X-Cargo  Sport 20 Car Top Carrier

This unit is ample in space and easy to install. However, I found that it begins to shake when reaching high speeds. I purchased it for an 08 Toyota highlander. I had Sears install it because my wife went to pick it up. We took off a couple days later for a 500 mile trip to the beach.. When reaching about 60 mph, the carrier would bob up and down at a frequency of about four or five times per second. The front of the unit was bouncing up and down as if it were too flimsy to reisit the wind. I ,moved the cross rails forward, retightened . The same issue prevailed. I drove 500 miles with this thing shaking the entire car. I thought it would blow off the car.. I reached our beach house , I phoned the manufactiure.. I spoke with six other people with the same unit and they had No problems . I phoned the manufacturer again. I moved the mounting brackets forward... same issue. Manufactures said they haven't heard of this problem by anyone else??

For the money, this is a great carrier. We've had it about a year now. During the winter in NY, the lock iced up on us. Only other problem was that the bolt that anchors it to the rack had the treads stripped so I purchased a new set of bolts.

We purchased this item in anticipation of a road trip and did not regret it. It is a cinch to install and equally easy to remove. There is a lock at the rear end and the hinges are at the front, so in order to open it you have to step up on the rear bumper which, I thought, was a convenient design. I think the maximum weight allowed was 100 or 150 pounds but we were amazed at how much room it afforded us what with two strollers, a playpen, and various camping equipment we were able to stash in it. There was no noticeable drag or wind noise BUT since this is a big unit, you may not be able to get inside covered parking garages, so be mindful of this one disadvantage.

One complain is the locking mechanism is not smooth at times. For what it's worth the volume is plenty for lots of things. The side bar operation could be a little smoother when opening/closing. I am happy with it overall.

Installed this on a Toyota Sequoia, and it was very sturdy on the roof rack. We put 4 medium-large suitcases, and 3 duffel bags, and it could have held more. You have to be careful when opening and closing the carrier because the hinges are a little flimsy, but once the carrier is closed, it is very sturdy. There were many of these carriers on the highway. We saw some people used a strap on the carrier, probably for added safety to be sure the top didn't open. We did not use any straps to hold the carrier down, we just used the mounting kit that came with the carrier, and the lock that is built into the carrier. It would be impossible for the carrier to pop open while going down the road because it opens from the back, so the air would press down on it, keeping it closed. We drove 75-85mph the whole trip and the carrier never budged. The carrier never leaked, we used the vinyl coverings that came with it. This carrier is very good value, and I would highly recommend it.

Recently (July 2012) I bought an X-Cargo Sport 20 and used it for a two-week 3300 mile trip. It is exactly what I wanted. The quality is decent for the price. We will just put it on our SUV once or twice a year for trips. If I was going to leave it on the car always and put stuff in it often, I would pay more for a stronger box. Older comments talked about problems with mounting hardware. They must have fixed those problems in the past couple of years. I had no problems. Just because the lock and everything seems flimsy, when I had it full of cargo I put bungee cords over the top to be sure nothing could open by surprise. But I probably had close to 100 pounds and it was stuffed full. Surprisingly there was very little impact to gas mileage. On a mid-sized SUV the carrier might have dropped it from 20 mpg to 19 mpg, but not a bad impact at all. I mostly drove 65 to 70 mph so lower speeds would have had even less mileage impact. Overall a great product for the price.

purchased this for our south carolina north myrtle beach trip . rained a few times and no water inside didnt feel or see any changes on my gas mileage . it is flimsy when it opens but what do you expect its made of plastic and has to be light can only hold 100lbs. it worked great for me lucky i bought it ! i kept all our beach and pool stuff in it so i had a lot of room for cargo in my acura mdx 2003 . this is much needed if your a family of 4 or more works great!!!

