Brake Buddy or Blue Ox Patriot Brake System

Just one other observation. From my past readings on RVnet, I have seen several reports of random failures on toad brakes, however one of the most common complaints have been about running the toad batteries dead. Not necessarily a wide spread problem, but is a common denominator to about half the toad brake system complaints. Some systems rely on a charge wire from the motorhome, which can solve it, but then that is one more link in the multi-link chain that can fail.

Another vote for ReadyBrake. I have had mine over 6 years and have transferred it to 4 vehicles. It still works great. It's not a big deal to install and once it's installed hook up is simple.

Even if you pay to have it installed you will spend less than with the other systems.

I'll just observe two things:

1) I've been a very satisfied ReadyBrake user for 6+ years and have driven through mountains, straight interstates, and curvy New England roads with zero problems from ReadyBrake, and
2) When I made my purchase decision, I searched these forums for all of the systems I was considering to learn about owner's experiences. Every single option had multiple stories like "the system locked up and I tore all the rubber off my toads rear wheels which cost me a mint to have fixed".... except, I did not find one gripe about ReadyBrake. Rather, people lauded it because it was so simple yet worked so well.

Also, you can hide the cable that comes out of the nose more easily than hiding the tow bar attachment connectors on your baseplate, the brackets for attaching your Protect-a-Tow rock shield, or the breakaway connector. I like the blue Ox baseplate because I can remove the towing connector

Bob & Ann wrote:
We use the Brake Buddy Vantage and it has worked well for us. We did not want a system that is installed in the car because there is a cost to do that. When you trade cars there is also a cost to remove it and reinstall in your new vehicle.

Yes, I considered that too when we were comparing the various systems.

Readybrake does have to be installed, and there is a cost to that. Fortunately with Readybrake, its a very simple, non-intrusive installation - simply a cable routed from brake pedal, through firewall and out to your front bumper. Thats it. Many folks do it themselves, or any good mechanic can do it pretty easily.

Keep in mind, also, that you're going to have to do a similar install on ANY system, including your Brake buddy, if you have a break-away of any kind. For almost any breakaway system, you're still going to have to run a wire from the brake buddy (or whatever) out to the front bumper.

Keep in mind when it comes to cost as well, that a Brake buddy or other 'box' type system costs $1000 or more. Readybrake cost almost ZERO when you get the Readbrute Elite package (tow bar and brake system for almost same price as just towbar from anyone else).

Given that savings of $1000 or more up front... You can pay a mechanic to install Readybrake in a lot of vehicles over the years, and STILL be significatly ahead $$ wise from what it would cost for a system like the Brakebuddy. If you're doing the installs yourself (which in many cases is possible), the savings is even more significant.

I have found Brake Buddy great to work with even when it is out of warranty. Mine is almost three years and we developed a problem. I called and they had me send it to them. They returned it totally gone trough and tested with no charge for parts, labor or anything including shipping. They had it back to me in exactly 7 days from the day that I sent it to them.

Yeah, I've read of folks getting good service like that on Brake Buddy. Thats great they do that, other companies should learn from that.

However, I'd still prefer having a unit I can repair myself in 5 minutes with parts I find at any hardware store. That sure beats having to ship old one out, and wait 7 days for manufacturer to send a new one. :)

Will

We use the Brake Buddy Vantage and it has worked well for us. We did not want a system that is installed in the car because there is a cost to do that. When you trade cars there is also a cost to remove it and reinstall in your new vehicle. I have found Brake Buddy great to work with even when it is out of warranty. Mine is almost three years and we developed a problem. I called and they had me send it to them. They returned it totally gone trough and tested with no charge for parts, labor or anything including shipping. They had it back to me in exactly 7 days from the day that I sent it to them. If you are interested I have found PPL to have a good price. $1089 on the Vantage and $855 on the regular unit.Good luck with whatever you choose.

wa8yxm wrote:
Both of the systems you cite are "Box in the driver's seat" systems, These must be installed (By you) EVERY TIME you tow, the odds of a mistake go up with each install.. The odds also go up with time on an "Oh, I'm only going a short distance, I'll just forget it this one time" and later wishing you'd not forgotten it.

I much prefer an INSTALLED system.. These systems include in no particular order.
M&G (for motor homes with air brakes IF it will fit your towed)
Air Force One
Invisible Brake
US-Gear Decelarator
Ready Brake
Long list of others.

