Thule  Evolution 1600 Car Top Carrier

Had to find a way to make room in the vehicle to pack a whole dorm room on our way back from skiing in Vermont. Stopped at Sears and had this carrier installed. It was a life saver. Holds so much more then I thought and was easy to use. Had very strong winds driving through Ohio and everything held secure. Have continued to use through the ski season. Nice to be able to leave skis and poles in the vehicle to run out to the ski hill after work. Glad I bought it and it was a good purchase for the money! Thanks Sears for having it in stock and mounting it for me.

This item works great on my 2010 Subaru Forester, the car seems to be made for this kind of thing on top.

if you are handy you can mount this yourself, and the brackets for mounting work well for making it secure. I found that it does wiggle slightly at 70+ MPH but most of you will not do that speed with carrier on top.

I can now put the dog in the back and a total of 5 in the car without it being loaded to the window tops, and the dog is relaxed!

Oh and and the trade off of the 2 mpg is in not having to take 2 cars.

opens on both sides, "WOO HOO"

All this for under $400

Lastly you can get an easier to mount hardware for $200- $400 more but unless you are like me you will still need help getting it up there on the car.

Just drove from Kansas to Colorado to ski for spring break and packed the cargo carrier with luggage. It was pretty windy, but the carrier had a lot more vibration than I expected. It also had about a 1/2" gap between the front lid and the bottom base during most of the drive while at high speeds. If it had been raining everything in the carrier would have been soaked. Not sure if the latch in front is defective or not, but will check with Sears. Like a previous review, I would suggest buying a Thule from a different provider so that it is the current model. Thule doesn't even list this model on their web site.

the Thule Evolution 1600 Cargo carrier is generally a great product (fits nicely on both our 2009 Honda CRV & 2009 Kia Sportage), but be warned: according to the Thule representative we spoke to, Sears deliberately orders & stocks the old models that were phased out years ago instead of having the final version of this model (which everyone else stocks), so we are stuck with the old mounting bolts & clamps with twist knobs instead of having the quick-release u-bolt clamps that the Evolution model should have come with. We were very disappointed about this, especially since Sears wouldnt take it back without a 15% fee, andThule told us we couldn't buy the replacement mounting hardware either because it can't be used with the Sears models. Now we understand the reason for the 15% restocking fee... great job Sears - no way to earn repeat business, or referrals.

This is an overall solid box for the money. After checking with REI, Any Mountain, etc., I have concluded this is the box for me. Those specialty stores sell the top of the line Thule and Yakima boxes for upwards of $600+. The only difference those high end boxes over this is the mounting hardware. The Evolution doesn't have the snap-on/snap-off latch like the expensive model. For the $300 savings, I can live without those handy latches.

Overall a very good roof top carrier.  Was very stable and kept the cargo dry during a cross country trip with several days of very windy and rainy conditions.  Inside straps kept the cargo from shifting and were relatively easy to use.  The carrier was quiet but affected mileage more than expected.

The attachment method was somewhat cumbersome but seemed solid once attached.  Other Thule carriers have more convenient hold-downs to the crossbars.  Loading was easy since there is access from both sides.  I would definitely recommend it to others.

We shopped and shopped for the best deal on a Thule as we move our 3 kids, 4 cats and 2 dogs across the country. Not only was the sales associate tremendously helpful, when we finally made the big purchase of the much needed car topper, a nice, capable young man installed in on top of the car at the pickup area while we all sat inside the car. The Thule is top of the line, sleek, quiet and cool-looking! Best of all, Sears will be there for us in case we need any service on it down the road- pardon the pun. The competition could not offer that. By the way, the very next week, another store offered the Tule for $100 less during a sale. I contacted Sears and they gladly refunded me the difference!!!