Brake Buddy or Blue Ox Patriot Brake System

[Rwake901]

Well I've bought the base plate, tow bar and wiring, now I need a brake system for towing our toad. Should I get the Brake Buddy or Blue Ox Patriot or are they both about the same? Thanks

[willald]

PastorCharlie wrote:
Price often reflects quality in most everything we purchase.

..Or in some cases, higher pricing goes to pay for huge overheard, marketing, advertising, etc. In that case, spending more $$ doesn't necessarily mean you get a better product or better quality. You're paying in that case for having the most popular, well known product, not necessarily the better one. 🙂

NSA's Readybrake vs the more well known and marketed brands for braking systems (Blue Ox Patriot, Brakebuddy, SMI, US Gear, etc.) is a good example of that, IMO.

Will

[Snomas]

I have had SMI and now use RVi Brake. Easy to use and is very compact and non invasive!

[RayChez]

I have a Brake Buddy which I bought because at the time I had a gasoline coach, but now that I have a diesel pusher I wish I had a M&G brake system. About six hundred for the adaptor that goes right behind the master cylinder and a air line that connects to the coach. When you press on the air brakes on the coach, it sets the brakes also on the toad.

[Daveinet]

PastorCharlie wrote:
Price often reflects quality in most everything we purchase.

Smarter ideas usually result in less overhead costs. Just because something was designed by Rube Goldberg, does not make it a better product.

[PastorCharlie]

Rwake901 wrote:
Thanks for everyones advice. Although I have checked into the ReadyBrake, I think I am going to purchase ether a Brake Buddy or Blue Ox braking system. They may be a little more money but this is the best choice for me. Thanks again 🙂

You will not go wrong with the Brake Buddy, mine is still working good after 10 years and tens of thousands of miles usage coast to coast in 40 plus states.

Price often reflects quality in most everything we purchase.

[deandec]

Daveinet wrote:

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

Is this what you had in mind?

I suppose if you forget to tie it up behind the grill, it could be a problem.

:B I had not thought of using the natural resources to obscure that cable loop. Looks like you had some fun!

[SRT]

gemsworld wrote:
Ten year Brake Buddy user. No permanent set-up in your toad, and easy to connect and disconnect.

Good luck with your choice!

Over ten years using the Brake Buddy. Have used it in two different toads ('95 Jeep Cherokee; '98 Subaru Outback). Easy in and out.

[Rwake901]

Thanks for everyones advice. Although I have checked into the ReadyBrake, I think I am going to purchase ether a Brake Buddy or Blue Ox braking system. They may be a little more money but this is the best choice for me. Thanks again 🙂

[Daveinet]

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

Is this what you had in mind?

I suppose if you forget to tie it up behind the grill, it could be a problem.

[super_camper]

aihchris107 wrote:
I have been using the Brake Buddy for three years now towing a Jeep Wrangler. Unit has been dependable and easy to set up, Chris S

Have been using my brake buddy for 6 years in two different vehicles, it's easy to set up

[Daveinet]

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.

[JerryofWV]

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.

[Alfred622]

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

[willald]

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