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I know there's a lot of debate on the forums about which is the best rack for the E. In my case, I really needed the cargo space and I park in a garage at home and work so the Gobi made the most sense for me.
I thought I'd post my experience with Gobi in case anybody else is fence-sitting on getting this rack. It took me about 5 months to commit b/c it's so darn expensive ($1300 direct from GobiRacks.com)
I have a wife and 11 month old baby and we had a camping trip scheduled. The only way I could fit everyone, our gear, and bikes was to get some sort of rack. I figured the Gobi would be the most versatile as we do many different activities as a family.
I called Gobi 1.5 weeks before our trip. To my amazement a real-live-person answered the phone on the 2nd ring! She was extremely helpful and gave me advice to help me decide between the two models available for the element (I got the stealth) and informed me that it would arrive in 2 weeks. I let her know my situation and she worked it out so that I would receive the rack the day before our trip.
I was really worried that something would go wrong, but as promised, the rack arrived the morning before my trip. Note that it comes in a HUGE box, and you'll need to take it out of the box to transport in the E (see pic below).
It took about 3 hours to put together thanks to the horrible directions (seriously Gobi - you can do better than that) and to the fact that I ran out of daylight after work. Once you figure out how everything goes together, putting the rack on is really easy, but it would've been a lot easier if I had an allen-wrench with a rubber handle as some of the screws required some muscle.
This is a two-person job for sure, as getting the rack on the E requires you to lift it over your head and it isn't light. You'll also need two people to properly install the rear attachment points, which is nearly impossible to do by following the directions.
Once on, the rack looks great. I took it for a test drive on the freeway and got up to 80mph without any noise. You wouldn't even know its up there.
The next day we loaded up the rack and here's what I was able to easily fit on it:
2 Camping Chairs
1 Camping table
1 Folding patio chair
2 Large TYR tri bags
1 10x10 REI "habitot" tent
1 Pack-N-Play
1 Bob offroad stroller
To my surprise there was no noise even with the rack loaded up.
I need to find a better cargo net, but other than that loading and unloading the rack is easy even without the ladder (that I didn't opt for). You can easily open the doors and stand on the tailgate and tires to reach everything (i'm only 5'6" and had no problem).
Here's some pics of it loaded up:
I thought I'd post my experience with Gobi in case anybody else is fence-sitting on getting this rack. It took me about 5 months to commit b/c it's so darn expensive ($1300 direct from GobiRacks.com)
I have a wife and 11 month old baby and we had a camping trip scheduled. The only way I could fit everyone, our gear, and bikes was to get some sort of rack. I figured the Gobi would be the most versatile as we do many different activities as a family.
I called Gobi 1.5 weeks before our trip. To my amazement a real-live-person answered the phone on the 2nd ring! She was extremely helpful and gave me advice to help me decide between the two models available for the element (I got the stealth) and informed me that it would arrive in 2 weeks. I let her know my situation and she worked it out so that I would receive the rack the day before our trip.
I was really worried that something would go wrong, but as promised, the rack arrived the morning before my trip. Note that it comes in a HUGE box, and you'll need to take it out of the box to transport in the E (see pic below).
It took about 3 hours to put together thanks to the horrible directions (seriously Gobi - you can do better than that) and to the fact that I ran out of daylight after work. Once you figure out how everything goes together, putting the rack on is really easy, but it would've been a lot easier if I had an allen-wrench with a rubber handle as some of the screws required some muscle.
This is a two-person job for sure, as getting the rack on the E requires you to lift it over your head and it isn't light. You'll also need two people to properly install the rear attachment points, which is nearly impossible to do by following the directions.
Once on, the rack looks great. I took it for a test drive on the freeway and got up to 80mph without any noise. You wouldn't even know its up there.
The next day we loaded up the rack and here's what I was able to easily fit on it:
2 Camping Chairs
1 Camping table
1 Folding patio chair
2 Large TYR tri bags
1 10x10 REI "habitot" tent
1 Pack-N-Play
1 Bob offroad stroller
To my surprise there was no noise even with the rack loaded up.
I need to find a better cargo net, but other than that loading and unloading the rack is easy even without the ladder (that I didn't opt for). You can easily open the doors and stand on the tailgate and tires to reach everything (i'm only 5'6" and had no problem).
Here's some pics of it loaded up:
