JEGSRooftop 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.

I wanted to add my experience for anybody interested as another reference. If I bought a Thule or Yakima with a high quality rack system, the cost would have been around $2K. I don't do alot of car traveling but I really needed something for this trip and was trying to keep costs low without ending up on a freeway with all my luggage flying off the top of my car. Details: Family of 5 in a 2005 Honda Pilot (incompetent Toyota dealership couldn't get my other car repaired on time after the fourth try) traveling about 1400 miles (700 each way). Thule was looking to be about $1K plus, a place called RackAttack was going to sell and install something for $800 ($650 parts, $150 install). Pilot has raised side rails, but I needed crossbars. Trip up was warm weather. Went 80-85mph most of the way. Snowed at destination, trip back was about half rain (lots of rain), and there was a fair amount of high cross winds. I had no issues at all and can recommend this product without reservation. I was worried about the head winds and didn't notice they sold a product with the hinge at the front. Wonder if that one holds up as well against side winds. Some comments: the front latch on my model seems a little flimsy and I would like it if it had a hole to add a pin/latch/etc to keep it from popping off (still completely worked, so just commenting). Also the side locks seemed like they could be of higher quality. I struggled a bit locking and unlocking them. I'm just quibbling here as this product clearly worked perfectly for me. I bought my crossbar at Harbor Freight (not known for quality tools, as I understand it) for $80. It's a Haul Master universal rooftop crossbar with a 150lb capacity, item 64877. It locked on to the roof rails rock solid with an allen wrench. The crossbars required a 27 1/2" distance between the pair so I had to drill additional holes in the botton off the Jeggs. The Jeggs manual talks about this even though their recommended distance is 24". I only drilled additional holes on the front of the Jeggs as that made more sense to me aerodynamically. The marks they have for the holes didn't line up perfectly with their mounting brackets so I had to enlarge the hole I made (which made me worry that they might shift, but that wasn't the case). You can do better than I did by using the mounting bracket as a reference for your drilling rather than using the indicated markers. I hand tightened the Jeggs using the provided knobs. I only kept soft luggage (duffle bags, etc., no suitcases) and clothes in the Jeggs so we didn't come close to the 110 lb mark. No reason to think hard shell cases would work, but I was trying to cut down on the weight. There was enough in there that things didn't slide around. This kept the luggage out of the car so we had more people room. Checked the rails and the sturdiness of the Jeggs at every stop. Never noticed any shifting or movement in cargo carrier or rails. Probably saved myself $1000 - $1500 with this setup. Hope this is helpful.

Recently purchased and installed this roof rack....I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars for the simple reason that there's an issue with the key locks. The key is somewhat difficult to insert into the locks ( there are 2 on each side ), and when locked....the key is very difficult to remove! After a few tries, I realized that I had to actually reach under and push up on the latching arm in order to remove the key for 3 of the 4 locks, since it was the latch arm that controls whether you can remove the key, and if the latch arm doesn't turn the full 90 degrees, you can't remove the key. If you just turn the key to latch the lock, the arm on 3 of my 4 locks was prevented from fully turning.....hence the problem! This is a design issue, and the manufacturer need to check this on each unit before shipment, IMHO. The other thing that needs improvement is the hold open bars on each side. These are rather "funky" and hard to operate by a single person. A better solution would be gas filled arms on each side that other roof systems use, although that could add to the cost. The box itself seems rugged enough to withstand highway speeds and inclement weather. The 2 issues mentioned above are my primary concerns.

If you’re wondering whether the JEGS Rooftop Cargo Box can handle a fully loaded cross-country road trip, oh yes it can. I packed nearly 200 pounds of gear into this, and it hauled it across 2,500 miles of highways, mountain climbs, national parks, and whatever else the American road threw at it.If you’re looking for a budget friendly and tough rooftop cargo box, JEGS nailed it. This thing earned its gas mileage penalty and then some.