I know this has been asked before, but I'd like to know about more current products..

I have a 2001 CL-S and want to add a remote start... Any suggestions on what to get? How about where to have it installed (MD/Baltimore/DC area) ...

Any and all comments welcome.

 

best buy, circuit city...or any other shop that gurantee's their work...DEI has good alarms (carried by best buy), I just had a code alarm remote start alarm (carried by circuit city) installed in my truck and it's pretty straight...just ask lots of questions

 

COMPUSTAR! And no other.

It will do standard and automatic (I am assuming a new alarm as well?!)

The 2WFM800- AS

Autostarter and Alarm, the new remote just came out.



This does Vibration and two way paging for alarm autostarter 5000' ft range


this unit is awsome, top of the line, I can get it to you if you want it
plus I use this one to integrate my Window and Sunroof Modules

Not Recommended for self install,
Professional Installation advised.

 

what's this unit cost? how much does it cost to get installed? ...

 

think i can trust the guys at these chain shops to know how to disable my stock alarm and do all that? ...

 

A lot of DEI Products Such as Viper, PRedator, Rattler, Hornet, Wasp, Clifford (Which doesn't exist anymore) are products that do not offer Standard TRansmission Remote Start.

 

what is standard transmission remote start?

with these products, do i have to have my stock alarm disabled? i want to know as much as possible before making a decision

 

i would not let Best Buy, and Circuit City

 

:imwithstupid:

I would never trust places like that to do any work on my car. They are not exactly the most intelligent/qualified people. Look around for a reputable shop. COmpustar is a pretty good brand, and all their dealers techs have to go to classes on how to install their product.

The compustar posted above looks pretty good. I may pick one up for myself.

And by standard I'm pretty sure he means manual, but you don't have one so you don't need to worry about it.

 

are u kiddin me? i dont even trust those guys to even look at my car sitting in a parking lot.

 

I have the clifford rsx 3.5 w/ remote start on my car. Works fine for me!

 

and is that the acutal model number? I did a search on the web and it doesnt come up anywhere.

 

I like mine! Clifford RSX 3.5 w/ remote start... it comes with a life time warranty! works 1/4 mile away... and its true I've had my car sitting at the lake thats abt a 1/4 mile away and I was at home and i could start it or whatever.... Its a deffinate A+ You can add other options also like auto window roll down and an alarm for when you want it to start and everything... check it out!

 

This new pager, the white one, like JUST CAME OUT
like no joke like days ago

if you go to the www.compustar.org website it's not even there

Look up the model 2WFM-AS which means 2 Way FM Frequency - Alarm Starter

This will do standard and automatic remote start.
Most reputable.


They only difference between the 2WFM-AS and this new pager 2W8000R is that this new remote, different color, and with a clock and vibration.

I can get it to you at $350 Canadian Dollars. Plus shipping (which will vary with ur location)

I don't wanna make anything off of you, just as a CL Member.

But find an authorized Compustar Dealer to install it. I would not bring it to Bestbuy and Circuit City.

I work for one of the chain stores out here and they do crap installs, and I also work for my friend, an independant store, and they go the extra mile and do the job right.

 

By the Way - Clifford was bought out by DEI (Directed Electronics) and then it went bankrupt. So Clifford does not exist anymore, call any authorized DEI dealer. And if someone is selling it to you, then you know it's an extremely old model.

The chain store I work for is an Authorized DEI dealer and AUTOSTART Dealer

and my independant store is an authorized COMPUSTAR dealer



As well you can get the pager alarm without remote start.

Oh and as to your factory alarm, it will be integrated with the aftermarket alarm.
When you disarm the aftermaket alarm it will disarm the factory and when u arm the aftermarket alarm it will arm the factory one


Several ways to integrate it. Best way to do it is to buy the factory alarm interface.
Ours is a data linte signal. That will control Keyless entry and Factory Alarm (its about $100 CDN)


Honestly for my car, to do this compustar with installation, with full options, the keyless entry, trunk pop, autostart and alarm. It's about $750 CDN installed.
Without Window and Sunroof Modules

 

how much will a local authorized installer charge me for installation? if you can sell it to me for $278US i think i may take you up on it

 

$ 300 USD would be ok, but you'd have to pay for shipping ontop of that.

