I've even got brakes on my little 5x10 V-nose... towing it with a mini-van. I can't imagine not having them... they've saved me once already when a car pulled out RIGHT in front of me. Man can my rig stop fast!!! Would've been a disaster without the brakes... I know... I towed the trailer without brakes on the 250 mile trip back from the dealer... didn't have my controller installed yet. It doesn't stop nearly as fast without them, plus you risk the trailer passing the in really hard braking.