dans87ta

I was thinking about getting this alarm for my car. Any comments, good or bad about this one?? I was also thinking about getting the pager for it. Any help would be great.

Here's the alarm

Here's the pager

caleb

you can get a crimestopper like that, with remote start and the pager brand new off of ebay for around $150

dans87ta

But is it good? It has all of the features I want, so I am thinking of getting this.

caleb

chevk these current auctions

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1337581613

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=1338071696

dans87ta

not the one I was looking at, but thanks anyway. Anyone else have any opinions about this alarm???

coalyard

The car alarm itself is not nearly as important as the installation. Most major manufacturers make an acceptable product. I have been installing mobile electronics for 5 years or so professionally, and here are some things I would suggest for a good installation.

Every alarm input and output must be fused. You must have a hood lock actuator, or the alarm is next to useless. A favorite trick of thieves is to simply bust a window, pop the hood, and smash the alarm siren. Make sure the negative battery cable isn't accessable from under the vehicle, it is simple to just cut it, and disable the alarm. Failing this, I would suggest a hidden back up battery for the siren and alarm. The brain must be well hidden, and in 3rd Gen cars, behind the instrument cluster is a good place.

Nothing points a path to the brain of an alarm better than twisted pairs of colorful wires zip tied to factory harnesses. All wires should be loomed to match the factory harnesses, and preferably run with them. Most alarms come with a starter kill circuit, I would also suggest an ignition kill, and/or a fuel pump kill. All connections should be soldered and taped, no tap or splice connectors.

All but the most determined thieves when faced with an alarm like this will run away, and seconds count. Most car and stereo crooks have many tricks to use to thwart an alarm, and those tricks mostly work on stuff installed by Circuit City or Best Buy. I don't want to get into these tricks for obvious reasons, but this installation is more or less bullet proof. If you find a good custom installer, it will cost more, but with a standard mass market installation, I could be driving your car off within 10 minutes, or taking my time to remove your stereo equipment. Hope this helps

dans87ta

Thanks for the reply. I feel the same way about Best Buy installs. I had a friend that got some stuff installed there, and they screwed everything up. I either do all of the installs myself, or bring it to one of the custom shops back home. I know their work is good, cause I have a number of friends that have had alarms and custom stereos installed there before. This is where I plan to get my alarm installed. About the hood actuator, where can I get one of these? Do most places have these, or do I have to special order it? Thanks again.
Dan

coalyard

Hey Dan,

What you are looking for is something like a door lock actuator, like the kind used to add power door locks. You should be able to get one of these from your custom install shop. It doesn't have to be especially beefy, as it will just slide a sturdy pin into a slot you drill to actually lock the hood down. I would go to the battery for power, and use one of the negative outputs on the alarm to activate it. That way if something goes wrong with the alarm, all you have to do is find the output wire and touch it to ground so you can get into your engine compartment.

Tony

dans87ta

thanks a lot coalyard. I will definately look into this when the time comes....hopefully soon. Gotta pay insurance first

camarochic

I would get a viper alarm system but that is just what i think

Chris Luongo

I've been installing alarms for years, including at Best Buy and Circuit City, and everything coalyard says is right...the installation is far more important than the brand name.

When I was supervisor at Best Buy, I was also the only one there who know how to do alarms and remote starts; I made sure that I didn't damage cars, and that my installs were safe and reliable. However, with the low prices these stores charge, there just isn't enough time alloted to do a really stealth install.....I hid things we well as I could, and probably better than a lot of other guys would......but there often just wasn't enough time to disassemble a center console to hide the alarm inside................since it's your car, your pride and joy, you can spend a weekend installing the alarm yourself, and you should be able to hide everything.

And like coalyard said, most alarms work in a similar fashion; you just locate the alarm brain, unplug it, and proceed to steal the car. If you can make it time-consuming to access the alarm, or better yet, make it difficult to find, you'll be far better off.

I've only installed one Crimestopper unit and I wasn't terribly impressed with it, but it did the job. Furthermore, Crutchfield is asking too much money for those things. I'd recommend a product from DEI (Directed Electronics Incorportated, they make Viper/Sidewinder/Python and now Clifford)...not because they are somehow better, but they are exceptionally reliable; I've installed loads of them and almost none come back.

Oh, and they don't make this clear enough in the alarm instructions, but once the thief finds the valet switch, it's easy to override most alarms with it; HIDE THE VALET SWITCH! Better yet, plug the switch in, program your settings, then remove the switch and save it at home. No matter what, don't just mount it in plain view under the dash; consider a spot like under the ashtray or something similar.

coalyard

More great advice from Chris...and worth paying attention to. I have installed many alarms by Ungo, which is a division of Clarion with great results. The shop I worked for at one time sold Clifford products, and we had a lot of problems with those, some probably due to installation technique, but more important, the customer and dealer service was horrible. Now that DEI is making those, I would feel a lot more comfortable, 'cause I never had a problem with any of their products. BTW Chris, I didn't mean to put installers working for national chains in a bad light, it's just you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, most mass market chains are all too happy to take the money that is there, and because of scheduling, installers are not allowed to upgrade an installation, which is too bad because it would make more money, and better installers. Anyone who installs mobile electronics to pay the bills has to really love what they are doing, and be good at it, because it is a tough business, and the bad ones usually sink fast.

Good point out on the valet switch, I totally forgot about it. Yes, it should be stowed and not even installed, except to program the alarm.