The other thing I'd caution against is the bumper that rest on the rear window. Your Odyssey will automatically turn on the rear wiper if your front wipers are on and you shift into reverse, which could potentially damage the wiper and motor....
You are a
wise man.
I concur with the other posts. Hitch-type, all the way. I have seen this type of over-the-hatch-and-roof rack on a minivan, but not an Odyssey, and at freeway speed it did not look as secure as other available options, not to mention
DWF_Ottawa's astute observation regarding rear wiper function.
This is my Thule 964 Revolver, in the transit position, and in the swingaway position:
The offering from Yakima (called a "SwingDaddy", I believe), appears a better choice for our Odysseys, as it sits higher. My Thule did scrape a couple times with a full load of four bikes due to rear end squat. Monroe Sensa-Trac Load Adjusting shocks with their coil-over helper springs cured that problem.
I sold the Thule due to the difficulty in getting four bikes on board. I could do it, but it was hard avoiding a tangle of pedals & spokes. I found a used Yakima Holdup in great shape for a really good price. This is not my setup, but you get the picture:
Here it is on a Sienna, folded up. Looks the same on either of our Odysseys. Believe it or not, it is not a huge impediment to rearward vision:
One consideration for all of this very easy bike access is that it is not easy at all to gain access to the rear of the van with bikes in place. The Yakima Holdup rack can tilt down, but you need a helper to remove the ball-detented safety pin (it's beefy for a reason) and then move the release lever. You still have to remove one or two bikes to make opening the hatch a reality.
Another point: with this much rack cantilevered out back, and four heavier bikes (mountain bikes and a hybrid), the whole shebang overcame even the Monroe Sensa-Trac Load Assist shocks when I had my family of six on board (and two more bikes on the roof using a set of Thule Big Mouth roof-mounted bike carriers). I had to install AirLift 1000 bags to bring up the rear end again. Here's that same Sienna. It's squatting a little more in back than either of our Odys did, and the Toyota hitch is perilously low to begin with, so he is a candidate for Monroe's or AirLift 1000's. Essentially, this load levered out like that duplicates a pretty hefty trailer tongue weight.
.
If it was just me and my wife, we would still be using that wonderful Thule Revolver (or, since we sold it, try the Yakima version, which has a design perfect for our low-slung hitches). For now, the Yakima Holdup fits the bill.
Again, hitch mounted for secure mounting and available options is the way to go.
OF