GearTotes for Yakima EXO GearLocker - Qty 2

Video Transcript for Yakima EXO GearLocker GearTotes Review

Hi everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer. And today we are looking at our gear totes that work with the Yakima gear locker for the Yakima EXO System here at etrailer. Now the awesome thing about the Yakima EXO System is that it is designed to build up and out with all kinds of different attachments. So you can get a cargo carrier or a bike rack, a ski and snowboard carrier, really whatever you want and just put them together to create the system you want for your adventures. These come in a set of two and they fit perfectly with your gear locker. Just put them right there and it fit so lengthwise into your cargo carrier.

You'll want to pick up these gear totes, if you already have, or are planning on getting the gear locker, and you want something that gives you a little bit extra organization, as well as it makes it easier to carry around your gear. The tote is a strong box in itself but you can also fold this flat, to do so there's a zipper on the inside. So just unzip that right there. And then it folds diagonally into a flat and easy to store item. With our gear tote here, let's take a look at what we can fill it up with.

So you have a hook and loop divider on the inside. It's folded up against your gear tote. So you can use that to organize your totes and to figure out where you want to put things. Now let's start filling it up. I just put in there, all the things that I would need for a quick day trip, and you can see how there's a lot of space left over to add other items.

So I highly recommend keeping this inside your gear locker with maybe your first aid kits, your repair kits, your water, really those essential supplies you need to bring with you. This has a weight capacity of 50 pounds per tote. Note that your gear locker has a hundred pound weight capacity when you're on the road. So make sure to keep within that capacity all in all. Now let's take a look at the dimension for the tote itself.

