what's a good alarm setup?

[sybir]

Here's the deal; this car is the first one I've had that I've felt like an alarm is even worthwhile on, but I have no idea where to begin, and I'd rather not get sold up the river with 9 billion features I don't need.
so, here's what i need.
shock/motion, preferably 2 stage on the shock
unlock/lock all 4 doors on disarm/arm
starter kill
auto down/up on all 4 windows (seperate button/function, obviously)

What kind of setups have what I want, what am I missing in that list, any other reccomendations?
I know the window thing is a toy, but I'd like to have some nice useful feature for my money

my insurance won't give any discount for alarms, so this has to be somewhat reasonably priced, as it won't be offset by lower costs anywhere else; i'm thinking like 500-600 installed, if that's reasonable?

lemme hear it

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[ToolManTurboTaylor]

Click here for Clifford as they are the ONLY one and sooooo many options that can be configured with your laptop IE window control starter control and chirp volume and whatnot. The Concept 600 is the way to go no doubt but the 100 (Same alarm just without battery backup and recordable siren) can be installed under 500.00 <hr>
Subaru WRX '02
Car Bio: Bone Stock
ALSO
2001 Dodge Ram dually TURBODIESEL 349 H.P / 828 FtLbs AMA Roadrace# 605

[dbrown]

Well, since Clifford is owned by DEI, either of their products should do.

If you want some toys with your alarm, why not get the alarm/remote starter? Since you have an outback I am guessing you have an auto.

Along with the window up/down. Have them add dome light supervision. It turns the dome light on when you unlock the car. It's a nice feature at night. If you go with DEI, you could have them add a car*com. It allows you to activate all of your alarm/starters connected feature by phone. Work in an office? Call your car and start it, lock the keys in, call and unlock it.

-Doug

[sybir]

anybody else?

[sybir]

anyone?

[mitch808]

There isnt anything to it really. Bottom line, you get what you pay for.

[armand1]

Do a search in this forum -- there are a number of threads discussing this. Also, remember that installation quality is key; plan on spending 60% for hardware, 40% for labor for a non-trivial installation. For your budget, instead of getting the window control, I'd get a hood switch and/or lock and a siren with battery backup. For more money, get a pager addon that signals you when the alarm goes off (nice if you park aways away from your house/work). Don't get wowed by fancy features on cheap alarms that end up breaking after a year and setting off the alarm by mistake all the time or, worse, leaving your car undriveable -- go for a brand with a reliable rep. DEI fills this bill; Clifford was good alarm-wise but not business-wise so DEI bought them, too (take a look at the www.directed.com web site for lots of info).
Remember, it's a lot easier to mess up your expensive car than to do a good install, so sit down and have a good talk not just with the salesman, but the actuall installer (before you buy!). Does he think that's a reasonable system for your car? Would he get more or less? Once the alarm is installed, what theft techniques will it still be vulnerable to? Where does he plan on putting the "brain" and sensors? How does he plan on blending/disguising the alarm wiring?
Search the i-club and the newsgroups (use http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en ) for people who are happy and/or unhappy with their installs and learn from their experiences.
Of course, if you live in an area with LoJack coverage (unlike me), it's no contest -- get LoJack retrieve & prevention.

[wrxspdr]

seriously clifford makes a great product and yes you can safely have remote start on a manual with a clifford it will never hop forward because it only lets you remote start if the car was shut off from the remote outside the car well the car is running. I had the inteligaurd 7000

[remarcable]

I have been considering an alarm for the outback also. It would be so easy to break into this car, I don't even like to leave change on the floormats. Good thing I can park the car right next to my bedroom.

How do these alarm systems handle people breaking the windows, especially the rear window?

Also what happens offroad? Can these alarm systems take constant bumps, jolts, and harsh vibrations?

[armand1]

How do these alarm systems handle people breaking the windows, especially the rear window?

3 ways that I know of: #1 - hope that breaking the glass is enough of a jolt that it sets off the shock sensor; #2 - add on a microphone that listens for high-freq sounds of glass breaking; #3 - add on a radar (microwave) sensor that watches for any moving object inside (or near) the car.
#1 and #2 are clearly inferior to #3 in my opinion, because there are ways to avoid setting off #1 or #2, but to get anything out of the car, you have to reach something into the car, and that will set off #3. The other cool thing about #3 is that almost all such sensors come with 2 zones/trigger levels, so you can have the alarm "warn away" (just chirp a few times) if someone comes close to the car, but set off the main alarm if they come into the car. (you can set the sensitivities on these separately) That way, a potential thief sees that a non-trivial alarm is installed before he does any damage to the car.

Also what happens offroad? Can these alarm systems take constant bumps, jolts, and harsh vibrations?

