MaloneDownloader Folding J-Style Universal Car Rack Kayak Carrier with Bow and Stern Lines

I've had more than 10 years experience with kayak racks, and over the years have had 3 Thule styles of "J" rack, and 1 Yakima. The Malone racks beat them all, hands down. Seem to be heavier than the others, and more solidly built than the other folding styles I've used. The protective nylon sleeve on the bar padding is nice, and will presumably keep the padding intact; some of the other styles I've had just had "raw" foam pads, and would start to rip up in about a year.Attachment of these racks to the bar is really nice. It's a single HEAVY steel strap, contoured to hold round, square, or elongated factory bars. I have Yakima bars, and they attach with no problem. Other brands attachment systems have been junk plastic and have broken (Thule), or junk plastic and HAVEN'T broken (Yak). The last Thule rack I had did have a somewhat sturdier attachment than the old junk plastic ones that kept breaking. Anyway, the Malone attachments seem to be the sturdiest of the bunch, and easiest to install.Where the Malone REALLY shines is one the rack themselves; the little "ramp" with the hole in it. This is multi-purpose. First, when running kayak straps, you can feed the end of the strap through the hole, under the load bar, and back up through the hole before connecting to the buckle. This is surprisingly easy and quick to do, and really keeps everything solidly connected and neat. Second, the ramp helps slip your boat up into the cradle. I've caught my kayak on the ends of the other brands of rack enough to know this is a small, but nice, touch. And finally......This is so cool it deserves a paragraph of its own. Got a tandem kayak, or a heavy kayak, or getting a little older (me!), or you are just short? The Y & T guys make these load-assist racks, right? Monster contraptions with hydraulics in them, and cost about 450 bucks PER KAYAK, since they are mounted "permanently" to the load bars. The Malone "Telos" system makes all of that obsolete, including the cost. These are two detachable ramps, that instantly clip to those two cute little holes on the Malone racks where the straps go. Once attached, each ramp has a ratchet so that you can push up one end of the boat, then the other, until the boat is lifted from waist height up to the carrying rack. And you can lower the boat with them in just the opposite fashion. Toss 'em in the trunk when done. Best part is that you can use the ramps on both sides if you need to, or even with multiple cars, so instead of putting two of the Thule monsters on your car at a cost of 900 bucks, you can use a single Malone Telos system for about 215 (current price here). If you're in the market for a kayak loader, you NEED to go to the Malone website (maloneautoracks dot com) and see the Telos video. Warning, this video is a real tear jerker if you've already coughed up 900 beans for the Thule system!One last note - all of the Malone stuff is American made up in Maine. Nice when the best and cheapest stuff on the market is made in the USA.Ken - Author of " The Pellet Stove Almanack: Home Heating Joins the 21st Century "

I've been researching for a kayak rack for months and I'm so glad I chose the Malone Downloader folding j-style kayak rack for my 07' Element. The quality of the product is superb with heavy duty steel tubes, a folding mechanism that's well built, nice thick padding with their brand on it (I prefer to have no brands on the kayak rack to avoid anyone from snatching the rack), and a plastic base that looks like it can take alot of abuse. The straps that came with the package aren't bad either. Although it would've been nice if the bow/stern straps where ratchet like instead of tieing your own knots, but for the price. These straps and tie downs will do. With some practice, you can tie a knot strong enough to keep that kayak on. Folded down, the malone Downloader was barely noticable.Assembly- Assembling the rack on my Thule racks where a piece of cake. It came with two sets of bolts, one longer than the other just in case the rack was too thick. All together it only took me 10 mins to install the rack on my car.First impressions- After I installed the kayak rack, I noticed the rack's ramps to slide the kayak up the rack was a bit higher than I expected. I expected to have a difficult time placing the kayak onto the rack. I'm about 5'10 and my reach wasn't that high so I resulted to using a step stool to push the kayak up the ramp. It takes some practice, but I managed to put the kayak on the j-cradle without assistance, but I strongly suggest you have someone else guide you on to the ramps and together slide the kayak up the ramp in to the cradle to avoid any injuries. After strapping the kayak down, I set off to test the kayak rack's performanceDriving with the kayak- with this part, I had my GF follow me so she can see if the kayak was moving alot. I was going between 40-45 mph and she said the kayak didn't budge at all. She commented that by strapping the kayak down on all the recommended securely, she didn't see the kayak move at all. Especially when I was driving against the wind. I haven't tested it on the highways, but I'm confident that it will perform well.Conclusion- the Malone Downloader folding j-folding style performed well beyond my expectations and I highly recommend this for those who are looking for a fold down j-cradle without breaking the bank.

