KAMEI Husky L roof box, black, right side opening...

This new box from KAMEI is now available in black and includes all the essential attributes of any KAMEI box - good looks, ease of use, top quality mouldings, excellent security, wide opening on gas struts, safety tests that are up with the best, but all the non-essential items are of a cheaper specification, giving a useful saving on what you'd normally expect to pay for KAMEI quality.

The Husky seems bigger than its stated 330 litres of capacity, thanks to its low profile reinforcing ribs and fittings, and a lid that's an optimum shape for load carrying. Certainly it's amazing how much you can stuff into it! Pictures 7 and 8 show 3 popular boxes - the Thule Atlantis 780 (480 litres), the Husky (330 litres), Kar Rite Odyssey 320 (320 litres), left to right. KAMEI tend to underestimate their volume, Kar Rite and Thule swing the other way, as these pictures suggest.

KAMEI makes a virtue of the 'Click' and 'Push button' locking system used in this box, enabling you to stuff it fuller than you might think is possible. You close one end and then the other, pulling down at each end until the black "Click" button holds the box shut, then you push the locks in and cover them with a weatherproof flap. Each lock drives a bolt from the lid into the base; this is fundamentally a stronger system than central locking systems can achieve.

Other specifications:

• Made from top quality 'DUROKAM', an ABS plastic developed by KAMEI to optimise weight, stability and impact resistance.
• Wind tunnel development as well as TÜV and GS (security) testing and approval (to the latest version of DIN 75 302 / ISO 11154).
• Stabilus gas struts for wide and easy opening and closing.
• Sliding box to bar fittings so there’s never a need to drill new holes if the distance between your roof bars is non standard.
• This box comes with M8 U bolt fittings to accommodate roof bars up to 80mm wide x 32mm deep. If you will be using aluminium aerobars then we recommend the use of 'T track' adapters (listed below) which give a neater fit than the U bolts.
• Also available in left hand opening format.
• 5 year guarantee.
• Weight 13kg empty, maximum load 50kg, gross loading limit 63kg.

Who are KAMEI? They're a German company, based in Wolfsburg near the VW factory, who make the best quality boxes on the market. Don't just take our word for it! They're Quality Assured to ISO 9001, represented in over 40 countries, and have won numerous Best Buy awards over the years, including the Auto Express 2008 and 2009 "Best Buy" awards for the Corvara DuoLift 390, with the 2007 Auto Express Best Buy award given to a KAMEI Delphin box which shares its core features with this Husky box. With their innovative and intelligent designs, top quality materials and engineering, and outstanding build quality, it's no surprise that they are Original Equipment box suppliers to several major manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and VW.

Do you need roof bars as well? If so, check out our amazing box and bars package deals which provide everything you need, including this box, a choice of locking roof bars, and a roof box storage device, all for a fixed price! Click here for more details.

This season we are offering a free roof box hoist to give you a superb deal. Boxes are bulky items so the ideal place to store them is above your car in the garage, or perhaps in a shed. Many people will leave the box attached to the bars, and also use the box for storage.

If you don't need a box hoist, our alternative gift is a set of 3 Fasty straps - 0.5m, 1.5m and 3.0m. Although of much less financial value they will be useful for 1,001 things, time and again. To order the 3 straps, tick the Alternative free gift box below. Please note that only one box hoist or one set of straps will be included per roof box ordered.

Technical Specifications at a glance:

External dimensions: 190 (l) x 75 (w) x 38 (h) cm

Internal dimensions: 178 (l) x 65 (w) 34 (h) cm

Volume: 330 litres

Weight: 13kg

Max load capacity: 50kg

Opens from: right hand side (left hand side opening version available)

Type of struts: hydraulic gas struts

Fits bars up to: 90(w) x 32(d) mm, aerobar adapters available (see below)

Distance between roof bar fittings: 62 – 87cm

Guarantee: 6 years

Colour: black (silver/grey version available)

A good question. It's not easy to convince customers that a 330 or 340 or 390 litre KAMEI box is in practical terms as large as a 480 litre Thule box, even if they have seen the boxes side by side, and the cartons (see pictures above). Now an influential German motoring web site has provided us with more evidence, which is that KAMEI's Corvara 390K was 3.8% smaller than advertised, but the Thule Dynamic 800, a stated 420 litres, came out at 274 litres, a 34.7% exaggeration!

The Atlantis 780 is said to be 480 litres, 23% larger than the Corvara 390...

See the "exaggeration" table above, the second last picture, as well as a Google translation.

Auto-Presse also report that the KAMEI Husky L and Delphin 470 boxes are larger than their stated volumes. None of this surprises us - KAMEI is a family business which takes pride in doing things properly. "Made in Germany".

Please click here or on the logo below to view the article in full, and click "Back" when you're done:

Very few customers know much about the roof box market before they visit our site. We have a lot of information about the things to think about before buying, and the “real world usefulness" of various roof box features, but you’ll be buying sight unseen, and you probably won’t have used a roof box before, so there is inevitably some luck in getting a box that you’ll be happy with.

We want to remove the risks of buying these large and often expensive items, perhaps from brands which almost every other roof box retailer doesn’t stock, and so we have a unique “90 day Exchange Scheme” for roof boxes.

This allows you to use a roof box and, with the benefit of experience, to exchange it for a new one within 90 days of invoice date. Most exchanges are from a shorter box to a longer one, or from a wider box to a narrower one.

These are the rules of the Exchange Scheme:

• You are allowed one exchange only.
• The original box must be in "as new" condition, subject only to fair wear and tear.
• The replacement box must be a different model.
• The replacement box must not be part of a package deal or be from our Bargains section.
• Roof bars are never part of the Exchange Scheme.

This is how the exchange scheme works:

• We charge in full for the replacement box, including the appropriate carriage charge and a charge for any packaging needed for the return of the original.
• We arrange the collection and pay the return carriage costs.
• When the original box arrives back here we refund you for the invoice value of the original box, but you won't get back more than the invoice value of the replacement box. In other words, if the replacement is cheaper than the original we won't be giving you "extra cash back".

Delivery charges and arrangements:

We charge a contribution towards delivery costs, depending on what you order, where you live, and how quickly you want the goods.

For most UK addresses, the charge for our two to three day service is £5.50 (£9.50 for orders including a roof box) and our charge for Next Working Day deliveries is £8.50 (£12.50 for orders involving a roof box). AutoSock, and small spare parts, are charged £3.95 (1st Class post) or £5.50 (express courier, usually Next Working Day).

There are different charges for any delivery including a sea crossing, and deliveries to Skye - we will contact you with a quote on receipt of order.

Orders for Next Working Day delivery need to be received by 4.00pm.

There are no deliveries on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays. Next Working Day orders placed on a Friday will be delivered on the Monday, Next Working Day orders placed on a Saturday will be delivered on the Tuesday.

We are very flexible with our deliveries and will aim to deliver on a day and at an address which suits you. Goods can usually be left without signature - we prefer this with roof boxes. There's a "Special Delivery Instructions" box in the checkout area where we'll ask you to choose a typical instruction and then amend it to suit your particular requirements.

No retailer or courier company can ever "guarantee" a Next Working Day delivery. All courier companies occasionally have the same transport problems as can happen to everyone else, including snow blocked roads, closed roads, traffic jams, mechanical breakdown, an inability to find the delivery address, or to gain access to it if, for example, it's in a block of flats. We work with some of the best couriers in the business, and overall they provide an outstanding service.