roof box options

After the extravagance that resulted from my camping mat thread I’m in the market for a roof box.

Having a look on Facebook market place seems to flag a few different options from budget/knackerd looking grey halfords jobs, through halfords advance/exodus boxes to the Thule and hapro options.

I’m currently leaning towards the Harpro or Exodus boxes which seem to be middle of the road price wise but have no idea how any of the options compare to the others.

Does anyone here have anything they would particularly recommend looking for or avoiding?

Regular use or once a year job? We bought a used basic grey halfords one for £40 a decade back. Very much in the use once a year for hols category. Been fine and can’t see why need spend more if can find a used one for ok money. Not something i can see where spending extra gets you much more in terms of features or whatever.

Like my kamei delphin, seems slightly easier to use than the massive grey squares I’ve borrowed before, not massive capacity but I can still get 2 bikes on the roof alongside it.

Whatever is on Gumtree or facebook cheap.

Halfords advanced / Exodus are made by Thule, just previous generation designs. Ours has been great.

we had a cheap halfords one, it opened at the rear. We now have a Kamei Delphin 330.  it opens to the side which is much better. It looks nicer.

Side opening and ideally passenger side of the car unless planning to use it a lot in Europe.

We had use of a cheap Halfords one that must have been 30 years old for a few trips.  It was absolutely fine.  It was one of the old U-bolt round a square bar types.  I made some little wooden caps for the bolt heads inside the box so they couldn’t tear or snag things.

Like everything the more you use it the more you notice the little annoyances/oddly better bits of design.

I got an old cheap Thule from Gumtree, made in the late ’90s originally I think, it’s made of decent solid stuff and will likely last forever. On my aero bars I use t-bolts one end through the original holes, and made up some clamps for the other end as none of the holes lined up nicely. I think I will easily get what I paid for it back when I sell it on (only used to move daughter’s stuff to and from uni).

We’ve had a couple of old boxes off FBM and eBay (a Thule Ocean 800 and an Autoform which looked like Spok’s  coffin). Then finally picked up an Exodus from Halfords a few years ago.

The second hand boxes were very cheap, but they were also tired, in ways you wouldn’t pick up straight away. The autoform’s gas strut failed one day and the lock became worryingly temperamental. On the Thule the tub began to fail on the edges where it folds up from the base. It started with some crazing and then cracking. They’re made of ABS so I asked a body shop to repair it with plastic welding, but they wouldn’t touch it. I suspect it might have been repeatedly overloaded.

Anyway they got binned and I picked up the exodus. It’s a last generation 580 which are /were made by Thule. The equivalent box from Thule would literally be twice the price. It has dual opening which is really useful. It seems to be extremely robust and the T-track adapters Halfords sell for them are great. If I was more bothered roofbox could sell me some new barrels so I could get it and the bike rack keyed alike. I’ve been really impressed by it.

I’ve got a Thule force xt (large). Big enough to fit a chariot bike trailer in. We use them at my work for vehicle testing and they seem durable.

I think mine has done 20-25k km. What I really like about it are the flat-ish sidewalls, opens from both sides and  it takes 2-3 minutes to install. I can also squeeze a 598 bike rack next to it. I’m glad I didn’t get a bigger roof box.

It hasn’t added any significant noise when driving, although I do have a noisy car.

We got a narrow Thule one in the sales years ago. Doesn’t get used very often but it still looks and works like new. Opens both sides which is helpful and is narrow enough to fit another two bike racks as well.

They seem much more expensive these days but I’d certainly recommend Thule if you have the cash.

We’ve had a Thule (Polar 200) for what must be over 20 years now.  Used LOADS (No pun intended) – with a big dawgie taking up the boot space, a top box was a must ever since daughter #1 was born, 20+ years ago as many hols were camping, + all sorts of other trips, inc out to the Alps biking too a few times, countless trips to the corners of Britain, etc.

Compared to the ‘latest’ it’s not as aero looking (but isnt a just a square block), and attached to the bars with U bolts + thumb-wheel nuts inside the box rather than a modern fancy 1-dial-does-everything.   But I must be down to less than 50p per trip by now. Maybe 25p a trip (it was about £200 back when we got it around the turn of the century).

We inherited a short but wide Halfords box, must be at least 12 years old. Needed new keys, easily sourced. Also adapted it to T tracks.

I’d get a long thin one if I stumbled on one going cheap (for bike rack compatibility) but we’re otherwise happy with it. It lives on my shed roof under a couple of ratchet straps.

We had a Thule (something) 200 about ten years ago, which was fine – had windy claws rather than T-track which was useful for get-to-cottage-and-put-in-cupboard manoeuvres. Had dual opening (which given it was one of the full width ones) was handy.

Latterly was mainly used for storing roof bars and bike racks so punted on. Storing them, especially the big ones, is a pain. For occasional use I think you can hire?

Make sure you have space to store the roofbox off the car: they take up a lot of space.

We now have a Thule Ranger foldable roof box.

Lives in the loft for 51 weeks a year.

We bought a narrow Thule roof box for holidays and camping.

It been great.

