Cargo Bag, Water Resistant Cargo Bag Easy to Install Soft Rooftop Luggage Carriers Works with or Without Roof Rack (Free Waterproof Cover) (Old)

Let me start off by saying that I'm a very tough critic, I'm cheap but I also demand things to work as good (or better) than advertised. Knowing that I had a five day ski trip and that we had way more stuff than would fit in the car, I needed extra storage. The research began to find a rooftop cargo bag for an SUV without a roof rack, not an ideal situation to be in. Knowing that a bag failure mid-trip could potentially ruin our vacation, the pressure was on. After reading tons of reviews from other products (this one doesn't yet have as many reviews as I'd like) I went ahead and bought this one. I'm really glad I did.Quality - knowing that just about everything is made in China these days, I expected this to be paper thin fabric with ultra-flimsy buckle straps. I was wrong, the bag material is pretty thick canvas-type fabric with a rubber (waterproof?) backing. I liked that there were two front straps and two rear straps. I would have preferred that both straps not be sewn in together (single point of failure) but we did not have any issues.Speed - The straps held up even at 75mph, they may have held up if I went faster, but I dared push my luck beyond that. In order to prevent excessive flapping (and damaging itself) I did my best to fill the entire bag. Even in parts where the cargo bag wasn't full, the fabric was thick enough to not flap. One thing that I missed on the initial install is to slide the slider thing almost to the end of the strap. Failure to do so and the loose strap end will flap in the wind.Distance - We drove 6 hours (300+ miles) through freezing cold and snow on the way there. We drove 6 hours (plus 1 hour parked for lunch) through constant rain on the way home.Waterproof - We followed the directions and put the logo facing forward. Given the way that the seams cover the zipper I fully expected everything to be dry, even after seven hours of rain. It wasn't, most stuff in the back was wet. Not drenched, but water definitely got in. All of our stuff was in plastic bags, so it didn't bother me. I'm thinking that the water came in through some of either the zipper or the strap stitches. Also, I was extremely concerned about water seeping in through the straps, but no water got in the car at all.Conclusion - After over 12 hours of driving and over 600 miles I can finally say that I trust that this bag won't fail on me. At $45 I wasn't expecting much and would've been happy if it just lasted this one trip and got all our belongings home safely. I expected that this much driving would've taken it's toll on the bag and left it damaged. Much to my surprise, it looks just as good as when I bought it and I wouldn't hesitate to use it again or to loan it to a friend.If this was a $100 bag, I'd have given it 4/5 stars on account of the leaking. Given that this was only $45 and included the roof mat, it's worthy of 6 stars in my book.

The product looked overall high quality and sturdy with a nice full color instruction pamplet that was easy to understand and install but one of the latches broke while tieing it down upon installation. This doesn't bode well for the impending cross country trip the cargo bag was supposed to help facilitate, for needing to be gentle on installation with something that should be durable for thousands of miles is quite the oxymoron.

Very good cargo bag. Used it to drive to Virginia and back during this last Christmas holiday. About 12 hours each way. It didn't rain one drop on us during the trip so I can't speak for the water-proofing qualities of it but the zippers are very well covered with the water-proof material that the whole bag is made of and the large zipper seems pretty water tight too. There was plenty of room inside for all of our things. The straps that hold the bag to the luggage rack were very easy to install and have quick disconnect clasps that allow you to get to the contents easily if needed if you have to stop and get something out during a stop on your trip. The rubber mat it comes with isn't very thick but I didn't see any damage to the roof after I took it off. I suppose it's there to help keep the bag from moving around, but once you install the accompanying straps, it doesn't move at all. Unfortunately, as I was pulling into the garage at home at the conclusion of the trip, the bag got caught on that curved piece of metal with the holes in it that's attached to the garage door that has the pull cord hanging off of it and ripped a big hole across the top. So much for that. I had to throw it away once I unloaded it. The material is plenty thick and sturdy enough to handle anything poking out of the contents of the cargo inside. It just wasn't designed to have a 1/4" steel bar driven into it under garage door motor power.

I read the reviews about it not being waterproof but chalked some up to user error. Ours was installed correctly but was still not waterproof. However we used samsonite compression bags for our clothes which were water tight so no problem. This worked great otherwise and was just what we needed ti free up room in the car. Just keep in mind that if it rains your things are going to get wet. The mat is great to keep the roof from getting scratched. The straps do flap in the wind and hit the car. This is loud and can cause scratching. My husband used velcro to fix this.

Ok, so it's not waterproof, but for $50 it definitely did the job, and will work again, as I didn't see any signs for wear moving my son up to Seattle from So Cal, with rain 2 of the 3 days we drove. Most of the stuff inside was dry, but some clothes did get wet inside. Not WRINGING wet, but still wet. I'm guessing the moisture got in from the horizontal plane driving at freeway speeds and the rain came up from underneath the fabric covering the zipper. Nothing that hanging a few days wouldn't dry out. I'm guessing that most every other cover would behave the same way. Nice that it came with the pad to put on the roof and not to have to buy that. I will also say, that HOW you tie this to your luggage rack will make a big difference in how it wears. I've got an advantage and have a very good knowledge with knots from my rock climbing experience. In order to secure the front of the pack without it wanting to be flipped up by the wind, I highly recommend you look at a 'clove hitch' knot - which is self tightening on itself and allows you to tie off to the luggage rack AHEAD of the pack, and if you do it right, it will hold it there. Performance wise I'd really give this a 3.5, but because of the price point and included pad, I rounded up to a 4. Being a soft sided bag, it folds up nicely and will not take up much storage space at all till it's needed again.