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I have been reading about brake controllers hear and also on RV.Net forums since February 2005. I certainly am no expert, but I can easily summarize what I have read.

There are three brake controllers that are at the top of the list. The order of the three varies depending on who you like to listen to, but the top three are:

1. Brakesmart
2. Jordan
3. Prodigy

By far the easiest to install is the Prodigy. There is another brand that appears to be a repackaged Prodigy, which would be equavalent, but its name escapes me. I have the Odyssey from Valley Industires, which is esssentially the same as the Prodigy with a couple of minor improvements in the design.

The Prodigy and Odyssey are inertial electronic brake controllers. They measure the rate of decelleration and apply the trailer brakes accordingly.

Other electronic brake controllers are usually a time delay device. The longer you have the brake on the more braking you get in the trailer. There are two limitations for this design:

1. if you approach a stop very slowly with the brakes on gently then the controller will gradually increase braking in the trailer, until you reach maximum braking in the trailer, even though the tow vehicle brakes are on softly.

2. In a panic stop the trailer brakes will start out slowly and that is not what you want in a panic stop situation.

The cost difference between timer based versus inertia based is not very much. You can get a Prodigy or Odyssey for about $100. I would not buy anything less.

I believe that the brakesmart requires that you cut into the brake line of the TV. It measures the brake fluid pressure to determine how much trailer brake to apply. This sounds like a good design to me, but it made me nervous cutting into my rake line. It seems to be a popular controller with very heave trailers such as 5ers and toy haulers.

I believe that the Jordan uses a cable attached to the brake pedal. This also seems like a good design to me, but I have no guess as to what type of trailer is typically towed by the people that like this controller.

Do some research. I'm sure that others will jump in here as well.

The general rule seems to be that if you don't know what else to do then buy a Prodigy.

fwiw. I bought the Odyssey because it has two features that the Prodigy does not have:

1. it has a broader range of angles that it can be mounted in. Mine is close to vertical and my have exceeded the limit of the Prodigy design.

2. According to the Prodigy manual, if you engage the breakaway switch on the trailer while plugged into the TV then you will damage the controller. The Odyssey has additional circuitry to protect the controller when this happens.

I can report that the Odyssey protection circuitry seems to work. I accidentlly tested this feature once when I disconnected the TM and forgot to chock the TM wheels. The TM rolled backwards, the brakes were applied because of the breakaway switch and no damage to the Odyssey controller occurred.