In Canadian funds for install

You are looking at $285 CDN for labor install (thats full options)
Start, trunk release keyless entry, siren, shock sensor, blinking LED, Vehicle Paging System, Hood Pin, Trunk Pin

Plus you need a DATA Interface and a Immobilizer Bypass Module
You can do without the Data interface if the place knows how to do it. They may charge you more for install instead of the module itself, but you must buy a bypass module that will stimulate your key in the ignition when it tries to remote start. To make the car think the key is in the ignition.
That piece I can give to you for about $50 USD

As for shipping, I need a postal code, and I'll check how much shipping is. and if you want insurance on it and such. But I can do it for you, and if you want I can get you window modules, and all the other essentials, like glass break sensor and digital tilt sensor and such.

 

The only GOOD Autostarter Alarm out there that does manual transmission is the Compustar. Reading back on some of the past posts, people are worried about leaving their cars in gear and hitting remote start. People think that #1. they will remember not to leave it in gear. Everyone says that, but think about it, the one day you lend ur car or someone takes ur car, and they don't know or forget to leave it in Neutral and they hit the button. Someone borrows your car and leaves it in gear and returns it to you, upon you coming back to ur car you hit remote start and bam your car starts in gear. #2 people think that the car will just stall. EVEN WITH the E-Brake on, it will keep jumping, it will keep trying to start over and over until it reaches the idling RPM, thats what the alarm looks for. #3 Theres a safety neutral switch. You know all that switch does is enable or disable remote start, its a little toggle switch, it can't tell if your car is in gear or not, its just a stupid switch.

Solution:

With Compustar alarms, it has a built in turbo timer, as well as a manual transmission start. It's called RESERVATION MODE. How it works is that when you have it properly installed, if you were to get out of your car, all you have to do is leave it in neutral, take the key out, and get out. Your car will automatically keep running from the time you take your key out. So that way the alarm can tell, that you have left it in neutral and that it's not your foot thats on the clutch, and that you have stepped out of the car because it can tell when your doors have opened. Now what it will do is arm itself and lock the doors and then shut off right after you get out. So next time you hit remote start, it knows its in neutral. Now if you wanted to leave your car in gear, you turn the key off, press the brake petal, and it will immediately turn off, then you can leave it in gear and get out and arm the car. Upon coming back to your car, if you hit remote start, it will chirp 3 times to tell you that you have not left it in reservation mode, which is leaving the car, with the gears in neutral. Now if you were to leave ur car in neutral and go through that reservation mode. And then leave your car, come back and disarm your alarm, open your door, the second you open your door, reservation mode gets cancelled, because the alarm is afraid that at the point where you have had access to the interior of the car, you could have put the car in gear, so if you hit remote start, it would not do it.

That's how the Compustar Works. And thats the great thing about it. Awsome thing about it is that its the same unit for Manual and Automatic Transmission, it's just a setting. That way you don't have to buy different units.

All the DEI remote starters are NOT meant for Manual Transmissions, that is why almost no one will install those into standard cars. Even with the liability form signed, that waives all liabilities to the store, they still would not prefer to do it

Two Prime Examples I have of a Remote Starter done on a manual transmission that should not have been.

I have two jobs, 1 of the places is a chain store.
A customer had a Toyota Tacoma, standard transmission, wanted to do autostarter. We don't carry any for manual transmission at this store, but he said he'd sign the waiver form. He signs the form, and we do the installation of a VIPER 550ESP. We pull the car out and leave it in the parking lot. He comes by and he gets the keys, and we tell him we'll be out in a second to show him how it works. So he goes outside starts his car, and he decides to go grab a pack of cigarettes and come back. He comes back and parks his car, locks his doors and as i started walking up to him, he hits remote start. Two seconds later, his car was stuck into the cement pillars we have lined against our exterior walls. His front end gets crushed right into the cement pillar.
He left it in gear.

