car top carrier

MommaMia · May 22, 2013

We drive a Sienna. For long trips, we'd prefer not to have all our luggage in the van. Can anyone recommend a car top carrier? Or is it actually safer to strap the luggage down in the car?

Thanks.

soph's mom · May 22, 2013

We used a soft carrier we bought at Advance auto of all places. I like the soft bc it's lighter and it forms around your luggage instead of trying to get your luggage perfect so a hard carrier would shut...

christineka · May 22, 2013

We have a sienna and bought a $39 (on sale) soft car top carrier. It works great! We've used it for 3 vacations now.

thtr4me · May 22, 2013

It was pricey, but we went with a hard carrier. Figured it might be a bit more aero-dynamic and help with the gas mileage. Went with something very similar to this one:

http://www.rei.com/product/851056/thule-pulse-xl-roof-box

aeormsby · May 22, 2013

We have this: http://yakima.com/shop/cargo/cargo-boxes/skybox-pro-16-onyx (actually not sure what size it is, but it's the Skybox). It's been great. Easy to move from one vehicle to another and it holds a ton of stuff. If you have the space to store it (if you don't want it on year round - we usually leave ours on for the summer when it's camping season) I love the hard box. We did have one fly open while driving down the interstate, not fun. But yakima actually replaced it for free when we noticed cracks in it (not sure if they were from the fly open episode or something else) and the newer design now is actually much nicer (kind of wonder if more people had issues with the other design).

Anyway, we usually pack put the softer stuff in the box - sleeping bags, pads & pillows if we're camping, clothes in duffel bags, camp chairs.

I know several people that have various soft cargo carriers also and they seem to work great to, not as much space it seems, and not sure how weather proof they are but a great option if you're not going to use it as often and don't want something that takes up much space for storing.

christineka · May 22, 2013

aeormsby said:
I know several people that have various soft cargo carriers also and they seem to work great to, not as much space it seems, and not sure how weather proof they are but a great option if you're not going to use it as often and don't want something that takes up much space for storing.

Ours is weather proof- we tested it. It's aerodynamic enough that our gas mileage doesn't change much. We can pack sleeping bags, pads, tents (yes, multiple), tarps, pillows, and clothes for 8 in our bag.

amyd · May 22, 2013

thtr4me said:
It was pricey, but we went with a hard carrier. Figured it might be a bit more aero-dynamic and help with the gas mileage. Went with something very similar to this one:

http://www.rei.com/product/851056/thule-pulse-xl-roof-box

We have a very similar one we use on our Mazda 5.

ErinGoBragh · May 22, 2013

We have this soft carrier: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003WOZOUM"]Rightline Gear 100S50 Sport Jr. Car Top Carrier:Amazon:Automotive[/ame]

I like that I can use it on my van or on DH's truck that does not have roof racks. It is waterproof and folds super small when not in use.

car top carrier

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soph's mom

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