I bought a second hand Thule Alpine (some numbers) long, half, width one a few years ago. It attaches using some U-Bolt arrangement which is not the most user friendly system and I have to put some square bars on the car for it to work.

It opens from the drivers side, again slightly painful, but also good for one maybe two bike racks.

Me being me, I’ve worked out where I need to put the bars on the roof and get everything lined up with measurements and photos, so when I say it’s a pain it’s only 15mins to fit or remove.

Second hand is the way to go if you have time to track something down, and I’d go for Thule if you can, spares are available for years, and I’d prefer the claw type clamps.

We’ve got a Hapro Roady 350.  I like the fact it hinges from the front, which makes it at least feel good from a security in travel perspective, but that does make it a little hard to fill than a side hinge.

It’s not the most sturdy / robust plastic build when compared to some of the more expensive offerings but certainly is strong enough for occasional holiday use – which is our use and I’m more than happy with it.  However, I’d probably want something stronger if it were regular round year use.

It separates fairly easy so the two halves can slot into each other to make storage a bit easier.

Long and Narrow is the way to go – more Aero – can usually fit a bike/bikes by the side if needed, also..

Make sure you have space to store the roofbox off the car: they take up a lot of space.

Ours fits through the 60mm rafters and goes up in the garage loft – its one of these:

https://www.kamei.de/en/products/transport/roof-boxes/roof-box-husky

I found the long and narrow type was really useful for all those typical ‘camping’ items such as camping chair, beds, windbreaks, big brollies etc, then I stuff pillows and other lighter but bulky items in aswell.

Use aero bars too – genuinely, there is a ‘barely perceptible if you mute the radio’ increase in noise with the aero bar/aero box setup, which when compared to the old days of some square sections bars 8 inches up in the air and a big grey square box from Halfords whistling away and knocking 10mpg off, is a massive improvement.

I’ve got a similar one to @snotrag – I just wanted a small ish one that would leave room for a bike next to it so got a Kamei Husky 300. It opens so you access it from the left hand side – although I think there is a version that opens the other side of that would be preferable to you. They make bigger sizes should you need more capacity. I think as budget boxes go they’re pretty decent.

https://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-specific-accessories/kamei_husky_300_black_roof_box_left_side_opening_no_km321_0_81321_01_/Qx%40w%2C6M42VAwp3%40Rb%7B~cC4urewC%7DbU

The other option I was looking at was the Thule Ocean – there are varying sizes of this – the short fat box (Ocean 80) was often going for a relatively sensible price new. There’s a seller on Facebook classifieds based in Chippenham who seems to get cheap boxes for sale from time to time – either secondhand / seconds etc.

I’ve also got a Kamei, I think it’s the cheapest one that roofbox.com sell looking now probably a husky, but I don’t remember it being that expensive.

We use ours pretty much every time we go away they’re great things, I can also get a couple of bikes or a kayak along side mine.

We acquired a long, narrow one from the inlaws. I think it’s of early-90’s German heritage when he was serving out there. We only use it a handful of times a year for camping trips. It’s not the best designed, but it’s solid and never let us down. I do add a couple of tie straps around it just to be safe.
If we were to be using it more regularly then I might look at something a bit more modern. But then I look a the prices of new ones and very quickly decide the one we have is plenty good enough.

I have a Kamei Delphin 470 litre which is still a thin and (very) long one, allowing 2 Thule bike racks next to it. On my Octavia Estate I have to mount both the roof bars and the box as far forward as possible to let the boot open fully.

Unfortunately don’t have anywhere to store it so it lives on my car. Costs about 8mpg which is a bit of a bugger and not very green but then we only do 5000 miles a year and probably a third of those the roof box is occupied.

I’ve had a Halfords Exodus mounted on Thule aero bars for over 6 years or so now. It has been faultless, is light and easy to fit singlehanded and still has its glossy finish. No complaints at all.

Similar box to @snotrag, we’ve got a Kamei Husky XXL (officially 510L but loads more like a 600L, apparently). Very lucky find on FB Marketplace for sub-£100. For when a van still isn’t big enough (dual-cab 5 seater, and the bikes live inside rather than outside hence the roofbox being useful extra storage).

Splashed out on a Thule MultiLift hoist system to store it hung from garage roof. Cost more than the roofbox…

To add…

The Polar 200 was 3/4 wide and I could get either 1x bike or 1x kayak on with it (using uprights and the boat on its side) + paddles strapped to the bars too.

The ones that open on both sides are defo a bonus (mine only opens on the drivers side)

I’ve got an old Thule off free cycle and some square roof bars. It’s fine for the one trip a year we tend to need it for. The cost of better ones seem ridiculous for what they are.

Confused by the storage issues, surely they’re ok left outside?

Confused by the storage issues, surely they’re ok left outside?

Yes, but then they get covered in sludgy green gunk, crashed into by the lawnmower and generally add another step of faff (cleaning) beyond finding all the bits on their annual outing.

I DIY’d the storage with a couple of hooks and some yak straps I use to secure the contents of the box to the garage roof

We have ours inside but full of camping stuff. It’s too heavy to move when full but the net additional space needed to store it is approximately zero