So I've read the review on this site and I'm interested in one of these. Has anyone got one that can give me a real world review? Are they any good? I can't help thinking if they were that good I'd see loads of them on campsites every where but I haven't seen one.
I bought the handirack second hand, bought a roof bag off ebay and only used it once. One of the tubes had a slow puncture but still worked ok, main reason for abandoning it is I have a people carrier and am only 5ft 4 so loading stuff on the roof really wasn't a good idea. Once loaded it transported without problem, I was a little sceptical of it flapping about but was still there after approx 80 miles so had the height issue not been there I probably would have continued using it, instead I had a towbar fitted and bought a trailer
I avoided the handirack due to the reviews mentioning punctures, strap noise, problems with rain getting in and the fact that with DH being very tall, I couldn't see how we would place the strap to avoid his head when driving!
However, we needed something for the roof as we only have a small hatchback but I didn't want to invest in expensive roof bars and a box just in case we didn't take to camping.
I therefore picked up a second hand xrack. I did all the fitting and just needed help from dh getting the biggest suitcase I could find on the roof to strap it down.
We had no problems with noise or rain and it saved my bacon on the way home. As you can imagine, the kids picked up loads of tat after a week away and I couldn't pack it all back in the car so on the return journey we had the suitcase plus a pop up tent strapped to the roof!
I am now looking at a roof bag to use instead of the case, just worried about keeping stuff dry.
They had the xrack priced under £30 on eBay and amazon so its worth a look.
We used handiholdall for two years on roof bars. It's great but we've out grown it. We fitted loads in it. Only thing we had was the straps that fitted it to the the bars would often with wind bang on the roof the loose ends. You don't see any on sites as everyone takes them off once you arrived and unloaded as they can be folded up in corner of the tent.
The only issue we have is we broke a zip but still functions fine. The new ones are large this year about 320 litres now up for approx 260 litres for the one we had.
Just bought the rack and holdall, but not used it yet. Had a good look at it and it seems strong and big enough. We went for this years model as it's waterproof and bigger. We are going away next Sunday, so will report back when we've given it a good test!
Ali
hi, we have these, have used them for a couple of years and they are still going strong. I can't actually reach them but OH can and he fills them depending on the weather, things that are waterproof if it's raining/due to rain or other stuff if the sun's shining. I would recommend them as a cheaper alternative to roof bars/box or a tow bar/trailer