Hey guys, I've been looking around and I've gotten everything except for the ski/board rack. I have a Yakima system, and so far I've narrowed it down to the Big Powderhound and then I also found the Buttondown Aero? Why is the Aero so much cheaper than the Big Powder hound when they hold the same amount of boards/skis.... I was looking around the Buttondowns are a 2009 model? o_O

CONFUSED!!

 

Based on some quick google searches, the only big difference I can see is that the big powderhound has the big latch button whereas the buttondown has a smaller one. Its pretty easy to open the latch on the buttondown (based on my experience with my older buttondown type yakima rack) even with gloves on so not sure if the price difference is worth it if thats the only major difference.

Do you plan to use the rack for boards or skis? I don't have any personal experience with either rack specifically, but as I said above, I do currently have an older version similar to the buttondown aero from yakima. I use my rack to hold 2-4 snowboards at a time (varying sizes from 150-162) and we usually have issues trying to close the rack with all 4 boards. We end up having to fiddle with which 2 boards we put on the top and on the bottom, the orientation of the boards, as well as the bindings. It is usually a matter of an inch or two in trying to close the rack. Its a PITA but we make it work. For this reason, I'm going to upgrade to the fatcat 6. Both racks you listed are about 32" long with about 22.5" of usable pad space (according to rei). The fatcat 6 has 29.5" of usable pad space.

Dont know if you've shopped around but looks like amazon has both of the racks for $80/$120. Hope this helps.

 

Among having upgraded items like the rubber grip surface, the powder hound comes with universal mighty mounts. This means that this will be usable will most factory installed crossbars (like the blade shaped ones) I don't think the buttondown comes with mounting hardware so you have to buy that separately.

The only real major design difference in the rooftop ski systems these days is the thule one that slides on rails to the side of the car. I find this system to be completely useless. Most of the other differences are going to be aesthetic or minor handy features (see fat cat)

 

alright thanks guys, i saw those things too. i think im going to get the big powderhounds

as for locks, would i need 4 for each of my control towers?

 

I got my yakima towers and bars at the beginning of a season. By the end of the season I had found the Fat Cats on sale, super cheap, so I bought them. Then took it back to Rack & Road, they matched the lock to the "new" Fat Cat I had gotten to the locks I already had for my towers. So I only have to worry about 1 key. Hope that helps with your locking question.

 

So I DO need to get a set of 4 locks for the control towers to the car correct? then another two for the snow rack itself

 

yes, 1 for each hole. I have the exact same setup.

 

Thanks guys! I think i got it all sorted out