It looks really silly in the package.
Silly. Brilliant!
Okay, it's two neon-colored tennis ball on the equivalent of telescoping radio antennae, with magnet mounts so that they hold on the trailer tongue nose and on the hitch just by the ball.
http://tinyurl.com/lxfusy
It's such a simple idea that I wonder why I never picked one up before.
With the S-10, I could back up almost perfectly the first time (key word: 'almost') Then there was the jockeying to put the hitch over the ball on the back of the bumper.
So I splurged and spent the $19.99 at Walmart this week, ready to hitch the Sunspot to the Jeep Patriot and my new hitch for the first time.
It took ONE TRY. Straight back, no getting out of the car for a visual check and then jockeying back and forth to get it just right. Hitching up took all of 2 minutes. I did get out of the car once because I didn't trust that it was that accurate. It was dead on.
Now...hooking up the trailer wiring plug to the new wiring harness was a little more traumatic, and my safety chains were like an inch too short. I think the boys at the Jeep dealership had a contest to figure out how awkwardly they could place the connect point for the wiring harness...I'm just guessing. As soon as I tried to press on it, it disappeared inside the shielding, so I had to fish it out. Discovered plenty of harness...so putting it right next to the hitch receiver would have been way too easy, right? Yep. it's tucked up underneath the back bumper and some sort of heat shield. Glad I picked up a wiring pigtail when I got my new hitch so that I'd have a couple extra inches to play with -- and as soon as I've got some time, I'll extend that harness. As for the chains, it's a good thing there's a Tractor Supply around the corner from the garage where I store the trailer; one of the guys came out, took a look at the chains and then helped me extend them with some extra links so they could be hooked up correctly.
Meanwhile, the Solo Hitch helped me with do absolutely the easiest hitchup I've done in a long time. I moved the trailer again this morning, just to see if it had been a fluke. This morning in daylight was even simpler. These things are worth every cent of the $20 -- get to a Walmart or order them from the RV link I included, or put mount two old antennae on a pair of magnets and put tennis balls on top if you're handy. Could be the nicest thing I've done for myself lately. (I need to get out more!)