YAKIMA FarOut Pro Cargo Bag

After reading the reviews here, we purchased the Yakima Cargo Bag to use on our X3 for a cross country road trip of 4,400 miles. We already own a Yakima Rocket Box and have logged thousands of miles with it on our other car, but it is really too large to place on a smaller car like the X3 (we were carrying 3 dogs and needed some place to put our clothing). The bag installs easily and, like other reviewers, we recommend putting a couple of extra straps across the packed bag to keep it tight to the car so it is more aerodynamic. We did read the reviews discussing the fact that the bag can leak when it rains, so we knew it was not "waterproof" (I think, for a bag of this type, people should not expect that it be "waterproof"). However, my husband decided to test it out and go without putting the contents in plastic bags. On our second day, it did rain and the bottom of our bags got damp, but only after 6 hours of driving in heavy rain through Illinois and Ohio. So I think the bag did fairly well considering the speeds we were driving and the amount of rain we went through. After that, we bagged the luggage with trash bags and everything stayed snug and dry. We used masking tape to tie down any loose straps so they didn't flap (masking tape is relatively easy to remove at each stop). Our gas mileage did not seem to suffer more than a mile or two per gallon, which I thought was more favorable in comparison to our Rocket Box. At the end of the trip, the carrier looked like new so we were pleased with the quality. I think care in installing the bag makes all the difference; if it flops in the wind, something is going to fray no matter how good it is. The down side for the bag is that the contents have to come out each night and can't be left in the bag unless you want to risk them being stolen (unlike the hard sided car carriers which lock). That makes it a bit inconvenient if you don't want to have to do that. However, I think it is a fair trade off when it comes time to store your car carrier. Those of us with limited storage space really need something that can fold down into a smallish box, rather than having to find a large spot in the garage for a hard sided carrier when it is not in use. It can also be folded and put inside the car and taken along to be used to bring back those extra things you bought on your trip.

I have had this bag for 3 years and have used it only once a year on vacation, which is only 200 miles away. The top became completely shredded exposing my luggage inside on our trip home. I called Yakima and they said it is out of warranty and was only designed to be used temporarily.Yakima suggested that I buy their hard top box and it shoud last 10years.

I bought the Yakima Farout Pro Roof Bag because it allowed for mounting with or without a roof rack (what I found to be a unique feature for a roof bag). I ended up exchanging the first one I received for a replacement due to quality issues. Otherwise, it seemed to be tough enough and easily handled the journey to the beach and back which was about 1000 miles total... that is until it starting raining on the return trip home. I had read in various user reviews that rain water penetration might be an issue with most roof bags on the market so I wrapped everything I put inside it in plastic just in case. Good thing I did, because the accumulation of rain water inside the bag was way worse than I was expecting. I was surprised that much water could leak through the zipper, but it did. Made for quite a mess unpacking, so buyer beware.

This worked on our naked roof - though I would take other reviewers' advice and make sure you get some ratcheting belts, because my husband over-tightened the straps and broke the buckles. We encountered a rainstorm, and the bag leaked a bit inside-- and the straps conducted rainwater into the car, so our seats were damp.

We just used this for a 2000 mile camping vacation on a naked (no bar) roof of a smaller car. We were generally traveling at 75-80 MPH on the interstates with no issues. We did see a slight decrease in MPGs however, not enough to make us forego using the bag. Anytime you put something on a car that wasn't there originally, it is going to affect your MPGs. We took advice from people and sprayed the bag down with tent sealing spray just to make sure it wouldn't leak. You may still have issues with water seeping through the zippers in a rainstorm...I don't really think there is much you can do there. I would recommend using the large Ziploc Space Bags. Those not only help manage space, they also keep your sleeping bags, etc. dry. People have also complained about not being able to "lock" the bag. While that is true, you can use zip ties to make it harder for someone to get into your bag. Overall, it was a great purchase for us. We were able to put a lot of our items in the roof bag (3 sleeping bags, 1 queen double high air mattress, 1 twin air mattress, 2 lanterns, clothes, hydration backpacks, extra blankets, and more). We look forward to using it again in the future!

It is a nice bag; aerodynamic and well stitched with decent quality fabric, webbed straps and rubberized carry handles. Secret internal pocket holds additional thru-car web belts if and when needed (I need them). There is a snap in the Yakima bag that holds two of the zipper tabs together but for me seems impossible to click securely closed by hand, even with my gorilla hands; maybe this is just my bag. Meanwhile, make sure to follow loading and securing instructions carefully and find out your car's roof top weight capacity before load bearing of any kind, no matter which bag you finally end up with. The Yakima FarOut is nicely padded on the bottom and I feel this padding at bottom of bag is sufficient for my purposes. The bottom of bag on the exterior surface is textured with a type of non-skid feel but I would definitely add a non-skid car top protective mat, especially if your cartop is without rails or a factory installed carrier; My Taurus is bare topped, so I ordered a mat along with the bag. I chose the Rightline because it felt thicker but the Sherpa should work OK as well. There are four securing straps; two forward and two aft and each strap has a heavy duty buckle that has a bottle opener built into it. That's 4 bottle openers! Whoopee; have fun!

Water leaked in the very first time we used it during a normal rain storm, not a monsoon. Christmas and birthday gifts were ruined--Wife was not happy after I sold her on how great they were, and the number of good reviews it had. Would not buy again.

The bag itself seems to be well made, but the design of the straps and hooks to secure it to a car is very poor. The staps hold the bag to your car with open ended hooks. These slip in and out of the loops very easily. This could be easily fixed if the mfg. would use a cabinier type hook. Also, one of the nylon loops for securing the straps was not sewn on correctly and was falling off right out of the box. I returned this item. If I do eventually get a roof top cargo unit it will likely be the more expensive hardshell type. Maybe that is the motive behind the poor design features of the soft sided ones. Alas...