I have other issues with the box in the driver's seat too.. If you use one consider adding a towed-charge system to your consist. This helps to prevent towed battery run down.. Now I know folks who say they have towed 2 or 3 thousand miles without unhooking using one of these systems and no dead battery on towed... I believe them.. I also believe the ones who say they have towed 2 or 3 HUNDRED miles and the towed was dead. And I know why, (older battery). but, hey.. Why risk it.

Hookup with the US-Gear Decelerator is like 2 seconds. Same for the M&G and Ready Brake, not sure on Air Force one but guessing it's the same, Invisible brake is zero seconds.. YES, zero.. Believe it or not. (It is not called Invisible for nothing) all you do is plug in your tow lights.

Think about this.

wa8yxm makes some excellent points. I too am not a fan of any of the 'box in the drivers seat' type systems, for the reasons he alluded to here.

And, one other reason: Systems like that, and really ANY electronically controlled system, come with one huge risk: Electronics can fail, and cause it to over-break your toad. This can (and has) resulted in very expensive damage to toad vehicle brakes. Because of the 'nature of the beast' of towing such a small vehicle with such a large one, major damage could be done to the toad brakes before you'd ever know there was a problem.

With the ReadyBrake system, once its initially set up and installed correctly, it is darn near IMPOSSIBLE for toad over-braking to ever happen.

That, and one great thing about a simple, cable-operated system: You can visually inspect it for wear, and replace most parts easily for less than $20 from a local hardware store. Can't really check electronic components for wear, they just quit without warning. Not going to replace their parts quite as easily, either.

Will

OP, either of the units will do well. I've had my BB for 6 yrs and no issues. There are those who believe that their religion (here braking systems) is the only viable system to use. This same philosophy extends to baseplates/towbar type/diode kits or magnetlights, etc. Your unit my not be right either depending if its manufactured by Thor/Winnebago/Tiffin etc., compared to their's. Your choice to use a portable braking system has its pluses and minuses. I like mine. My towbar is a rigid type, I like this too. Use what you want. It will stop the TOAD when setup properly. I don't drive over 62MPH so my auxilary braking system is used for panic situations, but I don't tow a 5500 lb TOAD either. Choose either system and go RVing. See you down the road! JM2¢..

Both of the systems you cite are "Box in the driver's seat" systems, These must be installed (By you) EVERY TIME you tow, the odds of a mistake go up with each install.. The odds also go up with time on an "Oh, I'm only going a short distance, I'll just forget it this one time" and later wishing you'd not forgotten it.

I much prefer an INSTALLED system.. These systems include in no particular order.
M&G (for motor homes with air brakes IF it will fit your towed)
Air Force One
Invisible Brake
US-Gear Decelarator
Ready Brake
Long list of others.

I have other issues with the box in the driver's seat too.. If you use one consider adding a towed-charge system to your consist. This helps to prevent towed battery run down.. Now I know folks who say they have towed 2 or 3 thousand miles without unhooking using one of these systems and no dead battery on towed... I believe them.. I also believe the ones who say they have towed 2 or 3 HUNDRED miles and the towed was dead. And I know why, (older battery). but, hey.. Why risk it.

Hookup with the US-Gear Decelerator is like 2 seconds. Same for the M&G and Ready Brake, not sure on Air Force one but guessing it's the same, Invisible brake is zero seconds.. YES, zero.. Believe it or not. (It is not called Invisible for nothing) all you do is plug in your tow lights.

Think about this.

ThorResidencyNewbee wrote:
Does anyone know of any good deals on the ReadyBrute elite tow bar?

HitchSource.com is where I've bought most of my towing related hardware, and they've always been great to deal with.

That price they have for the ReadyBrute elite, $1050, won't last long. You better act quick if thats what you want. NSA recently increased their pricing, pretty soon everyone like hitchsource selling their products will as well..

Although, even with NSA's increased price, the Readybrute elite combination is STILL much, much less $$ (nearly $1k less) than any other tow bar and braking system you can get.

Will

deandec wrote:
Brake Buddy is simple, portable, and expensive. From 12 years experience, I would look hard at the Ready Brake.

Ready Brake looks even simpler, inexpensive and just as portable.

But, I would not want a brake activation cable loop permanently sticking out on the front end of my daily drivers.

I do have a brake buddy activation connection hanging, but it is visually covered by my license plate.

Well, like your brake buddy activation connection, the Readybrake activation cable loop can be covered. There are a few ways to do that.

When anyone asks me what the cable loop is, though, I just tell them thats what I use to hitch the car behind the MH. Then, just watch the strange looks on their face. ;)

Will