Rightline Gear Ace 2 Weatherproof Rooftop Cargo Carrier for Top of Vehicle, Attaches With or Without Roof Rack, 15 Cubic Feet, Black

I searched for several different products and read many reviews before making the purchase. Overall, I was very pleased with it.I just finished a two week road trip across the United States starting in Tennessee and ended up in California. I drove a Toyota 4Runner. The PackRight Sport 1 Car Top Carrier was the perfect size for my truck. I could not imagine using it for a smaller car...I don't think it would have been efficient for anything but an SUV...but I see that others have used it for smaller cars. My truck has the rack above my car, so securing the car top carrier was not a problem. The straps provided were great at keeping it in tact. I also did not have to worry about lose ends flapping in the wind because I actually tied the excess straps down with some string.The PackRight carrier DID tear at one spot...near the front of the car...BUT, it was my fault. (I posted some personal photographs--you can see where the compression straps caused a hole to form.) The instructions clearly stated that it was not a good idea to line anything with corners or edges in the carrier. (I personally didn't know how to get around this as I was packing boxes.) In my carrier, I was able to fit three filing boxes (banker boxes) across the width without a problem, and even more smaller boxes to fill it up. The top of the bag does indeed expand but I don't recommend overpacking. The velcro strips that kept the flaps secure...for the most part...worked fine. I initially had expanded the carrier but did not want to risk water getting into it, so I took out some stuff.Two weeks on the road along the southern route of the US, it actually only rained a couple of times. When I was driving through Austin, I was on the interstate and the rain was pouring heavily for almost an hour straight. I was worried as I was driving through the storm, but figured if things got wet...well it would get wet. (Because I had smaller boxes loaded up top in it, I actually wrapped all of my boxes in garbage bags as a precaution. I would later realize at my final destination I didn't need to do that...but better safe than sorry.) When I was out of the rain storm, I checked all of my stuff the next morning and everything was fine, despite the small hole I created.The only reason the hole was created was because of the compression straps putting too much pressure on one of the corners of the boxes. All I did to fix it was opened up the carrier and used duct tape to tape an X over it, and I did the same from the outside. That was on the 3 day of my two week trip. From TN to CA over a period of two weeks, I had no problem with the car top carrier. The only reason I had to get access to it was because I wanted to repack some things...but other than that, it worked great. I had no problems with the extra straps flying around, no wind causing it to create unnecessary or unwanted sounds...all while driving at an average of 75-80mph across the US.I needed a car top carrier that was inexpensive, efficient, and effective. The PackRight Sport 1 Car Top met my needs and was great for my two week road trip across the US in my Toyota 4Runner. I bought the liner/mat that was suggested for it. I read some reviews that some people thought that you could get by without one...and you probably could, but it was only an extra 20 bucks and I went ahead and bought it and definitely thought it was the right choice. By the time I got to SF and unloaded, I could see clearly from the debris where I had used the liner. It definitely kept the car top carrier in its place...but besides that, it kept my car from getting beat up. The paint on the car is still very nice and I did not want to risk getting it scratched...so, the liner was an investment that was well worth its value.Owning an SUV, I will more than likely use the carrier again. It came with a carrier bag that makes it easy for me to store. I threw all of the straps and folded the carrier into it and I just left it in the back of my 4Runner. I was really pleased with the product and am glad to say that I had no problems with it. I would recommend this product to others. Cheers!

This has now been on two trips, each about 800 miles round trip. We LOVE it! It is absolutely shocking how much it holds! I'm able to easily fit a large 27-gallon bin, two standard Samsonite carryon suitcases, a couple of smaller weekender-type bags, and several throw blankets, beach towels, and pillows.We bought this for road trips (primarily camping and to Southern California from Phoenix area). We have two kids still in car seats and a medium-sized dog. The primary reason we wanted something like this is that we drive two different SUVs fairly equally. This makes way more sense than a pricey investment into a fixed roof rack setup for just one vehicle. Although we CAN fit everything in, we would prefer to have a little more space inside.One of our vehicles has roof rails, one doesn't. Installation is an absolute breeze both ways and the storage bag stays nicely secured. Whenever we travel with it, we're traveling on AZ and CA highways anywhere from 65-85 mph, so we do experience some minor sliding back, but we just make some adjustments at routine stops.I noticed some people said they were concerned with the lack of security on this. Our thoughts are that we won't be leaving this unattended, and in reality, anyone could jimmy a locking box open also. Another drawback people noted was jot being able to easily access things on the fly. That's true, but if you use this strictly for transporting, it's a non-issue. Have your important belongings in the vehicle, including a change of clothes and toiletry bag for longer trips.A couple of things to mention:- It should be obvious, but the instructions don't mention this at all - you need to tie off the strap ends once the roof rack is totally set in place. At high speeds, I imagine they could loosen from the buckles easily and quickly. We tie a double knot in the 3nds as close to the buckle as possible, then tuck the tails under to minimize wind noise. The straps should be TIGHT, so this should not be an easy task.- As some others mentioned, don't bother with this unless you're going to pack it pretty full. It seems like it would be pretty inefficient if it wasn't! The black and yellow 27-gallon bins from Costco and Home Depot fit PERFECTLY sideways and fill the bag really nicely.- We did notice in the extreme AZ summer heat that the bag got kind of weird and soft, almost like the early stages of literally melting. It almost molded itself to the vehicle roof and was near impossible to slide even a centimeter. I would not recommend leaving this on your vehicle in extreme weather for any longer than you need it.- I'd recommend laying it on the ground and packing it before you actually ibstall it on your vehicle. Knowing how things will fit and being able to arrange before that step is a huge help - it won't be easy once it's on your car!Finally, it cleans up well after trips and stores amazingly compact. We don't know how we went so long with this carrier and have already recommended it to friends!