Didn't want to spend a fortune as it would only be used once per year. Did a lot of research and decided on this model dispite bad reviews. Installation was easy once we realized that we didn't have our cross-bars perfectly straight on top of our 2009 Forester. After that, it was a breeze. There is a ton, I mean a ton of room in this. We packed at least 100 pounds and drove from NJ to Maine. It never moved a bit! We had no trouble with the wing nuts - we turned until slightly snug and they never came loose - even after ten days. The lock held perfectly - unlike the reviews below - and we had no trouble with it. We were stuck in 2 hours of very, very heavy rain through MA and NY and it was completely dry when we opened it once home (there are vinyl hole plugs included in the mounting kit). Even drove with it empty for a week (they tell you not to!) up to 60 mph. Fully (and I mean FULLY) loaded our mpg went from 26.1 to 25.5 average over the trip. Saw many of this model on the road during our trip and now know why. Well worth the money spent. Beware - it comes in a huge box and didn't fit into the back of the car until we discarded the box. 

After searching for both new and used carriers, I guarantee this is the best you're going to do for under $200. The hinges are plastic and a little flimsy but you know this going into it so just be careful with them...just partially flex them on each side before you close it from the back. The top of the unit feels pretty flimsy when it is up but once it's down and locked it is very solid. Only real complaint is how it opens from the back which makes loading it challenging in some cases...I had to do most of the loading from the side, in which case the hinges could get in the way. Holds a ton of stuff (loaded with a double stroller, 2 baby gates, 2 beach chairs, beach umbrella, full size Nike duffel bag, 15lb bag of dog food, case of water, & a couple of misc. bags and items that would be difficult to pack). Caught in a couple of storms and never leaked at all...just make sure not to overpack it which will make the top buckle out a bit on the sides and allow water in. Fastens on nice, tight and secure to a 2012 Caravan. Didn't need any additional ratchet straps or tie-downs and never had any movement or concerns. Didn't have any problems with the hardware/nuts stripping that some reviews have mentioned. There's 2 nuts per bracket...just make sure to tighten each one equally (ie. tighten the first one 5 turns then the other one 5 turns, then back to the first one, etc). I bought the quick release hardware kit for $19. Didn't need it but it is nice to be able to just loosen one nut on each bracket to remove the unit instead of completely taking each nut off of each bracket to remove it. This way all the hardware stays attached to the unit, which is nice when storing because you don't have to worry about storing/misplacing any of the mounting hardware. The one thing that I did that I would recommend is buy some Plastic Tool Dip or Rubber Undercoating Spray (what you would use to plastic dip tool handles or rubber coat spray under your car) to coat the side of the brackets that will come into contact with your roof rack, so it's not metal on metal and extra assurance that it'll keep it from slipping. This will cost you $5-10 at a hardware store or auto parts store and take about 10 minutes to do. If it opened from the sides it would easily be 5 stars but that's what you get when you pay the extra $300-400 for the brand name models. By the way, this is made by Thule...Thule owners manual and customer service number.

<span>I bought this carrier back in May for our 2010 Chevy Equinox. We used it to drive over 1000 miles to Texas. I<span>t fit</span> out car perfect with the exception we had to remove the Satellite antenna <span>(</span>which just screws off<span>) in order</span> for it to fit our roof rack. It was easy to install, but I would recommend putting maybe black electrical tape on the u<span>-</span>bolts as <span>not to</span> scratch the roof of your vehicle. <span>W</span><span>e l</span>earned <span>this the</span> hardway...other than that the carrier was huge.<span>W</span>e <span>were able to </span>fit 1 full size suitcase and 2 travel size roller suitcases and various other bags and <span>items that</span> you would need for twin 2 year olds. I didn't know what to expect from a <span>wind noise</span> standpoint, but I am happy to say you could not hear it at all (empty or full)...and that is going 85<span> mph</span> and then some at times. Also, we went through one hell of a rain storm and everything stayed dry...there was <span>some</span> water, put not enough where anything really got wet..again, one hell of a rain storm. The only downside<span>, for us anyway was </span>that since my equinox is a 4 cy<span>linder</span>..it did <span>not </span>do well on cruise control..just to much wind resistance to keep it at cruise speed<span> without the engine wanting to rev up to get up with the speed...</span>but I would think that would be expected with something strapped to the roof <span>o</span>f your car. So, after over 2000 miles, I would highly recommend this product, especially for the price.</span>