Advice on brake controller for toad

[KEliasz]

This is my first motorhome and my first towed. Just got a tow bar and now looking for brake controler for Buick Enclave. I definitely want a portable unit but can't decide between Blue Ox patriot, the patriot II or the roadmaster even brake. Does anyone have any advice, experience or pros and cons of each?

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[gmacklem]

I can't compare the 3 as I have only had the Patriot. I am in my 4th season with it and it is doing well. I charge it overnight each night before I use it so that it will not drain the car battery to badly. If I am towing for a long period, I will start the car and let it run for 20 or 30 minutes while I eat lunch at a rest stop. You can set the gain and sensitivity based on the weight of your TOAD. My Jeep Wrangler is heavy, so I leave it at factory settings, when I towed my Honda CR-V, I set them back a notch because it was braking too hard.

[GL1800Rider]

I use the Brake Buddy Vantage Select and am satisfied with its performance. You can select proportional or full braking and adjust the sensitivity from the remote display.

They run just shy of $1,000 new but if you look around the classifieds or Craigs list you can buy them used for a about $300. If it doesn't work, Hopkins will rebuild it for a maximum of $399 and includes a 3 year warranty. Essentially you can have a "new" rebuilt unit for about $700-$800 worst case scenario

[2manytoyz]

Older thread, I know.

I bought a used Roadmaster Falcon 2 tow bar from eBay. It was only a year old, but covered in dirt. I spent an hour cleaning it up, now looks great and works perfectly. Paid less than 1/2 price compared to a new one.

I then found a Roadmaster Even Brake 9400 on eBay for $450. These are $1200 new on Amazon, $1400 elsewhere. I did have to order a breakaway switch setup as it wasn't included, and a new brake pedal clamp. About $100 worth of gear. Got it hooked up and tested. Works perfectly.

There's always some risk involved buying used gear, and even dealing with eBay. But eBay now has a 30 refund policy and they use PayPal for their transactions. I've had to use this service before, and it was quick and easy to get a refund. As for the used gear, I'm an aerospace tech, and have no problem tearing things apart to verify everything is in good working order.

Installing the Even Brake system was quite easy on our Jeep. Took maybe 40 minutes as I wanted to hardware the system, and removed a dash access panel to hide all the wiring when complete. If I had to do that again, probably only take 10 minutes next time now that I've figured out the optimal setup.

So it pays to shop around. Lots of people buy these systems new, and don't use them a lot. See lots of used motorhomes with low miles. Bargains can be had if you're willing to shop.