JEGS Rooftop Cargo Carrier for Car Storage - Small Roof Rack Cargo Carrier - Heavy Duty Weatherproof Storage - Made in USA - 10 Cubic Ft - 110 Lb Capacity - Zero Tool Easy Assembly - Aero Design

I drove a GMC Yukon XL for 16 years, finally downsized to a GMC Acadia. The only doubt I had was camping; we packed the Yukon to the gills, how would we fit the gear into the Acadia? According to the stats, the Acadia has 18 cu. ft. less cargo space than the Yukon - so the Jeggs was the perfect solution!I bought the crossbars for the Acadia from the dealer, not bad, about $150 for the pair. They are adjustable, but I set them bigger than the instructions said, I drilled holes in the outer dents (You'll see what I mean), which I think gave me 32" between the bar centers.I was a bit concerned about how I'd get it on the roof, especially since I'm 68. But it really was a snap to slide the bottom half up onto the rails from one side of the car. I was a bit concerned about scratching the paint, so I put a blanket around the roof rails, but it turned out not to be an issue. I stood on the back door frames to install and tighten the C-clamps that hold the box to the rails, but I'm tall. Someone shorter may need a small step stool.Having succeeded there, I slid the top onto the bottom the same way. I had the locks open (bars sticking down), then one side at a time I lifted the top to pull the bars into the slots on the bottom. Then I closed the locks on the drivers side. I'll admit the locks are a little fussy, but if you take your time and jiggle the key gently, it will go in and turn the bars. With the bars locked on the driver's side, I lifted up the lid on the passenger side, and used the front and back struts to hold it open. Cool!We went on a camping trip, and I fit 4 sleeping bags, two umbrella chairs, some blankets, a rug for inside the tent in the box, closed the lid and locked the other two latches. I put the key on the key ring with my car keys so I wouldn't go crazy looking for it. I could have stuffed more in the box, but was cautious on the maiden voyage. The latch on the front is easy to forget to latch, but you will hear it tapping the box and figure out what the noise is.It really is amazing, but your just can't tell it's up there! The car drove as normal as can be. They give you a little sticker for your windshield that has a picture of a car with a box hitting a tree, with a caption "Look Up!" Have to admit, I thought of going to the car wash, and then remembered that sticker!Being lazy about unloading after a trip, I left the box with all the stuff on the roof for about a week, and really didn't notice it. When I finally unloaded it, I reversed the process I used to put the two halves on the car, no problem at all. I set the lid on a table in the garage, then nested the bottom inside the lid, and left the hardware in the bottom half. I threw all the sleeping bags and blankets on top, no wasted garage space!One thing I suggest for Jeggs, is they might make their listings for this side-open box and the rear-open box more obvious, maybe have the rear-open box listing say in big letters "side open box also available", and vice-versa. I almost bought the rear open box, then realized I couldn't load it from the rear! Luckily I looked further down my original search list and found this side open box, which was actually a few bucks cheaper.I saw there were some negative reviews, but I would ignore them if I were you, especially knowing what I know now. You can spend more on boxes from other manufacturers, but you won't find one that is better. Easy to mount and remove, very sturdy and very roomy. Also a good price! You can't ask for anything more.

Used this car top carrier for a cross country trip of over 2000 miles. We went through every kind of weather including high swirling winds coming at us from every direction as the mountain highway twisted and turned, along with heavy rain, some snow and ice, and traveling at speeds in excess of 75 mph for long stretches of highway. This JEGS car top carrier handled it all with no problem, and at our destination, it was still exactly where it was at the beginning -- no shifting in any direction on the cargo rails -- no tie-downs required at all. The only tie-downs I used were to strap a step ladder to the vehicle - as shown, which had nothing to do with the carrier.I used a dense insulation foam (1 inch x 1 inch in size) on the inside on the mounting brackets. I pierced slit-holes in the foam to fit the spacing of the mounting brackets and slid it down over the bracket poles between the inside of the floor of the carrier and the lock-down plate and then tightened down the thumb screws until they were tight and that stopped any leakage into the interior of the carrier from the mounting bracket holes. At the end of the trip, the carrier was perfectly dry inside.We didn't access the interior of the carrier during the trip and the locking mechanisms worked perfectly - held the top secured tightly and showed no signs of shifting at high speeds during the trip (checked it each time we stopped for gas and to stay at a motel) and they were perfectly in place and tight all during the trip and at the end of the trip. --- I can't see how the locking mechanisms could fail unless they were not installed properly or were somehow defective (which would be obvious) from the start - as others have reported losing the top of the carrier at highway speeds. - Quite literally - I don't see how that's possible unless it wasn't locked down properly before taking to the road. -- Also: The locking mechanisms each have a hole to insert a padlock to prevent anyone breaking into the carrier. We used a padlock on each locking mechanism, but even without the padlock, there should be no way for the locking mechanism to come undone.The only flaw I noticed was the bars for holding the carrier open were very difficult to get put in place and did not sufficiently hold the top up far enough from the bottom for easy loading and unloading, and should be made like the brace of a fold-out ladder with a hinge in the middle of two bars that expand out to hold the top of the carrier up high enough for easy access of the interior. Those bars could be made to be easily installed by the user if properly designed and manufactured so the carrier could still be shipped with the top and bottom nestled together.So - if you're going to take a trip and need extra room for your stuff, this car top carrier would be an excellent choice. It's about half the price of the "top name" brands, but every bit as good at the job as those expensive ones -- and holds a lot more stuff than most of the expensive ones.Overall: I highly recommend the 18 cubic foot JEGS Rooftop Cargo Carrier. It's well worth the investment.

I waited to review this, because it took me awhile to get it on the car and test it out. This week I embark on at 2000 mile road trip, the real reason I bought the carrier, so I’ll report back after that trip with any updates.My experience so far: my car didn’t come equipped with crossbars on which to mount the carrier, so I had to order those first and figure out how to mount them. Once I got those installed, installing the carrier was simple. I had to drill new mounting holes as my crossbars were not the default distance apart. That was a simple process, and the carrier has regularly spaced markings for drilling other holes. I was able to lift the carrier onto the roof of the car by myself (with a ladder). It’s unwieldy, but not heavy. The mounting hardware works well. I was immediately impressed by how capacious the carrier is. I loaded it with some test cargo in order to see how stable and quiet the carrier was on my roof. I was impressed. Again, I haven’t taken it for many hours at highway speeds yet, but in neighborhood traffic, and for short bursts of highway traffic, the carrier is stable and quiet. so far, I am pleased with this purchase.UPDATE: We just completed the cross-country trip, and this carrier performed admirably. There was some noise from wind, but nothing that really caused a problem. Clamped down tight before departure, none of the components that hold the carrier to the crossbars vibrated loose. The front clamp held fast. No adjustments were necessary at any point on the trip. Great performance and value!