While you're driving the car, the alarm is off. However, you're right in that MOUNTING the alarm and (especially) sensors is important. Especially for the standard shock sensors, if they are only loosely attached, bumps and vibrations can change their seating and make them more or less sensitive than you want.

More generally, as I mentioned above, you want to get a good quality alarm that can handle time/wear/tear/bumps. Even if your alarm has a problem, you want to be sure it fails in a way that lets you keep driving your car! (I've heard of alarms with starter disablers that can (and do) fail in a way that the starter ends up disabled until you remove/replace the alarm -- is that what you want in the middle of your 1000 mile vacation trip?)
Find a quality installation shop that will install it right and stand behind the installation job and you shouldn't have any trouble (and don't forget to test the sensitivity of the sensors BEFORE you leave the shop!).

If you want a more detailed look at the nitty-gritty of the installation, take a look at some of the installation manuals. I know DEI's website has some of their alarm installation manuals online in PDF format; maybe some other companies do too. (I'm just a satisfied DEI user, not a shill for the company)

PS -- Since Subarus are not all that common in install shops, any diagrams you can find (and give the installer) on how to remove the dash, center console, etc. may greatly decrease the chances of random trim fasteners getting broken/lost during the install. For MY02 Imprezas, the installation instructions for various accessories shown online at www.subaruparts.com worked great!

[netZ]

Took a peek at the Stick for this forum and would like to contribute my humble opinions. :P

Clifford products and DEI's other line such as Viper, Python etc etc are not equally alike.

The older Clifford G4 line such as the Intelliguard etc have better features than the Viper line. Such as coded valet, remote configurable shock sensor or proximity sensor adjustment. Why are these 2 features important? Though anyone can just cut the power wires to the alarm siren and alarm brain, it's just easier to 'pop' the ignition switch on a vehicle and at the same time press the valet button on the Viper alarm. Doing this will put the Viper alarm in valet mode and well... your car is gone!

The Clifford requires a coded sequence to put the vehicle into valet mode and making it difficult for someone to code their Clifford remote to your vehicle.

Remote adjustment of the sensors is handy especially when you don't want to pull out the shock sensor and adjust it using a screw driver such as the Viper dual stage sensor.

Yes, the ability of an alarm system depends on the installer.

Knowing these things may be important to a person who would like to protect their vehicles better.

netZ

Originally posted by dbrown
Well, since Clifford is owned by DEI, either of their products should do.

If you want some toys with your alarm, why not get the alarm/remote starter? Since you have an outback I am guessing you have an auto.

Along with the window up/down. Have them add dome light supervision. It turns the dome light on when you unlock the car. It's a nice feature at night. If you go with DEI, you could have them add a car*com. It allows you to activate all of your alarm/starters connected feature by phone. Work in an office? Call your car and start it, lock the keys in, call and unlock it.

-Doug

[heythereok]

I just got a Clifford Concept 100 installed for $450 w/ backup battery, glass break sensor, trunk pop and the other standard features. Works great.

[tsbarro]

Originally posted by heythereok
I just got a Clifford Concept 100 installed for $450 w/ backup battery, glass break sensor, trunk pop and the other standard features. Works great.

I see that you have a WRX -- how did you get the trunk pop installed - or was this on a diff. car?

Thanks,
Ts

[ldivinag]

2 EXTRA items:

1. siren with battery backup. so they cut the wires from the main battery. suckers think that does it. but the backup battery from the siren will kick in..., he, he...

2. a high pitch, loud aux siren INSIDE the cabin. i had one installed in my toyota truck. sometimes i tend to TEST this siren. trust me, it works...

believe me, the window thing? it aint a toy. on my 4 door toyota truck, auto UP and DOWN. i took it from granted. when i got the WRX, i missed it... for sure when i get the CLIFFORD, over the crappy factory one, the clifford SMART WINDOWS modules will be part of it (granted, at $150 PER MODULE, this is a luxury).

also, LEDs on the door. but about a month or so after getting the top of line clifford on my truck with the LEDs on the door, some morons attempted to break in anyways... and this was at nite!!!

and oh, if you CAN FIND it, an alarm that has a programmable siren sequence. my clifford 600 for the truck,i can program a sequence of alarm tones. so i did a short beep, short beep, short beep, pause, long beep, long beep, long beep, pause, short beep, short beep, short beep... you get the idea. i did a morse code of S O S.

back then, all the sirens sounded the same. i put a personal touch to mine...

alas, the newer cliffords dont have this anymore...

[heythereok]

I got it installed at al and ed's. I'll try to take a picture of it this weekend.

Originally posted by tsbarro



I see that you have a WRX -- how did you get the trunk pop installed - or was this on a diff. car?

