open one-handed the next time; it’s definitely not the easiest-to-open bottle we’ve tested. We often leave it open while driving to avoid distractions behind the wheel, though that affects the insulation.

To be fair, we had the same issue with the 16-ounce version since it’s the Commuter Cap that’s the problem. You can get a different YETI Rambler cap, like the Chug Cap, Straw Cap, or Cup Cap, if that bothers you, though some of those don’t work with hot liquids.

The YETI Rambler’s double-walled insulation keeps your drink at the temperature you want for a long time, as long as you seal the cap. In fact, when we poured boiling water inside, we had to remove the entire cap for a few minutes to get it to a drinkable temperature, as it was not cooling down on its own after quite some time with the cap just unlocked.

Packability

What makes this a commuter bottle? It’s the tapered base. The YETI Rambler 12 oz Travel Bottle with Commuter Cap has the same wide mouth as other YETI Ramblers, but it narrows near the bottom to better fit in cup holders. We haven’t had any issues using it in several different cars, and it slides in and out quite nicely when you’re trying to take a drink. On the other hand, while it doesn’t stick in a cup holder, you also can’t count on it holding the bottle in place as you try to wrench open the top. You win some, you lose some. We had better luck unlocking it by pushing down on the bottle while untwisting to hold it in place, but it didn’t always work.

There’s also the weight to consider. It’s not terrible when walking or driving, but the biggest issue is that we really struggled to tell when it was empty. It feels nearly the same full as empty (must be a trick of the mind), so we’d go to refill it and find it still half full, or go to take another swig and find it empty. Guess that’s the price we pay for great insulation.

Quick Comparison

The easiest comparison with the YETI Rambler 12 oz Travel Bottle with Commuter Cap is the YETI Rambler 18oz Bottle. Well, it’s really the 16 oz Travel Bottle with Commuter Cap, but the differences from that bottle end with the capacity, so we wanted to share another option.

The regular Rambler and the Travel Bottle differ mostly in width and the cap they come with. The 18-ounce option has a broader base and comes with the Chug Cap, which has a bottle spout instead of a ring to drink from, as well as a handle on the top that makes it easier to carry. Since most of the difference is with the caps, if you want to drink hot beverages through the 18-ounce bottle, you can put the Commuter Cap on. If you want a handle on your 12-ounce Travel Bottle for water, add the Chug Cap. They’re sold separately; you don’t have to buy a second bottle.

There’s also the ​​Hydro Flask Coffee with Flex Sip Lid to consider. It comes in 16- and 20-ounce variants, so it’s got a slightly larger capacity, but the 16-ounce weighs about 11.5 ounces (326 g), which is less than the 12-ounce Rambler Travel Bottle. In our testing, the insulation works as well as the YETI. The Flex Sip Lid is also easier to open, and it includes a handle.

However, we’ve had the Flex Sip Lid leak on us a time or two (or more!) when drinking after using it for a while, and it has four pieces to clean and reassemble compared to the Commuter Cap’s two. It also seems to hold onto smells and tastes even more than the YETI. So, there are things to consider with each.

Which is better? That’s up to you.