Electric Brake Controllers

G'day Trevor

Had a Tek in our Patrol and it worked fine. Now have a Redarc in our Isuzu and it is great too. I like the "hardly notice it's there" aspect of the Towpro. Just be careful to place the knob where you can easily see it from your driving position.

Cheers
Jim

I have had the Prodigy and found it great however when I purchased the Ranger a Red Arc tow pro was installed and I have found it is just as good as the Prodigy but a little more easy to use and adjust.

Another vote for the Redarc Tow Pro
Have had a Tekonsha in the past
Mounting spots were always a problem & I would always be banging my knee on it
Like the Redarc compact, works well & fits in the dash like it’s factory fitted
Cheers
Paul
PMK3AUSTRALIA

I have the Tekonsha P2, purchased a little before the original Tow Pro was released. I had it fitted to my GQ Patrol and transferred it to the Pajero. I am only 172cm so it's OK under the dash for me. My son is 180cm and he bangs his knee on it. Depends on the exact vehicle I guess, a friend has a P2 in his Prado and he must be at least 185cm. From what I have read, the diagnostics are better on the P2 i.e., it displays the problem rather than interpreting flashing leds. You can also set it up so that there is an immediate voltage (two settings) applied when you touch the brake pedal, then proportional on top. Perhaps an advantage to correct sway as you wouldn't need to reach for the manual lever, but you would have to be disciplined? Doubt I'll ever need to try that out as I only tow a 1600kg camper trailer.

From an industrial design perspective, I think the TowPro would have to be state of the art (I have always been 100% confident on the braking with mine - my 200 Tojo tows a 2800kg ATM van). So thoroughly effective and simple to use…and a great South Aussie company too !…it’s what we do ??.

Trevor
I had a Tekonsha (model/version couldn't tell you) 16 years ago and though it worked it was bulky, fiddly and took a fair bit of setting up/calibrating for hauling a 1.2T CT for a couple of years.
Fast forward to 12 months ago when I had a Redarc Tow Pro Elite installed for a 2.2T Hybrid, very happy compared to my experiences from 15 years earlier.
Probably unfair to compare technology 16 years apart, the Tekonsha did hit my knee installed on a Pajero.
I didn't consider price, on the Caravan forum there were lots of good reports for the Redarc unit.
Mark

Tow Pro again, interestingly though before Redarc had a "proportional" type controller they talked me out of getting a proportional unit, said their non proportional unit was much better especially for off road use, interesting how things changed once they had their own proportional type.

The Tow Pro is a good unit but I have had issues with it, occasionally will get strange error codes after river crossing etc, sometimes these have been attributed to water in the trailer connector other times plugs look fine and error codes go away awhile. For some reason every now and again the unit will switch from auto to manual mode which is annoying as it happens long enough between occurrences that I forget how to set it back to automatic and have to dig out the instruction manual to work out how to put it back to auto. I also find the calibration is a bit micky mouse if I need to run it, sometimes it works as it should other times it won't.

Thanks for all of your responses. I will be getting a Redarc installed.

hi
Prodigy P2 P3 has more features than a Redarc
Follow install instructions its easy
good self diagnosis
dependant on model up to mutiple axles and including electric over hydraulic

BEST feature
is the initial braking "BOOST" can be set at 4 different levels [Redarc does not have this ].
Std ,10% , 20% , 30%

Tekonsha for me