Rightline Gear Sport Jr Car Top Carrier: Perfect for Weekend Getaways and Road Trips

roberto: This brand prides itself on having awesome waterproof zippers but forgets that the seams are just as important. I used mine to fill up with clothes. After just a few hours the seams started to tear. I had to use tape to keep the thing together for the duration of the trip.
I can't recommend this brand knowing that this thing started to fall apart while I was driving.
I wanted to post photos but I accidentally deleted them after the trip.

Canada on Sep 27, 2023

Christina M.: Just went on a 7000 km trip with this bag attached to the bare roof of my 2017 Civic and have zero complaints. Went through an entire day of rain and then some and not a bit of a leak. I did purchase alternate hooks (RoofPax on Amazon) that go under the door seals as I wasn't comfortable with the included ones that go over top, and I also purchased the anti-slip pad for underneath the bag. A few things we learned along the journey: The pad should lie some inches back from the front of the bag so it doesn't catch in the wind and make noise; we also folded the excess pad underneath the back of the bag for the same reason. The bag should be loaded with heavier items in the front and packed as snugly and evenly distributed as possible, especially in the front. We placed the front of the bag a couple of inches back from where the windshield met the roof, this worked the best on my car but might be different on yours. Make sure the straps are pulled very tight. We used double sided velcro strips to secure the tails of the straps; the noise of the straps flapping in the wind will drive you bonkers otherwise. Having a bag on the roof of your vehicle will decrease the gas mileage, however...

Canada on Oct 13, 2022

LeamyLeamy: We have a Honda Civic 2014 sedan (no roof rack), and this top bag worked for us. It survived speeds up to 120km/hr. We got the Sport Jr waterproof version for our very snowy vacation this winter and there were no leaks! The zippers on it are difficult to move so the silicon lubricant it comes with is VERY useful.

We also got the recommended non-skid roof mat, but other than that we didn’t need any extra straps or clips. Note that if you get the mat, make sure your bag is strapped down tightly and has something heavy enough inside to press down on the mat so it doesn’t fly out. We made that mistake only once. But the bag itself never flew off at least!

The hooks it comes with doesn’t perfectly hook into the door frame edging but it stays put enough to prevent the bag from moving. Some sides hooked on better than others (see photos). It does pinch the car’s weather guard but we’re just happy it didn’t pull it right off.

I recommend tying off the strap ends and tucking them, otherwise they’ll flail in the wind and make noise.

Given the fair price and the fact that this top bag is meant to adapt to lots of different cars, I didn’t expect it...

Canada on Dec 28, 2021

sk: This rooftop carrier was ordered because our car, Camry, does not have roof racks, and we needed to haul quite a bit more than the trunk of the car holds. Our trip was 750 miles one way, 2 days long and through heavy rain one of the days. Nothing in the carrier was wet, or even damp. There was no sign of any leakage. We followed the instructions carefully to prevent leakage from happening. The carrier is larger than expected; more than ample for our need so we filled it with some lightweight things to help make it full as was recommended by the manufacturer. We purchased the rubber mat as well to protect the roof and aid in non slippage of the carrier. Our advice is based on one way trip only and in hopes we feel much differently on the return trip. I think we placed the mat and carrier too far forward on the roof. I wanted to be able to see at least a couple inches of the carrier through the sun roof window. Possibly a bad mistake as the wind lifted the 2 inches of the mat that exceeded the carrier’s front edge (zippered side was facing the rear as instructions indicated) and slapped it constantly against the roof and window. It was deafening, so we stopped after 10 miles and...

United States on Feb 19, 2021

SteveSteve: I took the Rightline Gear Sport Jr. on a month long, 8,600 mile (13,840 km) trip across Canada and the US and it performed admirably. It was a great fit on my Toyota Corolla 2006 WITHOUT a roof rack (the next size up would have probably fit too, but this was more room than we needed). There were some epic rainstorms along the way and I can say that this bag is completely waterproof. Not a single drop of water got into the bag (the car on the other hand, I will explain below). The material is pretty heavy duty; I drove at normal speeds and just about every day would drag it off the roof, fully packed, slamming onto the ground. I made sure to only load it with large bags and had the same layout every time to speed things up. The front of the bag gets pretty littered with bugs after a while, but the rains washed most of it off by the time my trip was over.

I didn't have a roof rack and was using the bag on the naked roof. I would wipe down the roof with a rag every time and I put down a non-slip mat. I didn't get the official non-slip mat which has terrible reviews. I went to a Dollarama and picked up a non-slip mat roll for less than $5 and it worked perfectly (I know because...

Canada on Jul 18, 2017

CieloCielo: Ok i should giving this a five star but decided not because of what happened to us on our way to camping. We have a toyota corolla 2011 me and my hubby been looking for extra storage for our car for our camping trip and buying this one is the easiet and cheapest way. We don't have to buy a car rack for the roof of our car and it has a good review. The bag itself works great 100% water proof we can prove that because this thanks giving long weekend we went to our camping trip and on our way to Bon echo provincial park the rain was so heavy i was so worried that our things on the top of our car will gonna get wet specially we fully pack it and can't even closed the velcro but when we reached our destination the things inside our bag was all so dry.
Now here's the catch the clip that included don't work with our car or maybe we don't put it right (hope you have video in youtube showing how to put it properly) anyways the "tie through the car" worked with us and the problem started there because of the rain, the strap get wet and the water get through the car too so all of us beside the door get wet. I hope the company can suggest something that we can do to prevent water going...

Canada on Oct 16, 2016

duskfall: This car top carrier was great! You do not need rails on top of the car to use this, but you do need extra straps and the non-skid roof pad.
I drove from Cincinnati, Ohio to Seattle, Washington with this on the roof of my mid-size car, and it did great. It got a lot of abuse along the way. I drove freeway the whole way, so high speeds, there were very intense winds, downpours in the rain and snow on the drive. It came off the top of the car every night to go inside the hotel, which was a bit of a pain but with it to prevent the potential of theft. The bag got a little dirty with all of the weather and bugs hitting it on the drive, but it doesn't have a rip to show for it. A little hosing off took care of the dirt and it looks nearly new.
When you get it, put the skid-proof pad on the top of your car. This is necessary. It protects your car and prevents the bag from sliding around. Trim the excess padding. It will drive you crazy within minutes of hitting the freeway if you don't. The pad flaps around in the wind and makes a very loud noise. Just trimming the extra off takes care of that.
The straps were not long enough for my car. I stopped at a store and bought extra...

United States on Jul 06, 2014

Lorin Smith: This car top carrier is worth its weight in gold. We moved from Washington state to Maryland in the middle of winter driving a Prius, so obviously we didn't have a lot of room. This product solved our problem. We followed the directions and stuffed it FULL, putting blankets and our bathrobes on top of what we packed in the bag and around the edges. The hardest part of packing the bag was zipping it and securing the velcro - it took a little bit of strength since the bag was so full. We also packed it before putting it on top of our car, and had a friend help us lift it up. We purchased the non-skid mat recommended for the bag. You have to cut it to match the size of the bag, but make sure you do this BEFORE you put the carrier on top of your car. We didn't cut it first and it was awkward trying to cut the mat after putting the car top carrier on it on top of the car. We put the straps together and decided to use the clips. The clips were easy to use. The weather stripping in the Prius just pops right off and we just pulled it away from the car frame where the clips needed to go and cinched the straps tight, securing the loose ends around the already tightened strap. From the other...

United States on Jan 27, 2014