Customer Reviews

Yakima SkyBox 16s Rooftop Cargo Box

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought the SkyBox to avoid using our SUV on road trips. In order to accomplish this feat my wife and I needed a place to pack luggage, baby gear and whatever else we needed on top of the vehicle.

The Yakima box is perfect for the task. We recently went on an extended road trip where I drove 1452 miles over 6 days and never had any issue(s) with the box.

The cargo box arrived in one piece (no assembly) and I was able to install it on my factory roof rack with a few adjustments of the rack. It helps to assistance lifting it onto the roof. I haven't noticed much difference while driving other than the car catching more crosswinds. Even with the added height, it's not bad at all. Noise has been minimal.

When I started our trip I was worried the box would spring open and let our belongings become road kill for others to avoid. Thankfully, that was never the case and after a few hundred miles I resumed my normal habit of driving a bit over the limit (ok, 80mph) with no worries of losing the contents.

After four or five trips, the box should pay for itself in fuel savings. Our first non-SUV trip saved us approximately $200 at the pump. As gas prices continue to rise, I continue to feel better about my purchase. Truth be known, if gas was cheap, I would have come up with some other logic to justify my spending.

As far as negatives go:
-I can not fully open the hatch without the wing hitting the box, even with the box adjusted fully forward, and,
-The Yakima net I purchased to hold the contents down to the floor of the box is way too small for luggage. I ended up not using it. Bummer. Maybe it will be helpful if I carry a shopping bag in there someday.

Overall, the box performed admirably on it's maiden voyage and I'm looking forward to using it for future trips.


7/25/2009 - Update.
The box has held up very well. We've used it regularly for weekend trips to the beach and driving across the state to visit her family.

My one complaint, and it's not a big deal... One of the Yakima logos came off one side. It was coming loose and I'm assuming someone who was walking by the car yanked it off. It doesn't affect functionality one bit, but I thought it looked nicer with the marketing material intact. I guess if it really bothers me, I can buy a new sticker.

Other than that, the box has been perfect.

5/25/2011 - Update.
We still are using the box on a regular basis and have not experienced any problems. This has been an awesome product.

The Yakima SkyBox 16s is well made, installs easily, and is a perfect size for stuff that doesn't easily fit inside the vehicle (like Skis), or for overflow. It is much more rigid than a comparable Thule product, which I originally intended to purchase. This is especially helpful when lifting the lid. You can do it with one hand; you can't do that with the Thule. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a midsize rooftop carrier. And, the price at Amazon was much lower than at the local store that sells these.

This storage box mounted easily to my factory original racks on my 92 SUV. It is a bit heavy for one person to lift and get on top, but a second person makes it extremely easy. The locks provide ideal security. The fact that the lid can be opened from either side allows it to be packed/unpacked from both sides. I used the box in transit from CA to ID (750 mi) and had no issue. Last weekend it was used for extra storage for winter camping/skiing/snowshoeing. Exceptional product

This is an awesome cargo box. I worried a little about putting my stuff and driving 70mph on a highway on top of my 2001 Toyota Prius, which may be smaller than the cargo box, but I had absolutely no problem. Yakima rocks. I couldn't find my keys for a while but Yakima taped them to the bottom of the cargo box, so look there first.

I bought the 16s Pro model and am quite happy with it. The one downside is the pretty large drop in gas mileage when using this thing on my VW passat sedan on the interstate...expect a drop of 4-5 miles/gallon, but this is to be expected given the change in drag over the car.

Upon reading the install instructions, I was discouraged by the listed weight limitations. Yakima recommends that once you combine the weight of the box itself and the rack capacity, one should not load more that ~45 pounds in the box. I'm sure I had closer to 50-60 pounds worth of gear in mine and it performed well.

My family of five uses the SkyBox on long trips. It allows us to easily carry much more than we could with the trunk alone. The nice thing is that we don't have to make trade-offs on who gets to bring what anymore. We have never had any troubles--noise, shaking, etc--on several 11 hour trips at high-speed. Highly recommended.

I chose the security of this hard shell carrier, rather than go the cheaper route of a soft carrier. Security against rain, and against theft (it clamps down from the inside, and the lid has a lock). I used the SkyBox on a trip to the Outer Banks, NC. I figured from the description and the picture I would save just a little bit of space, but I had it PACKED with stuff. Five beach chairs, a tent, groceries, two scooters, beach towels, a jumbo pack of diapers, and a queen size inflatable mattress (uninflated of course). I think there may have been even more, but you get the point. Definitely recommended!

Ordered at Amazon with free shipping (nice!) Received phone call prior to delivery date, rack delivered in perfect condition, on time, by polite guys. Used the Yakima rack on last week's camping trip. Putting it up top was easy, securing the rail grippers was easy too. Fit tons, kept it all dry. The open from either side feature is a huge plus. Overall extremely pleased with our roof carrier and the Yakima brand. Website's cool too!

We've taken this thing all over the country. It's awesome for long driving vacations and it rides incredibly quiet, holds tons of stuff and is easy to install and remove. Absolutely love it.

The Yakima 16S Skibox arrived on time and was easily installed. The Skibox fit our Forrester perfectly and held our families ski gear with room to spare -4 sets of ski's, boots, poles, helmets, snow boots and more. If you ski on 195's you will have to angle them in the 16s. Previous ski vacations left us stuffed inside, but this one had room to spare plus an extra seat.

Mounting was easy on our standard factory roof bars and the Skibox rode smooth all the way up to our limit of 80 mph. (note limit is 75 mph in Idaho). Our trip was 3 1/2 hours one way and upon our return the Skibox came off without a hitch, was easy to clean with a hose, and out of the way in less than 10 minutes.

The only concern I had was the tracking system for the shipment showed it to be stuck in Ohio and just as I was about to call on the condition, I received a call asking to deliver it the next day.