On the inside, we have a length of 70 1/2 as well as a width of 13 inches. This divider can be moved from the middle point to this off centered point where it will sit around 4 1/2 inches from the end. The walls are made of a sturdy material. So you don't have to worry about them bending or cracking as you carry items. This is covered in a nylon fabric with a polyurethane holding which helps prevent scratches. And it's slightly water resistant. The handles are sewn into the tote so you don't have to worry about accidentally ripping them off. Even if you're carrying something heavy. I did have a conversation with some of my co-workers. If you have some questions, hopefully this will answer that. So we've been able to play around with all of the Yakima EXO System down here all week even throwing things on the swing base of half shelves and then mixing them around, moving them up, taking them off. It's a lot of different products. So I understand if you guys have any questions about how the system works, this is your time. So these products will only work on the swing base, correctYeah, they will the swing base is the core to this entire system and nothing else will work if you do not have that swing base. And what products do you have on there right nowSo right now I have this swing base. And on top of the swing base is our gear warrior which is like a roof basket for your hitch. And then we have the top shelf installed. With the gear warrior you can actually throw on these little wheels and we can actually make it into something that's portable. A cartYesYepNow, could you carry two of the gear warrior. Could you carry one we're it is now and then put another one up on topYes,Yepabsolutely you can. Oh, you can get for the cargo carrier, you can carry two of them each. knee cargo carrier And the gear locker is the enclosed cargo carrier, that looks like a box. So you can have both of those on there at the same time. So both of those or two of the gear warrior, or two of the locker that you, you can like mix and match those which is really nice. And then do you have the bike rackYes I can actually grab that bike back real quick. So the thing about the bike rack is if you're gonna be loading two things at the same time, the bike rack has to be by itself. On top. So like for the bike rack, if you do have a bike obviously it's gonna be pretty tall. But so if you have the gear warrior or the gear locker on the bottom, the bike rack goes on top. You couldn't put two bike racks on thereNoNoYou can't. There's not very much room. For that no. Yep, so that's how quick easy it is to toss something on top. And now you can carry two bikes, as well as all of your equipment on the bottom. How about locksThere's a lot of places to put lock cores on the system. I think the most I counted was nine all at once. I think it was with the bike rack and the like the gear locker at the bottom. It was the gear locker, yeah. Yeah, because the swing base comes with three locks. So one for each of the knobs, and then there's a hitch pin. The top shelf comes with three locks. Again for the knobs and the hitch pins to hold the top shelf. And then each of the items have their own spots for lock cores. Like the bike racks have to lock core spots, on one on each arm to lock each bike. So you can have at least nine lock cores on your system at once. And these don't come with the lock cores pre-installed you have to add them separatelyYes, so they come with a plastic end and that's what you add the lock core to. RightI mean, that way you could make sure that you have all of those same key numbers you can have them all keyed alike. Yeah, so here on our small bank we still kept the plastic lock core on there. Just so you can see what it looks like. So it'll still function the exact same way. It just won't be able to be locked until you add a lock core. Cool. Now the swing base comes with three locks 'cause that's an important part. I believe it comes with the locks. Yep they did, whenever we we're putting it togetherYeah, 'cause that's what you need to use the knob. So lock cores are definitely a big one. It's almost like if you're getting one of the kit systems you'd almost wanna just have those bought alreadyI think the best thing to do is once you get the swing base also get like eight locks in anticipation of your future accessories. Yeah, 'cause we we're talking about it with some of our other co-workers and it would be a pain if you got like almost everything that the EXO System can give you and then you have like seven or eight keys that you have to go through and figure out which ones are which, it wouldn't be fun. Yeah it would be better if you get them all at once and then just have one key that works for all of them. YeahYepThen just add them as you go. So the hitch lock comes with the swing base and the knobs on the swing base could come with locks but everything else is separate. Everything else is separate. Some of them come with like little lock cores with them but they're not keyed to like with the rest. RightSoSo it's better to buy a pack, like you said, of eight and then just make sure they're all the same. Yeah, 'cause right now like this top shelf is gonna have a different key from the bottom swing base. And then the actual like bike locks are gonna have different keys. So that's already three keys that you have to, you know, keep track of. And that's only, you know, a full setup. SlightlyThis is one of the kits, correctYes, so and if you switch it out with the snow bank or you switched to this one with another gear locker who also has different locks. So in anticipation of how many accessories you have try to think about lock cores as well. Good idea. Is the weight capacity, the same for the upper tier as it is the lower tier. No, and that's why you're gonna have to be super sure of. Well, not true, but check before you move things up. Like here we have the gear warrior and it has the highest possible weight capacity which is 250 pounds. If it's installed alone on the swing base. But once you install the top shelf, anything on the bottom has a slightly less weight capacity. And if you put this gear warrior on this top shelf it will have a weight capacity of 80 pounds. So it's a big difference depending on where you mount it. That is a big difference. Yeah, that is a big difference. But that's mostly to do with the hitch itself rather than the actual components weight capacities. Yes, all 'cause it's further away from the hitch. RightLike with any defender we have the weight capacity. So also the top shelf can be pushed out if you're worried about clearance for your back. So I believe that would also be why they have a lower base weight capacity. Yeah, the further away you get from the receiver hitch, The more pressure there is on torque. YeahIt's more physics. YeahThere's more physics involved. YeahNow much like a lot of bike racks will fold up, so you can pull into a garage or whatnot. Is there any kind of fold-up option for this or do you have to remove it from your hitch if you're in a tight spotYes, you'd have to, well, yeah. So youYou have to remove it. It swings away, which is it's, you know a compromise for not being able to tilt away or fold up. But yesThe closest thing you could get to like folding it is taking almost everything off. Like you can take off your equipment and you can take off the top. And then the two bottom arms fold in that's about the closest thing that you would get to it but it's not like you can fold it any other way. And you still got a good amount sticking out but at least those two Yakima arms are going to slide in against the base. Did we get a measurement on that when you just where how far out from the hitch pin hole, it sticks when those arms are folded in I can almost guarantee you, someone's going to ask. We had on that. We did some tests fits on it and we did those. So I measured from that hitch pin hole and it was like about 19 or 20 inches. I'm not sure, it's definitely in the demo videos for that. I also did some tests fits on the route for an army truck and I can see the difference for that. But mainly that length added was also with the arms extended because if you are gonna back out of the garage with the equipment I usually make sure for this load where they sit a little bit further out. So the total, total, total claim that is at about 34 inches. Okay, so at minimum with just with nothing on it. And the arms folded in it is about 20 but maximum was about 30 something inches. YesCoolCan you remove the bike rack and put on the ski rack real quick. I can One thing though about the top shelf is that it does add a little bit to where it feels slightly heavier but yeah. First you want to lock it like that where it's open then lift your bike rack off. And I'll find somewhere to put this and then the snow rack comes in two parts. So here's one, I just slide into those tracks then we'll tighten those keys down on that and then lock that tab into place that secures it. And here's the second one. The tabs only turn when it's fully tightened down that let's, you know, it's fully tightened down. And that's it, ready to load. Any other questionsI'm good. I'm good. Well okay, glad we could answer some of your questions on the EXO System. It's a definitely an interesting one. We've messed around with it. For what like last three days, four days. Four days Yes, it's definitely something for people who've already build up their roof rack or can't get a roof rack. So they're looking into this because this is a roof basket but on my hitch or a roof box on my hitch. Plus a ski and snowboard carrier. So I do see people that are thinking of whether they get a trailer or this as an option, as a comparison. YepAnd I would definitely say that if somebody is wanting to buy this they're gonna wanna be able to get as many of the pieces as possible. This doesn't seem like something you would wanna be like, oh I'm just getting this for a skis or for a bike. Like this is something like, Oh I need room for my skis, my bikes and then maybe I'm gonna go just camping. And I need two cargo carriers for the week or something like that. Sure, that makes sense. That was gonna be, that was my one question is after our conversation this morning, that is this is a bike rack. Like if you we're just gonna get the bike rack, is it really that comparable to other swing away bike racks Or is this kind of more trouble than it's worth You know what I meanIt's good, but like, it's like, you know having a piece of like a massive puzzle, it's like you just don't want that specific piece if you can't fill out the rest of it. Yeah, I think the beauty of it is how fast it is to mix and match. Like I can not, I have not been able to install a bike rack as fast as I was to do this. Like any other hitch mounted bike rack. So that base is what makes the speed. And I don't, it's the beauty of it is that mix and match modular ability. So at it's price point, let's say just the bike rack on the swing base I do not think it is as effective as a bike rack created just for your hitch. If that makes sense. YeahYeah, totally. That's what I was wondering. So I just, after you guys would be able to think about it a little bit more or, you know, reflect it how it compares to other swing away bike racks. So, I think if anybody we're to stumble upon it in that bike rack category, that's good to know that it's like, yeah, you can buy those dressed as a bike rack, but there are better options if that's all you want. And this is really more forAbsolutely, absolutelyYeahabout the system. There's a lot of components. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Let me know if you have any other questions otherwiseYeahSureAwesomeByeByeMy final thoughts about the totes is that while I can very easily just store my gear as is inside my gear locker, it is nice to have them organized. And I can definitely see this as an option for people who wanna put different items in different containers. This could be your camping tote. That could be your sleep item tote, et cetera, et cetera. It's really up to you to how you use this. But as a tote in itself, I think it really works well because it's sturdy but also very easy to move around and fold up. And that was a look here at our gear totes for the gear locker on Yakima EXO System, here at etrailer..