Thanks,
Ts

[xylem007]

I've owned my WRX for a while and have been thinking about putting an alarm on it b4 I mod it up too much. This is the only alarm that i've found that does what i want it to do.

AutoPage RS-750
http://www.autopageusa.com/autopageusars750.htm

Remote Start
Two way LCD remote control (it sends the command, then a verification message back to the remote control)
Dual Stage shock / glass
ignition kill

This is the best price i've found on it also..

http://www.hawaii411.com/rf750.asp

any comments on this alarm choice?

[1SIKWRX4U2NV]

alarm pagers have to be the lamest thing i've ever seen...i mean, ok, so you see a door flashing (cuz it was bumped). try and comprehend how depressed you'll be when you learn just how many times you're car will be "accidentally" bumped into.

oh yeah, i'd say clifford is the best way to go as well...that's what i'm using, and i'm really happy with it.

[well_armed]

I've got a 2-way fm alarm with dual stage shock sensor, remote start, basically everything the one you mentioned above...except it's by compustar (www.compustar.org) It has a 2-mile radius, and will be upgraded to 5 miles in a bit.

The actual pager thingy is not much bigger than the ones clifford comes with. It is not cumbersome at all.

alarm pagers have to be the lamest thing i've ever seen...i mean, ok, so you see a door flashing (cuz it was bumped). try and comprehend how depressed you'll be when you learn just how many times you're car will be "accidentally" bumped into.

I dont know what this guy is talking about, it is the pimpest thing I have ever seen. It knocks the socks off the clifford. These alarms are the latest thing in vehicle security and by far have way more features. It tells you 'where' the car is being broken into via the LCD screeen, tells you whether or not a door is ajar, turbo timer, everything.

What good is an alarm if it just barks at someone and you are in a movie to not here it? With this you know when someone is trying to break into it. I would rather go check on my car everytime someone sets it off, then not know at all. Plus it smart enough to know when someone just brushed up against your car and when someone is smashing the window. It has three alerts, like Defcon 1, 2, &3 for the military. Level three means serious trouble, level one just means someone tried the door handle and so forth.

For instance, there is a spot on my car that a person can tap. It will then send a message to my unit saying that the person is there. I can then start the car and unlock it for the person, or just walk down cause I know their there. How useful is this!!

It's got 2-aux buttons that can be programmed for specific things as well. Trunk pop, starter kill, you name it.

Oh yeah, and it vibrates too!!

[hobbzz]

DEI owns Clifford, Viper, Hornet, and possibly others I'm not aware of. But If I were buying one I'd go with Clifford. I had one before, and even though I never needed it, I did like all the features!

[GTScoob]

I'll be going with a clifford sometime. My parents said they might get me an alarm as a Christmas present. I think our insurance will also give us a discount.

[Endlezz]

im considering about buying a viper alarm (heard it was the best) and i was wondering if you guys know if any viper comes along with a kill switch. Im just looking for a alarm that can secure my 96 impreza. the doors are manual btw.

[vicdeng]

Originally Posted by heythereok

I just got a Clifford Concept 100 installed for $450 w/ backup battery, glass break sensor, trunk pop and the other standard features. Works great.

how can u get the trunk pop if u have a 02 WRX. i assume u don't have a electronic trunk release.

[shemoves]

What is a good online site to purchase Clifford alarms inexpensively?

[GHOST R1DER]

i just ordered a Code CA-670 for my wrx so i cant base it on expirience only on my reasearch. what attracted me to it was that the alarm system has a built in Turbo Timer !! im not too sure if thats an option with the cliffords but to me its a good feature because on my supra for some reason the hks turbo timer and the remote start alarm i had did not seem to get along too well, that could have been an install problem never really looked into it. you also kill 2 birds with one stone only thing is it might not have all the fancy features of dedicated turbo timers but i honestly never use the options on the supra so i'll be fine with out them, also code has a pretty good warrenty and its the preferred brand for a few of the high end auto manufacturers. hope this helps

[GHOST R1DER]

Originally Posted by vicdeng

how can u get the trunk pop if u have a 02 WRX. i assume u don't have a electronic trunk release.

Originally Posted by Endlezz

im considering about buying a viper alarm (heard it was the best) and i was wondering if you guys know if any viper comes along with a kill switch. Im just looking for a alarm that can secure my 96 impreza. the doors are manual btw.

all you need to do is make sure that whatever alarm system you get has the additional outputs for door locks and trunk releases if the system has the options your local installer should carry some electrical motorized actuators to make your trunk release and manual door locks electrical but or you might be able to find some universal ones on line or do the research and see if other models may offer some that are compatible to your car..but keep in mind there will be additional charges for actuator + additional labor ...