Real-Life Review: Yakima Skybox 12

Feb 27, 2007  ·  12:17 AM  ·  permalink

Playing with the Yakima goodies last week was like Christmas morning. Not only did they send me the SkyBox 12, they also sent me a selection of accessories—a silicon box liner, a cargo net, and and LED light.

The three together seem like they’ll be extremely handy, and were, for the most part, easy to install—with a couple notes:

• The box liner does not fit neatly straight out of the box—it’s going to need to be trimmed and fitted around the various obstructions within the SkyBox. This is mentioned in the liner’s documentation and will be handled readily by some sharp scissors. I’m not sure how it would fit the other size boxes. Also, it’s packaged rolled up, which means that one end takes time to relax. Why not package it folded?
• The cargo net attaches with carabiners which look like they’ll be failsafe. But I’ll be interested to see how it is to use them when it’s cold and I’m wearing gloves.
• I mounted the light in the “obvious” location—the first spot I saw on the inside of the lid with an inset and four holes corresponding to the light’s mounting holes. But the next night, when I turned the light on and got blasted in the face with soulless LED photons, I couldn’t help but wonder why Yakima would position the light to shine horizontally at the user instead of vertically, down where the cargo would be.
  
  It only took me a couple days of pondering to remember that the lid, being ambidextrous, has a second set of mounting positions—that would shine the light down, directly at the cargo.

I like that Yakima has built a simple product. and provided some basic pieces to start customizing. But the core technology is simple and flexible which means that it can be customized in ways that Yakima hasn’t considered. That’s hackability.

Last Friday we took the SkyBox out and put her through her paces. Next up: Skybox hits the road.

This is a Real Life Review—that means one of our bloggers is using this product over a lengthy period, for real, and reporting the results. If you’re interested, you should read our policies on accepting and reviewing products and services.