SFR Yeti skillet

[HauntedByWaters]

For the record, I agree with you.

But also for the record, I think one could create an equally true statement along the lines of:


Like most things in life, I suspect the answer is somewhere in the middle.

While nobody needs a $400 Yeti pan. I think there is some space we need to leave for the idea that well crafted (or responsibly made or ethically grown etc) things are going to cost more and that they are worth that money, regardless of what label is or isn't on them. Nobody needs a Hardy reel or an Orvis bamboo rod. What they cost over something from Aliexpress isn't going to catch you any more fish. But anyone who buys one knows they have something of quality and will likely be able to pass it down to their grandkids. You can't say that about the Aliexpress reel or cheap ass Target kitchen knives or harbor freight tools.

Oddly enough, cheap cast iron pans MIGHT be one of the few exceptions to this. Lodge pans are still made in the USA and, while maybe not the absolute nicest cast iron pans to cook on, will probably be around to hand down to your grandkids if you want.

I get your point, but Yeti makes coolers, not frying pans. Hardy has been making reels for well over a century. Many Hardy reels are legitimately special, this frying pan is not. It’s probably better than most but it’s a pan made by someone else with the Yeti name on it. The Yeti brand is the conspicuous consumption part, the frying pan is just rebranded with it.

Who wants to buy a Hardy skillet? Only $600. It’s better than the Yeti one by $200.

 

[albula]

The only Yeti products that I am willing to spend my money on are coffee cups and water bottles. Not willing to buy their coolers and certainly not a $400 skillet.

$30 to $50 each for a coffee cup and a water bottle!!!! I don't own either but I look forward to preparing something in my new skillet and keeping it at the proper temperature for a later lunch in my 15 year old cooler. Different strokes. Hope you continue to enjoy your water bottle though.

 

[Yard Sale]

I buy gear from companies built on that type of gear. All that shit they sell after making a name for themselves is probably built better by another company that specializes in that gear.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Good to see no one owns any Sage, Winston, Burkheimer or Simms. Like with a good many products those who can't afford them denigrate those who can. I have found every Yeti product I own to be a purchase cherished and not regretted. You have helped convinced me that I may need one of these.

There is some truth to this. I own Simms waders. I contend they are more expensive than they used to be and not as durable but they are still the best I can source and pay the price. If a skillet were a passion purchase I would buy an expensive one but not likely from a cooler company, then again you never know. Hell Filson used to make the best stuff if you were after low tech, domestic made, and lifetime service. I just think when Filson and Yeti start charging a premium for their non target products or at the very least products they don't actually make but are branded as such one needs to examine paying the premium. Then again it's a free country and we all vote with our dollars. If you were making omlettes in said skillet and extolling it's virtues I would agree heartily as you are feeding me. I would low hole you though without sympathy if you had an elaborate cleaning process post meal that left you at camp late while I stuffed my eighties Coleman stove into a dirty burlap sack without ceremony.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

I buy gear from companies built on that type of gear. All that shit they sell after making a name for themselves is probably built better by another company that specializes in that gear.

This

 

[Josh]

I get your point, but Yeti makes coolers, not frying pans. Hardy has been making reels for well over a century. Many Hardy reels are legitimately special, this frying pan is not. It’s probably better than most but it’s a pan made by someone else with the Yeti name on it. The Yeti brand is the conspicuous consumption part, the frying pan is just rebranded with it.

Who wants to buy a Hardy skillet? Only $600. It’s better than the Yeti one by $200.

You aren't wrong. But I will say that, in Yeti's defense, their products generally work well. Overpriced and quality is better than overpriced average junk, which most conspicuous consumption is. A $650 Prada Frisbee is literally nothing more than a standard promotional Frisbee with a single color screen print on it. You can get a far better functioning frisbee from any number of companies for under $20. The Yeti cast iron skillet may be overpriced due to the nametag and you can get something equally as nice for half the price, but at least it's going to be an excellent skillet.

I don't own many Yeti products, just some random mugs and thermoses that people have given me as gifts. Using my own money, I'm more of an "Ozark Trail" Walmart knockoff kind of guy (I have hard and soft coolers and one "can cooler" from that brand). But I also wouldn't be bummed if I ended up with a Yeti cooler because they work well as coolers.

 

[iveofione]

I have no problem with a $400 frying pan, a $3,500 bamboo fly rod or an $8,000 shotgun. If you have the money and the disposable income, why not? What I don't understand is buying highly expensive gear at a relatively young age in lieu of savings or investments. If we can buy a Lodge pan that will last for 100 years for $50 does it make sense to buy a Yeti for 8 times as much that will also last for 100 years? Apply this to any other consumer goods available and you can see why some of us retired early and some struggle to ever have a successful retirement. There is a point at which a product that is ''good enough'' is good enough. Beyond that further expenditure makes damned little sense.

I retired young and early and have been a full time fly fisherman for 23 years now. My dad who always chased the bigger and better retired at 67 and died at 68. I learned a lot from him, much of it about what not to do. I am not living nor ever have lived in luxury but have had an outstanding retirement so far. It has been ''good enough".

 

[Jake Watrous]

What the actual f…k
Is there really someone that stupid that would buy this?

Yes, yes there is. How about $1300 for five Dr. Slick fly-tying scissors?

Dr. Slick Damascus Collector Series

The Dr. Slick Damascus series of scissors and clamps may only come around once in our lifetime! A truly unique collector series 10 years in the making.

www.madriveroutfitters.com

Here’s the thing. To me, a $500k sports car is a ludicrous amount of money to spend to get stuck in I-5 traffic. But to the people on Lake Washington with a fucking Tyrannosaurus skeleton in their front atrium, and a yacht twice the size of my house, it’s chump change. If it makes you smile, and it doesn’t hurt anyone, go for it.

There’s also the case to be made for being selective and buying quality once for some things. I own two high-end chef’s knives, a high-end serrated utility knife, and a high-end paring knife. That’s it for kitchen knives. I’ve owned them for 20+ years, and they’ll outlast me. Buying and tossing $30 sets of disposable IKEA knives every couple of years and having to put up with them in the interim doesn’t make sense to me.

The only stupid ones are those who rack up crippling credit card debt buying luxury items and things they don’t need.

 

[PhilR]

… while I stuffed my eighties Coleman stove into a dirty burlap sack without ceremony.

Throw the dishes in, and drag it behind you in the raft, and you don’t even have to do dishes.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Throw the dishes in, and drag it behind you in the raft, and you don’t even have to do dishes.

Chumming is illegal sir. I would report you to get first water in my most underhanded maneuver yet. I don't take calling the cops lightly but these steelhead are a scarce resource. And like the poor man handed a considerable sum of money my greed would be fuelled and my morals perhaps more malleable than I once figured.

 

[O' Clarkii Stomias]

Really? Well now I'm confused by this dueling advice.

I have a very small Lodge skillet that is more of a wall decoration than anything. Perhaps I'll use it as a test subject.

If I do it again, it'll be with one of these:
The biggest issue I had, as a lifelong welder, is tipping a grinder to overcome the lip of the pan makes it a challenge to leave a flat surface. Hence the amount of time. YMMV.

 

[GOTY]

Woah, didn't know this existed. Thanks for the post, just ordered mine. Hopefully the plastic wrap packaging it comes in isn't too thick for my Abel nippers to cut through. Really glad they made this 12" wide, as my 5 gallon yeti bucket is 10.3" in diameter so a 10" pan wouldn't be able to double as a $400 bucket lid.

 

[PhilR]

Chumming is illegal sir. I would report you to get first water in my most underhanded maneuver yet. I don't take calling the cops lightly but these steelhead are a scarce resource. And like the poor man handed a considerable sum of money my greed would be fuelled and my morals perhaps more malleable than I once figured.

Fair enough. I wonder if the sound of breaking crockery would put the fish down, or rile them up Teeny-style?

 

[Evan B]

Woah, didn't know this existed. Thanks for the post, just ordered mine. Hopefully the plastic wrap packaging it comes in isn't too thick for my Abel nippers to cut through. Really glad they made this 12" wide, as my 5 gallon yeti bucket is 10.3" in diameter so a 10" pan wouldn't be able to double as a $400 bucket lid.

Back to almost defending Yeti a bit - their 5gal bucket is legit bomb proof. With the lid you can get for it, which is also spendy, it is quite a useful thing to have on a boat. I have been on a few boats with them and stopped making fun of that particular item as much. I don't own one, but I've almost pulled the trigger a few times. I seem to break my Lowe's buckets every few trips I take in my big boat.

I'd put that particular product in the "buy once cry once" category. Obviously not something most people, especially fly fishermen, need... but meat fishermen like me who fish the ocean a lot - it's actually useful.

 

[Big Tuna]

Who knew one could debate the value of a pan?

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Back to almost defending Yeti a bit - their 5gal bucket is legit bomb proof. With the lid you can get for it, which is also spendy, it is quite a useful thing to have on a boat. I have been on a few boats with them and stopped making fun of that particular item as much. I don't own one, but I've almost pulled the trigger a few times. I seem to break my Lowe's buckets every few trips I take in my big boat.

I'd put that particular product in the "buy once cry once" category. Obviously not something most people, especially fly fishermen, need... but meat fishermen like me who fish the ocean a lot - it's actually useful.

Yeti basically reinvented cylindrical non porous storage technology. The innovative opening in the top with a lid is the stuff of next gen AI science fiction. The neoprene liquid seal lockout technology completes the package. A bargain at the current price point.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

Fair enough. I wonder if the sound of breaking crockery would put the fish down, or rile them up Teeny-style?

I mean they put rattles in plugs. The dinner bell fish attracting technology of a nano mesh bag using the river's own power to clean, chum, and attract fish sonically is a hard combo to beat. That's probably why Washington outlawed it. Legal in Idaho though.

 

[Pink Nighty]

I mean they put rattles in plugs. The dinner bell fish attracting technology of a nano mesh bag using the river's own power to clean, chum, and attract fish sonically is a hard combo to beat. That's probably why Washington outlawed it. Legal in Idaho though.

See I just tell the warden it's a newfangled chain anchor and he has no idea I'm chummin up chrome acoustically and olfactorarily.

They're most effective after my wife "cleans" them.

 

[Evan B]

Yeti basically reinvented cylindrical non porous storage technology. The innovative opening in the top with a lid is the stuff of next gen AI science fiction. The neoprene liquid seal lockout technology completes the package. A bargain at the current price point.

It's more that its size and durability are what make it worth it. It's $40. I've spent more than that replacing cheap hardware store buckets just in the last year.

 

[Brute]

I like my Lodge pans, my generational Griswold, and my Iwata cast iron. In addition I love my yeti drinkware and coolers. I've polished a 14" inch Lodge, and it was a pain in the ass. I am unsure why you all get your panties in a bunch over shit like this. The question I have is " what price would you attach to a family heirloom?". I know that my great grandparents scrimped and saved for the Griswold's I have, and if the yeti/pat butters are of similar quality, I'm all in. I've got burkheimer, saraciones, and meisers that I've paid a lot more for, and will use a lot less than than I would use a $400 cast iron pan. For me it's not status, it's that I like nice shit. I went for years without it, and now that I can afford it.......

My motto has always been “smoke ‘em if you got ‘em”…

We grew up in the lower end of the middle class, but my dad always impressed upon me to wait and buy the very best instead of buying mediocre as soon as possible…