Sub-par - Yes, I agree - under normal running conditions. By itself, I feel the brakes on my GV are the best of any vehicle I've had, stock. They do an absolutely wonderful job of hauling that little go-kart down with excellent feedback and a nice pedal. But without the engine running, and not having the booster involved, there's less braking power available. Hence, sub par.
I was reading that it also involves cutting in to the hydraulic system of the coach to provide the progressive brake signal, and that was the extra points of failure. I've had the old school trailer brake controllers that tapped in to the hydraulic system, and they were a never ending source of problems for me, though I'm sure 50 years of tech advancement has helped here. I'd be less concerned if it used something like a progressive electric brake controller that then fed the compressor.
Again, not at all knocking it, just looking at it from the standpoint of "hey..maybe there's something here that I never considered before, and maybe I have some preconceived notions getting in the way of doing things a better way", with perhaps a bad choice of words coming across...
Brake lighting - I had my Samurai and XL-7 both set up for flat towing, as a "just in case" thing. Both times I went with a mix of diodes and a trailer lighting converter tapped in to the factory tail lights. Converter being the kind that converts the 2 light American style to 3 light Asian/Euro style tail lights, with the diodes in place to prevent back feeding. Probably didn't need them, but I tossed them in "just in case". Seemed like I was always chasing electric gremlins back there afterwards.
If I were to do it again, I'd either pop a couple extra bulbs in the light housings so I could completely isolate the toad's electrical system from the added tow harness, or in the case of the Samurai with the aftermarket bumper - add another set of lights to run with the tow harness.
