Car Alarm Opinion

[4runnerndachi]

Any suggest on a good car alarm....

Im supposed to take my 4runner in to have a clifford installed.

The guy told me Viper is not the best. He claims the Clifford has a back-up battery, and is custom installed on the 4 runner (3hours) and will only cost $250 for everything.

The viper at best buy is $238 (1hour) plus installation costs.


Any opinions?????

 

[sketch1]

In my opnion clifford is the best. I have an Avant Guard 4 installed in my mustang and it has been great. It offered all sorts of feature, Proximity Alarm, Tilt Alarm (prevents from jacking and stealing of wheels), glass break sensor, the Omni Sensor(a really nice impact sensor that actually works for the entire car, not just where the device is mounted, I could lightly tap the rear spoiler and it would recognize it) Battery backup for the alarm. Black Jax keypad ( each time you start the car enter a 2 digit code, if you don't enter code engine shuts off after 30 seconds, sounds like a pain, but not at all...optional usage) Remote Start, Roll Windows up and Down, Trunk Latch Release, turn headlights off and on when not in the car, and it has 1 or 2 programmable functions, one of mine controlled my neon in the car. Granted this alarm cost me about 1000 installed but it also comes with a $3000 anti theft guarantee. All clifford products are great and I will never choose another brand for an after market alarm.

I am also a fan of clifford because they are hard to disable. they hide the brain box up in your dash to prevent easy access. Then ontop of that every wire that comes out of the brain box is unlabeled and black, which prevents a thief from being able to locate a specific cable and cut it. I would go for the Clifford. Much better quality than the viper. Viper is pretty much the lower end of DEI while Clifford is the High

 

[NViejeP]

I'm in the market for an alarm too. Check out my thread.

 

[Uneek]

:iagree: Having installed a Clifford myself, I will vouch for Clifford too. But only the models that are specific to Clifford, like the AvantGaurd4, Bullet4, Intelligaurd, Concept or any that's a part of the G4/G5 family supporting CliffNet. I personally wouldn't recommend the Matrix since it's a rebadged DEI unit, but I believe it's the only two-way paging model and many who have it do say it's very good. I'm also a little biased towards Clifford.

Clifford's have seperate circuits for the ignition and starter and both are disabled upon arming, and alarm will sound if you attempt to start an armed vehicle. What I've noticed with other alarm systems is they use a relay to trigger the starter kill, so if the alarm is never set off, they vehicle can be started and driven away. The other beauty of Clifford is the remote controlled impact sensor adjustment. The brain can be stuffed or hidden really well, whereas some alarms require you to turn a sensitivity adjustment knob. As sketch1 mentioned, Clifford's also have a coded valet/override switch. You need to enter a pin to override the alarm. Other brands have a button that you press with the key in 'On', and if a theif is hotwiring or breaking the ignition lock, you know what they can do.

 

[djmodifyd]

i have a compustar alarm system

the two way spread spectrum

has about 6000 feet of range (yes......six thousand)

and can do everything previously mentioned.

i curently just have the rear window up and down hooked up.

you can do anything imaginable though.

windows....headlights....tilt sensors.....motion sensors......

it is a great unit.

mine cost about 625 installed.

 

[NViejeP]

I've heard about compustar. Heard only good things so far.

Kind of expensive however.

If you guys haven't noticed yet, I'm very indecisive and as I was doing my homework today, I realized that I'm only going to be protecting like:

My $120 head unit. My $200 refurbished KX-550.3. My $200 soon to be subwoofer, RE SE, and its box.

My $250 components, you have to tkae the door panel off to get them.

Just the head unit, amp, and sub+box would total to under $600. Is it even worth it to get a $500 alarm to protect all my equipment? Or should I go with something cheaper or maybe nothing at all.

Keep in mind, I got jacked afew weeks ago parked outside my house, however, now I garage park.

 

[PrincessDianne]

In my opnion clifford is the best. I have an Avant Guard 4 installed in my mustang and it has been great. It offered all sorts of feature, Proximity Alarm, Tilt Alarm (prevents from jacking and stealing of wheels), glass break sensor, the Omni Sensor(a really nice impact sensor that actually works for the entire car, not just where the device is mounted, I could lightly tap the rear spoiler and it would recognize it) Battery backup for the alarm. Black Jax keypad ( each time you start the car enter a 2 digit code, if you don't enter code engine shuts off after 30 seconds, sounds like a pain, but not at all...optional usage) Remote Start, Roll Windows up and Down, Trunk Latch Release, turn headlights off and on when not in the car, and it has 1 or 2 programmable functions, one of mine controlled my neon in the car. Granted this alarm cost me about 1000 installed but it also comes with a $3000 anti theft guarantee. All clifford products are great and I will never choose another brand for an after market alarm.

I am also a fan of clifford because they are hard to disable. they hide the brain box up in your dash to prevent easy access. Then ontop of that every wire that comes out of the brain box is unlabeled and black, which prevents a thief from being able to locate a specific cable and cut it. I would go for the Clifford. Much better quality than the viper. Viper is pretty much the lower end of DEI while Clifford is the High

yes i agree.

 

[sketch1]

Well something else you are protecting, other than just your stereo is the car iteself. A good alarm should prevent it from being able to be stolen, opposed to just sound off when someone breaks into your car. Even a cheap alarm can do that. Also the alarms we are talking about come with extra perks such as remote start (which once you have it you will wonder how you lived without it), window controls, etc.

 

[Uneek]

Is it even worth it to get a $500 alarm to protect all my equipment? Or should I go with something cheaper or maybe nothing at all.

Keep in mind, I got jacked afew weeks ago parked outside my house, however, now I garage park.

Well for convenience, it depends on if you have keyless entry or not, if not whether you want to add that. Another thing to consider, does your truck have an immobilizer on it? If you don't, it might take time for them to rip apart your truck to get your stereo equipment, but probably much easier for them to take the whole thing and strip it. I also like having an alarm because living in SF you deal with a lot people who can't parallel park, so usually you'll know if your truck's been bumped.

The biggest advantage to having an alarm IMO is peace of mind, knowing that there's an extra layer of hassle a theif needs to go through and some deterrent. Like I mentioned, you can't stop a determined theif, but we can slow them down.