CURT 51170 Spectrum Original Equipment Style, Integrated Electric Trailer Brake Controller, Proportional

Best controller I've used in the last 30 years. I've owned allot of brake controllers from every price point out there and this is the best. I set it up the first time, tweaked it once and haven't touched it in almost a thousand miles. No fiddling trying to get a better stop or working out the lurches of the trailer stopping you. I can ease to a stop or punch the brakes hard, and I get the right amount of braking every time without adjusting it again. It looks OEM in the truck and the brightness is plenty adjustable, this coming from someone who will turn his dash lights off to avoid distraction. It does it's thing and I just drive.

Easy to install works right away as long as you have the factor wires in the cab

Works great.

I went back on forth for about a week before I ended up buying this. I read a lot of the reviews. Most of the negative reviews talked about the difficulty with the small crimped wire heads and with some people experience LED lights while braking without a trailer hooked up. I forged ahead and processed the order. In terms of the small wire crimps with the black connector... I had watched the video online several times and scanned the manual briefly before starting. If you do buy this controller, READ THE WIRING instructions carefully. I had installed the wires the right way, but was holding the black receiver opposite of the written instructions. Ergo, it didn't work. I immediately got frustrated and blamed the part haha. I settled down and tried again. This time following the written instructions and voila it worked. I will say the wires are very small and difficult to handle once you get more than 2 or 3 in their slots. I'd recommend snipping the insulation back another inch or so to get some more flexibility. Once I got it hooked up, I took a spin without a trailer, and I too have lights flash when I brake w/o a trailer. I ran to the auto store and got a plastic cap from a spray can, that slides over the housing. It doesn't fit snug at the moment, so thinking I may try to get some PVC sized tighter to really finish it off. Sp far the brake light flashing hasn't been overtly annoying, but ive only driven with it for about 30 min last night and an hour this morning. Just figured I'd rather have a way to conceal those lights if it does get annoying.Overall I'm pleased with it so far. I hope to hook it up to a trailer in the next day or two and test out its function, but in terms of install... not that hard if you follow the instructions. Took about 90 min to do it wrong, then fix it and finish it up.

It seems to work okay but the LED often stays lit, even if the vehicle is off.I found it quite annoying that, after braking, some LED's would stay lit. When this occurred, it wasn't always the same LED location or color but completely random. Often, a quick tap to the brake pedal would make it go off, until the next time I actually braked. Then, repeat the process. During the day, it wasn't awful but at night the LED's are very bright and very distracting. This issue occured whether or not I was towing, it was constant. Additionally, this was consistant between both vehicles I installed it in. The biggest issue i experienced is that the LED's would stay lit after i turned the vehicle off. So, you guessed it, my battery drained after I got out and the vehicle wouldn't start. I eventually contacted CURT customer support and they responded "this is a known issue with this model...". This is completly unacceptable to me so, i am replacing this unit and am done with CURT products.

Most videos I watch on installing this to a Chevrolet Trail Boss shoed you having to add the tiny wires to the adapter. I guess enough people complained and the company provided a new plug. Had to purchase the wire harness for the Trail Boss separately. Install only took about 40 minutes. Did not have to remove any of the panels. Just removed the USB port by prying it out. You can put you finger through the hole and pull the tabs that will allow you to push the plastic plug in. You then just have to maneuver it around to get it out and back in.

I was looking for a brake controller that didnt get in the way of my knees, old style brake controllers always annoyed me and just plain look bad, so when i found out about this brake controller from curt that only shows a remote knob, i figured i would try it, it is very expensive compared to other brake controllers, but its kinda a specialty for people like me who dont like normal brake controllers, so i was willing to spend the money, first off ill say everyone that had problems with the controller flashing when not in use almost made me not buy it, but i figured i would wire a on/off switch if i had that problem but it never happened to mine, I havent actually hauled a trailer yet, but i did connect to one just to see what happens, nothing different than when not connected, except when i unplugged the trailer i did get the flashing blue lights which mean the trailer was disconnected, those lasted about 10 seconds and then it returned to the normal mode, for my fellow 07-13 silverado owners thinking about buying this, just make sure you order the wiring harness adapter, its like $8 you wire it up to your trucks already pre existing brake controller wires under the dash and then it plugs directly into the module that comes with the brake controller, and then connect the 2 wires to the fuse box under the dash, they are already there from the factory, google should make all that easy, but overrall its super simple to install and super easy to use, i should be hauling a trailer soon, if this is the last you hear from me about this brake controller it means it worked great, if it does not work great i will be back to change my review

I installed the CURT spectrum trailer brake controller in my 2023 GMC 2500 Siera. The controller was easy to install, looks and works great. The Installation problem was simply a blown fuse in the vehicle fuse box.