I just came back from a 1200 miles trip with the “ECHO MOBILE TRAILER BRAKE CONTROLLER“ by Curt (
https://www.curtmfg.com/part/51180). Brief pre-story: last week I had to change the planned tow vehicle for a weekly trip with my TT, only to find one day before leaving that although it has a full “tow package” it didn’t have any brake controller. My usual dealer could not help me install a new one with only a few hours notice, so I looked around and the only option was the Echo controller that didn’t need any install. It was quite a bit more expensive than a “normal” one but I had no choice so I bit the bullet...
Well, to go strainght to the end, the Echo worked absolutely well and I had zero problems the whole week. I must add that the trip included several up-and-downs from see level to 8000 ft, so the test field has been very extensive.
The “installation” doesn’t actually exists, you just download an app to your phone, connect it via Bluetooth to the unit, make the basic adjustments, and you’re good to go. After that, the phone is only necessary for the “emergency trailer-only breaks” button, once adjusted to your preferences you can as well drive without the phone because the unit will work without any problem using the saved settings. The adjustments are btw quite effective, I was able to dial in pretty well the way I liked.
When left with the Echo app open, the phone does not go into sleep so you have available at any moment the big button and any fine tuning necessary. If a call comes however, or if you switch to, say, the navigation app, then it will go in the background and not come back unless you go look for it. I will for sure install the app on one of my old-er spare phones, so that I can use it exclusively.
All in all I had a very positive experience. The pros are several, most importantly that it’s completely movable between TV and trailers. It has worked flawlessly, so I can only say I’m satisfied.