Magnetic ski carriers are often described as being "ideal for short trips", the point being that if you need to carry skis quite frequently, e.g. you go every week to the local dry ski slope, or perhaps you'll be driving to the resort and hiring skis there, they are an ideal solution because

• they are very quick and easy to fit - a minute's work, which is a lot faster than the time taken to fit roof bars
• importantly, they are also very quickly removed. Because roof bar mounted ski carriers are relatively slow to fit we have learned that people tend to leave them in place when they're not needed, causing unnecessary wind noise and fuel consumption
• magnetics are the cheap alternative when compared to the combined cost of roof bars and ski carriers

They are of course also suitable for long distance work!

TACO was a new product in 2005. It will carry 3 pairs of carving skis (max 110mm wide), 2 snowboards, or 1 snowboard and 1 pair of skis - making it probably the most flexible magnetic ski carrier available anywhere.

Other features of all the Fapa magnetics we stock:

• the skis are locked to the carrier with a conventional key lock
• the carrier is in effect "locked" to the roof, because when the skis are in place, locked to the carrier, the trap door covering the release mechanism cannot be lifted
• safety cables are supplied (to CE 79/488) just in case you make a fitting mistake, e.g. by placing the carrier so that part of it is in contact with a glass sun roof
• Fapa magnetics have double high-magnetized plastoferrite base plates, with a protective film to avoid any damage to the paintwork - assuming of course that the roof is clean before the carrier is fitted
• 5 year warranty

Unfortunately Fapa magnetic ski carriers will not work on vehicles with glass sunroofs. If you have a steel sunroof it is possible to use the ski carrier if you can mount it either entirely on the sun roof or entirely on the remaining part of the roof. You'll appreciate that you MUST NOT even try to use your sunroof while the ski carrier is in use.

Fapa magnetics have a "No fit" list, so please check before moving the ski carrier from car to car. Cars which are a "No fit" usually have either a large glass sunroof, are aluminium, or are very rounded, i.e. the magnetics won't lie sufficiently flush to the roof.