Looking at possibly getting a roofbox to stow our camping stuff on trips away, been looking about and seen these new fangled holdall/softcover type roof boxes. They any good? I like the idea of them as it stores away easily without taking up precious man cave space.
Opinions?
We've used one for the past four years without problem, although wife does look a bit miffed when bike gear goes [i]inside[/i] the car whilst all hers' and the kids' stuff goes in the bag on the roof. They're not that big in reality though, not unless you just fill them with stuff in carrier bags - two big stuff sacks fill ours. It does mean we get away with a small car for 48 weeks of the year though, which is the whole point I guess. Never felt like we've lost out in not having a solid roof box, and ours lives in a corner in the loft. When we get to our destination the thing takes 5 minutes to stash away as well, meaning we're back to good mpg.
You can hire the bigger solid ones though, although given the price of roof boxes I've no idea why you'd hire one.
Interestingly enough I borrowed a mates Thule "soft" roof box last week for a family trip. I have a large "hard" roof box which I had committed to lending out.
I think the only benefit is that it was slimmer than my "hard" box so I could get a bike on the roof also. the only other benefit I can see is that they are easier to store. This didnt apply to me!
Given the choice the "hard" one is much better, it carries substantially more and is more secure. It also doesnt fill with rain/Snow when empty. If you can store a box then go for one of them IMO.
I think between myself and Surfer we've just repeated Thule's advertising back to the OP. D'oh!
Found it perfectly good, I have a thule one and it seems to hold a decent amount, re security I would think if someone wanted to get in one soft or hard they would have no bother opening either.
Ranger 90 - ****ing awesome!
Not bothered about security it will only have clothes and sleeping bags in, hopefully taken off roof at destination.