Example #2

My buddy with a Jeep YJ.
He got his remotestart installed at some other shop and as usual the bypassed his clutch to do remote start. My buddy almost never uses remote start since he got it, he really just used it for the alarm itself. We parked facing a wall of Knight and Day restaurant. As he was getting out of his car he accidently hit the button on his remote for remote start. Him and I looked at each other and we both knew what was gonna happen, we grabbed the sides of the jeep and tried to hold it back as it started, jumped the curb stopper and smoked the wall of the building and then stalled.
BTW E-Brake was up on this car and the Tacoma too.

Accidents happen. Its better to take the safe route.

 

hey nismo, you're cool and all, but do you work for compustar? SOunds like someone there is on his/her knees for you. jp

Lesson learned, if you get a remote on a stick, your ass better not leave it in gear. the 791 is pretty good, I will be putting that in my car in the next week or so.

 

That sounds like a GREAT concept for a stick shift car and it seems like it would work pretty effectively.
I may look into something like this.

My car is garaged at home so it wouldn’t make much sense there, but I park outside at work and I think it would work great on those cold winter days.
The 1/4-Mile range is nice too. I park far from the building and most systems I’ve looked at before probably wouldn’t have the range to start the car from inside the office.

Shawn S

 

well im not so interested in an automatic remote start.. id just as rather hit the button when im ready for the car to start, as opposed to have it always start at 6am, or whenever..

my postal code is 21046... thanks for all the info

 

I had a viper 550ESP installed on my old 02 auto CLS, & had one on my 300M when I had that. Never had any problems with it. The compustar is a nice setup, but expensive. You also need to have it installed at a dealer or you will void any warranty it has. If you don't need the pager, lcd remote, & the fancy features a Viper 550, or simplar DEI unit will do the trick. I got mine installed for $299 with all the normal sensors & features.
Also since teh key has a chip in it you need either a bypass for it, or get the modual that lets you keep an uncut key near the ignition that is programmed.

 

I've been in the alarm security industry for a very long time. I've come across many alarms, to name a few : Predator, Rattler, Hornet, Wasp, Viper, Black Widow, Ungo, Clifford, Baracudda, Primestart, Compustar.

And I've had best experience with Compustar for myself. For old people who don't like all the fancy bells and whistles and have hard time learning things, I would NOT Recommend it. For example from the remote, you can turn on Valet mode, disable shock sensor, and other things, there are too many options you can do off the remote, it doesn't make it "dummy safe".

Great thing about compustar is that if you decided to get a 1 Way Alarm Starter, you can do that, with a 1 way AM frequency remote, not as far range as the FM requency but it works. Even greater thing about it is that you can upgrade your 1Way AM alarm system to a 2 Way FM system, like the white remote above. All you have to go is unplug the antenna and replug the new antenna (from AM antenna to FM antenna) and reprogram the remotes yourself.

Its the only unit of its kind out there that has the possibility of upgrade.

 

Shipping about $30 bux, because it's so heavy.

 

My Viper > Compustar :P

 

Compustar sucks! Get a viper! if you go to a good shop that knows somthing they can put a mercury switch or pin switchs around the shifter this way if it is in gear one of the switches will send a negative signal to the remote start and it won't start in case somone leaves it in gear, I have been installing car audio and security for 14 years now and the only way to go is DEI (viper,hornet, ect) if you don't want any problems down the road.

 

Oh yeah one more thing never ever go to circuit city or best buy for any type of install 90% of them are butchers! Trust me!

 

For anyone who wants an Alarm or Remote Starter, Viper, Black Widow, Compustar. I'll do a group buy for you guys, at cost +5% from my company just for you guys, any interests? As well all the modules you may want. ie. Window Modules, Sunroof Modules, glass break sensor, digital tilt sensor, proximity sensor, Bypass Module for autostart.

And btw there are two types of bypass modules to stimulate the key in the ignition for the car to start. Becase we all have chips in our keys.

The Universal one is where you put a spare key in a tiny little box and wire it to ur remote starter, and it'll read off the codes. Downside to this is that if someone breaks into your car, then can get the key out of the box and start your car=) and drive off. Now if you get an uncut key from the dealer, just a blank key uncut with the chip programmed to start your car, that's like $80 plus the universal bypass kit. A honda/acura bypass module that will copy the code into the box with no key required is only $50.