November 2, 2022
Rack Attack Team
If you're an avid skier, you know how important it is to have a reliable ski rack for your car. Not only does a ski rack make it easier to transport your equipment, but it also helps keep your car organized and clutter-free. With so many different ski racks on the market, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one for your needs. To help you out, we've compiled a list of the top 3 ski racks for 2023: Thule SnowPack, Yakima FatCat, and Küat GRIP 6.
Design:
All of these models attempt to get their carriers as low profile as possible to achieve the best possible aerodynamics on the vehicle's roof. Each company has a different strategy, so starting with the snowpack; you can see you have two lengthwise rubber strips, these nest to one another, which gives you a three-and-a-half-inch profile for the Cradle of this carrier. On the other hand, the Küat GRIP uses individual blocks to fit into one another to provide independent pressure to the skis/boards you want to carry. The FatCat is similar to the SnowPack, where the two rubber strips on the bottom and top hold the skis/boards with even pressure across all the pads.
The Yakima FatCat is considered a ski lift which allows one end of this carrier to be lifted up higher to provide more clearance between bindings and your roof. This is a unique feature just for this rack. Kuat, on the other hand, has a slide-out mechanism that allows for loading and unloading the skis and snowboards slides this loading position out to the side of the vehicle, so now that is a feature that is
Security:
All three manufacturers include locks and keys to lock the carriers to the crossbars. The big difference between Thule, Yakima & Küat, is that Thule and Yakima have their extensive line of carriers and roof rack systems that use their Key Systems throughout that entire line. This means if you've invested in many other Thule or Yakima products, having that same key match capability is a major convenience and something that you want to think about before choosing a different brand. Küat, on the other hand, does not include roof rack systems in their line up so their ability to key match to other gear is much more limited compared to the Yakima and Thule.
Mounting:
All of these carriers use very similar mounting hardware that utilizes a stainless steel band with a rubber coating that wraps around a wide range of different roof rack crossbar shapes and sizes. Each carrier has a similar method of locking the hardware to the crossbars, so in that way, they're very similar.
