Yakima versus Thule?

Hello experienced team members.

I am starting to gear up, including looking for a roof mounted rack.  I plan to scrounge craigslist, but knowing what is better to look for may help in timing on what to jump on and what to wait for.

I own a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and my best guess is that I will need a pair of bars/rods that can mount/attach into the current rook rail system, with one of those roller thingies for the rear, and pads for the front.

Is there much of a difference in quality and/or options?

If you were going to do it all over again, on a CL budget, what would you do?

JonM

I'm notoriously a value chaser (not necessarily a cheap guy, but I want to stretch my $$).
I am plenty happy with my Yakima system.  If your car has existing side rails, all you really need is a set of 4 yakima doublecross/railgrabs/lowriders/whatever else they are called and long enough bars to stretch the span.

I have purchased two sets in my life, both were ~$100 on craigslist. 

For the rollers/pads, you should be looking for yakima hully rollers + mako saddle combo.  They can be found for a relatively affordable price as well.  I don't personally use hully rollers, I just flip the kayak upside down on my bars and it works out just fine for me.

I use Yakima stuff, but I get a pro deal on it. I've been happy with it.

I bough the Yakima  system about 15 years ago ( for a ski / snowboard ) and just keep on changing the mounting options with each different vehicle that i get. when I started kayaking i just got the rollers and mako saddles and it has been good, get the rollers for the back, it makes life easier.

I use Yakima with no issues.

I don't personally use hully rollers, I just flip the kayak upside down on my bars and it works out just fine for me.

+1.  When just starting out, I thought I needed rollers and saddles.  Turns out all I really needed were bars long enough that I could put my yaks side by side upside down on the top of my SUV.  I've traveled tens of thousands of miles this way and couldn't be happier.

square bars vs round bars is the difference...there was a thread on this a few months ago if you can find it

If you use rollers just don't strap the kayak tight on them and leave the kayak in the sun. The rollers sometimes will dent the boat a little. Upside down works good too, just a little harder to load up on higher vehicle.

Also, if you just get 4 Mako's the kayak will slide on those fine. A little less chance of denting the boat too.

Thanks for all the input. While I see a pattern here (everyone seems happy with Yakima at least), it looks like either will suffice.

I did find the other conversation about round versus square, and was happy to see that the rollers/mako feet combo will work on either.

I'll start with a pair of rods, since I don't trust my factory racks.  Previously, I used to toss my OK Malibu 2 XL (old three seater) on top of my previous SUV, but I don't think I'm quite up to that as much, so I'll continue to look for rollers as well.  Maybe I'll go with 4 mako's, depending on which deal I can find first.   Good news so far as denting is, I'm not likely to leave my kayak on family SUV for much longer than it takes to get yelled at by the wife, which isn't long.   

Thanks for all the input, very helpful.

JonM

I use Yakima rollers and saddles with Thule bars. The rollers tend to rotate on the round Yakima bar but not the square Thule bar. The cost difference wasn't that much.

I'm a yakima guy from way back but Thule has the upper hand when using j-hooks or rollers as the round mars allow these accessories to rotate.  I have both yak and thule and dont give it much thought which goes where, as long as the right accessories are on it I'm happy.