Yeti’s New EDC Backpack Is One Rugged, All-Weather Workhorse (Exclusive)

Some products don’t fit into neat, little boxes. When it comes to the new Cayo, that’s precisely the point.

Published May 23, 2025

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Updated May 23, 2025

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Some products don’t fit into neat, little boxes. When it comes to the Cayo, the latest rugged workhorse to join Yeti’s growing bag lineup, that’s by design.

“We really focus things that have the broadest amount of use,” says Yeti’s head of softgoods Layne Rigney, who joined the brand in 2024 as the former CEO and president of Osprey Packs and Camelbak.

“With this one, the word I always think about is ‘utility,'” he adds.

A bag for all occasions

In a sense, the Cayo defies convention not by what it does but by what it doesn’t.

Though it looks similar to Panga and boasts a bevy of water-resistant features — including a DryHide Shell exterior, RF welded seams and PU coated zippers — the bag is not waterproof. At least not in a technical sense.

“It doesn’t survive being submerged like some of the IPX rated bags,” Rigney says, “but for anything rain, snow elements that you’re going to encounter on your everyday use, you’re going to get all that functionality with a lot more approachable zipper to it. It is functionally waterproof in the way that ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of customers are actually going to use it.”

According to Rigney, those use cases could range from a gear bag someone might leave outside their tent to a simple commuter pack for unpredictable weather. In any case, the features it does have follow suit:

“Knowing that some people would use it as a commuter bag, we made sure that the internal water bottle pockets were totally sealed and separate from the regular part of the container,” Rigney says.

“While we love to celebrate bottles, we also wanted to give you that peace of mind that you weren’t going to have a bunch of mud and road grime on your bottle when you went to go use it.”

Open up

The zippers themselves also play an important role.

“It’s sort of a reverse-coil zipper with a nice clean tape on it that’s going to shed pretty much any water that’s falling from the sky,” Rigney says.

But compared to the true waterproof ones found on the Panga, they’re significantly easier to open, lending themselves to not just everyday use but users with smaller hands, such as children.

“If you think about Yeti, not just bags but across the portfolio, we’re constantly thinking about access as a point of differentiation and how you give consumers great access to the things that they’re going to carry,” Rigney says.

On that note, Rigney and the rest of the Yeti team didn’t cut corners, equipping the Cayo with a wraparound zipper that can be opened from either side, as well as from the top down.

“A lot of companies pull up short on that because zippers is so expensive. They’re the most expensive thing that goes into a bag.”

“I won’t name names, but a lot of companies pull up short on that because zippers are so expensive,” Rigney adds. “They’re the most expensive thing that goes into a bag, generally speaking, and they certainly are when you start talking about weather resistance.

“This is a thing where we want to be really generous with the amount of zipper we use so that you could have that access.”

Durability made simple

Inside, the Cayo is simple, devoid of excess pockets or compartments that might be welcome in some scenarios but distract in others.

That said, it does feature stretch-woven sleeve designed to hold either a laptop or two-liter hydration reservoir, complemented by an opening on the back to channel the hose.

And the lack of pockets is easy enough to address with the Cayo’s myriad attach points, which are compatible of course with Yeti’s extensive range of slings and gear cases, not to mention removable waist and chest straps.

Finally, the Cayo features a mesh back panel called the ComfortComb that isn’t just new for Yeti but virtually unheard of in the weather-resistant category.

But if you were to ask the designers to name their favorite feature, they might say something that goes unseen.

“When you use a really thick TPU, you can’t really sculpt it as much. So that’s actually two pieces of TPU laminated together,” Rigney says of the Cayo’s shell.

“So what our designers did was they worked on laminating those two sheets of TPU together so that they could finish it off in a way that was a little bit more traditional and intentionally sculpted.”

Naturally, that makes the bag more cumbersome to put together. And it definitely raises the price. But if it’s going to carry the Yeti logo on the front, it has a reputation to uphold.

“It’s an extra step, so that’s the type of product that your factory partners will always try to talk you out of,” Rigney says. “But I think it’s just another example of Yeti doing the hard yards at the end.”

Price and availability

The Yeti Cayo is available now for Yeti insiders (free to sign up online), with a broader release coming next week.

At launch, the backpack arrives in two colors, black and olive green, and three sizes: 15L, 25L and 35L. Prices start at $200.

Yeti Cayo Backpack

Starts at $200

About the Author:

Jack Seemer is the executive editor at Gear Patrol, with over a decade of experience in product journalism. He currently reports on a wide range of topics, including footwear, watches, EDC, cookware and more.