I bought these because I thought they were a nice mid range kayak carrier. I've been on the highway with these at 65, probably the max recommended. They do what they are supposed to do. I do recommend them if you are looking for fold down carriers and don't want to pay the price of the Thule version. The straps that came with it work well. I like that it came with bow and stern lines for when you are traveling at higher speeds. I have Thule Aeroblades crossbars and they hold well to them.The bad. There's a lot more plastic than I thought. But what bothers me the most are the teeth that interlock are plastic. I also dislike the teeth being small making it nearly impossible to set both carriers at the exact same angle. The plastic piece at the top to hold the strap up sometimes will pop off, but worse of all, there's a gap in it and 80% of the time the strap falls out rendering it completely useless to even have on. If I had to do it all over again, I would just get the regular kayak bars that don't fold down. There's is very little advantage other than being able to easily run your strap on the back bar, but once again, it slips out of the plastic and falls down and you're back to where you would be if you hadn't had it at all. The time folding and unfolding and care getting the angles right and making sure you don't break the teeth when setting it make the convenience null.

Amazing quality bit of kit! I used to have upright bars on my roof rack, which are cheaper but no way near as good and even once had on kayak roll out of position slightly but that won't happen with these. Haven't yet set them all up as still only February but the quality stands out, glad I never went for cheaper and inferior quality j bars. Also went and separately bought the Malone t track kit, which I don't think is available for other j bars......unless you go up the next price bracket to Thule brand but they cost a lot more. 100% recommend these! 👍

I have to admit 3rd time using this product I broke one of the locks. I was stressed as in a week I was going away kayaking and it was a 3 hour drive and I needed to get a new lock piece. I emailed the company in Maine I believe and they were shocked that it broke but they sent a bunch of new ones by courier free. I kept one in my glove-box just in case it happened again. A year later and thousands of highway km's with my 2 sit in kayaks they are working great. My neighbor has flip down Thule racks and he likes mine better as the shape of the front plate makes it easy to slide them up and holds them in place. Other than the padded sleeves fading in the sun they work like new. This is definitely a great product and a good company to deal with. I have mine mounted on a 2015 Toyota Highlander factory roof rack using the long bolts and they look great even when not in use.

I've tried a lot of kayak racks in the past. I owned Malone Jracks Pro2 sets for years and loved them. However i needed to take my roof rack off the car every time I wanted to put the car in the garage. These folding jracks are the solution. Bought 2 sets and I love them. Lots of padding everywhere to protect my fiberglass kayaks. I trust the brand and would buy again in a heartbeat. They tend to be less expensive then the bigger brands of racks out there too!

The Malone carrier I received is the older version with the quick release fold-down handle. The photograph shows the new version with the push button quick release. The model # MPG114MD stated on the website and same number is on my box!Misleading!

This is my second Malone J-rack and I love them! Easy to use and allows you to safely transport 1 kayak. Fits a variety of kayak styles (play boat, white water, touring and sea). The best feature with the Malone rack is that it folds down when you’re not using it so you don’t have to take it off before going into touchless carwashes and parking garages. With two J-racks I can now bring a second kayak with me on my adventures.