Pack-Right Car Back Cargo Carrier Saddlebag Review

4 out of 5 stars.

Link to site.

Pack-Right Saddlebag

Why not 5 stars: can not hold too much weight because too much stress on the webbing straps might unlock and come apart.  The locking buckles are plastic clip types and not too strong. Not a good thing when traveling over 50 mph on freeway.   My solution was to reinforce with tough dog leashes.  The product definitely needs a frame or some kind of support as suggested in Tips and Tricks on the website.

I got this in addition to this: Link to Post for extra space.

I did not have a hitch so ended up securing the bag to the spare tire underneath the Honda Pilot.  Please note: you can not open the back door once this is secured to the vehicle (unless you come up with a creative way to do this).

If anyone request I wil post the “how to” make the PVC frame for this.  At least the dimensions will be useful.

No water got in to the saddlebag where we encountered thunderstorms and heavy downpours.

Recommend this if you need to carry light weight stuff (you always do on  trips).  For heavy luggage go with the Sports line from the same site.

Pack-Right Sport 3 Rooftop Carrier

5 out of 5 stars!

This cargo carrier is awesome!

Pack-Right Sport 3

1) Very light.

2) Easy to set up (just rehearse a practice run on the setup before your trip)

3) Waterproof (was put to the test several times)

4)  Great for trucks without crossbar

5) Cheap (considering alternatives)

Highly recommend this product.

My Honda Pilot was to be packed with 6 people for a seven day  trip from MD to SC.  Problem:  where to put all that luggage?

After some research I came upon this site, where I found the Sport 3 Rooftop Carrier.  It was love at first-site.  It jumped to the top of my list and eventually was what I purchased.

Reasons:

I did not have to buy crossbars which saved me a big chunk of change and installation aggravations.  Waterproof was a big issues as most of the soft cargo carries stop short of promising a waterproof product.  Almost all are water-resistant (there is a difference!).  Those two reasons were enough for me but the darn thing was cheap as well.  Sounded too good to be true, thus I was hesitant to cough up the money.

It arrived in a plastic bag about 12X12  size.  I was a bit skeptical expecting something a bit more classy ( I guess that’s how they save money).  Upon opening the plastic bag the cargo carrier unfold to a huge bag (bigger than I expected, which is good as I can stuff more items in it).  Without even looking at the instructions I could already imagine how to hook it up to the existing rails of the Pilot.

I did see a PVC plastic tubing frame at the website for some of their products and decided this would be a good idea to give the carrier some stability in both packing it and on travel.  If anyone requests it I will post a “how to” make the frame for the carrier.

After a practice run to make sure everything fits perfect on the roof of the pilot, I packed for the trip on a Thursday.  We were to leave on Friday night; the point: it rained the whole of Thursday night. Woke up Friday morning to find everything was dry as could be inside the Carrier.  I was very happy.

On the trip we hit speeds over 80 mph and encountered severe thunderstorms and had no issues with the carrier.

One more plus to this product is that it is designed to sit on the roof of your vehicle.  Thus, it is not as high as something that sits on the crossbar.  This later proved to be significant as we barley fit into the underground garage of our hotel.

This got mad props from my fathering-law but no props to me for picking it.