Car Alarms

[john-melbourne 6]

Hi Guys,

 

Just wonded if anyone had bought one of the many "engine startinf and pager" alarms knocing around on ebay? Anybody have any thoughts on these?

 

John

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

I wouldn't touch any car alarm, most fail within to time and 99% are badly fitted even by the so called Pro's

[marc t 0]

I did have one a coupel of years ago. It all worked 'sort of'. Ever so often it would not let the fob work so you had to manually overide it then reprogram the fob.

 

Also they are a different mhz to UK alarms as most are jap spec. Not sure if that means your fob messes up other things or if it means other things may disarm/unlock your car.

[john-melbourne 6]

I wouldn't touch any car alarm, most fail within to time and 99% are badly fitted even by the so called Pro's

 

What would you use instead?

 

John

[marc t 0]

I like clifford or toad. The only time I had a problem with one was when it was fitted badly. On good alarms the problems are bad fitters. - Maybe someone can recommend a good one of these.

[GLPoomobile 958]

If it was me, I'd generally steer clear of these cheapo odd-brand-name things that you see on eBay, with all these bells and whistles like remote start, text you when the alarm goes off, provide you with marriage counselling when you find your wife in bed with the next door neighbour etc etc.

 

Toad seem to be the most highly regarded on here, probably because they are no nonsense, well built, Ronseal type products (i.e. does exactly what it says on the tin). I had one on my first GTI and it was always fine.

 

Now, most people will tell you that any alarm is only as good as the installation, which is why so many people have problems with Cliffords. Take a complicated, feature packed system that requires careful programming, then let some monkey with a soldering iron stick it in your car for a 'too low to believe' installation fee, and is it any wonder the f***ing thing keeps going off at 2am every morning when a cat 2 miles away takes a piss?

 

However, contrary to everything I've just said, my old 1.9 had a Microscan system in it, that had been 'pikey installed' by the previous owner as he was in a rush to get it in the car and was going to tidy it up later on, but that never happened. Yet I never had any problems with it, it was pretty good really. They are pretty cheap systems to buy, and have plenty of add-ons available if you want to pimp it up so it ejects 2 slices of toast from the head unit when you get in on a cold winter's morning.

 

If it was me, I'd buy a Toad Ai606 for about £115 off eBay, and then install it myself as carefully as I could (I'm not a trained electronics professional, but I'm getting better and trust myself to do a better job than most cowboys who fit these things). Then if I needed the Thatcham certificate I get an approved installer to give it the once over (while the trim is still out of the car) and give me a certificate. Costs about £30 I think.