Brake controllers....
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 10,060
Likes: 491
From: Bristol, TN.
Perhaps is it simply my own insensitivity, but once you get to the high end controllers, and having used several, I feel like it hair splitting to pick a favorite. Having said that, have you actually used one of the high end accelerometer controllers like the P3. I am assuming you have. I have no experience with Maxbrake. How do you feel it bests controllers like P3.
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
Posting Guru
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,411
Likes: 1
From: Opelika, AL
Perhaps is it simply my own insensitivity, but once you get to the high end controllers, and having used several, I feel like it hair splitting to pick a favorite. Having said that, have you actually used one of the high end accelerometer controllers like the P3. I am assuming you have. I have no experience with Maxbrake. How do you feel it bests controllers like P3.
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
i have never used the max brake either...im sure it has some what better performance but at over twice the cost and it being harder to install and swap from vehicle to vehicle i dont know if its worth it for me
wait and see what keith has to say.
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,405
Likes: 4
In the family we have 4 trucks total with electric brake controllers. Mom, dad and brother all went cheap. I can't stand towing with their trucks. I bought an Agility (?) controller with the accelerometer. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but FAR superior to the timer styles.
Long story short - don't go cheap on a controller.
Long story short - don't go cheap on a controller.
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 684
Likes: 1
I have an Impulse in mine. It was there when I got the truck and I know the p.o. was hauling heavy trailers (partialy bent 5th, Dings and dents all around bed, dent in bed from blown airbag).
Apperently they liked it, I don't know much about it except it works well with my 2 axle carhauler, it has digital settings from 1to 100 (turn it down when trailer unloaded, turn it up when loaded) responds as soon as I hit the brake, has manual overide, and malfuntion codes (brake light out, traler not con, short in trailer brake cuircuit)
It is very simple, basic and works very well.
Apperently they liked it, I don't know much about it except it works well with my 2 axle carhauler, it has digital settings from 1to 100 (turn it down when trailer unloaded, turn it up when loaded) responds as soon as I hit the brake, has manual overide, and malfuntion codes (brake light out, traler not con, short in trailer brake cuircuit)
It is very simple, basic and works very well.
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 5,374
Likes: 46
From: Palm Bay, Florida
I have absolutely no problems with my in-expensive Tekonsha Voyager controller, its kind of a cross between old school and new in the fact it DOES NOT tap into the truck's brake hydraulic system but works much the same, I've had a Voyager in my '78 F150, '94 F150, and bought a brand new one for my '99 F350-(I removed a useless Tekonsha Commander model from the F350)
Postmaster
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,544
Likes: 4
From: Suffolk, VA
Perhaps is it simply my own insensitivity, but once you get to the high end controllers, and having used several, I feel like it hair splitting to pick a favorite. Having said that, have you actually used one of the high end accelerometer controllers like the P3. I am assuming you have. I have no experience with Maxbrake. How do you feel it bests controllers like P3.
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
I do not have any dog in this fight. I don't sell or install controllers except in my own trucks. I am just curious. I have debated installing a Maxbrake, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
Thanks,
Steve
Hotshot
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 10,060
Likes: 491
From: Bristol, TN.
Yes, I've used the Prodigy and the Valley Odyssey. They do work great but they do have limitations too. I was never unsatisfied but the reason I went to the Maxbrake was because my controller shorted out internally and had to replace it. Once I got over the sticker shock I bought one to try out. Actually it is an extremely easy install, but it works so much differently than the pedulum style as it uses hydraulic pressure to activate the trailer brakes proportionally. In a nutshell it literally makes the trailer and truck seem as if they are one, no matter what the speed, grade, or weather conditions. To keep it short it is that much better than the others, if you don't mind paying for it. If you tow a lot it is worth it IMO, if you tow occassionally then probably not so much.
I have visited the Maxbrake website and it reminded me of the controllers I started out with years ago when everything was tied into the hydraulic line at the master cylinder. They worked great. Then anti-lock brakes came along and the manufacturers had to come up with something else. Then it was pendulums, then accelerometers, and I think Ford built-in , which sounds like it combines several features. One of my friends writes the controller software for several manufacturers.
Reading the comments, I am saying to myself, yep, I had that one and that one and that one, and I think I have three on hand besides the two G3s in my current trucks. I think they all work and as long as you like what you have, there's isn't much reason to change.
Steve
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Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 12,177
Likes: 40
From: Newport, WA
I have ran a variety of them- Tekonsha Voyager, Draw Tite Activator II, and Tekonsha P3 among a few others in various rigs I have owned. I have no complaints with any of them, they all did what they were supposed to. But I have to say the P3 is awesome, love the fine tuning ability and the display. The fact that I got it off CL for $50 NIB doesn't hurt either 
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