Beason

I'm getting Ron to put in a new system into my car. All priced out pretty nice $7,500 plus install another $2,000 most likely.

Kenwood Monitor, Navi, Equalizer, 5.1 Decoder, DVD Changer, Center Channel Speaker
Alpine Mono and Mutli-Channel Amp, 2 12" Subs
Polk DX6 Speakers

But I wanted to also install a good alarm to protect my investment. I'm looking at the Clifford AvantGuard 4 or the Compustar 2WSS Series. I've got a few questions...

What do you think is better?
How much they cost?
Does Ron aka StreetEffectz do alarms?
Any Problems with the remote start? Is it worth it?
Does the pager from Compustar work as good as it sounds?
What are the better features?
What is less likely to malfunction?
Which one is easier to install?
Any problems with that you have or know of?
Any suggestions or other alarm ideas?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Beason

MahaRaja

Well I personally like the Viper systems because I own the Viper 550 Remote and it functions perfectly on and one again and many of friends have the same system with no complaints and Viper is made by DEI which purchased Clifford so I would go with the Clifford.Good Luck!

HOT

get the Compustar alarm. U can mix clifford sensor and compustar alarm. range is 5X better with compustar spread spectrum one.

NsX Pilot

compustar spread spectrum w/ a proximity sensor........cant be beat ...and your gonna love that alarm ...remote start is a great feature summer or winter...... u start ur car and the ac or heat comes on and ur ready to go .

Beason

I Think im gonna get compustar. One last question...

When you remote start the car do you have to put the key into the transmission to shift it into gear or even have to turn off the car and start it up like a regular car?

NsX Pilot

the remote start usally has a safety that wont allow u to start it unless its in park and yes when u go to get in your car ....you must first turn the alarm off as the alarm is still protecting your car while its in the remote start running state.

vperkins2

Here's how my CompuStar 2000AS works:

1. You hit the AutoStart function while still a few minutes from your car. Your two-way pager beeps twice telling you it sent the command... then a few seconds later a trio of beeps (also the car icon on the two-way pager shows an exhaust plume) tell you that your car started successfully.

2. As you approach your running car you hit the 'unlock' button. Your car doors unlock and you climb into the cockpit.

3. You whip out your car key and stick it into the ignition and turn it to the 'starting' position. You don't actually twist the key -- let's just say you leave it in the '2nd' position (ACC II?). (Note: There's a feature that kicks in to keep you from starting (grinding) an already running car. If you do twist the key you don't hear the traditional starter screech! You hear... nothing!)

4. Step on the brake to allow you to place your car into reverse and you've just disabled the 'AutoStart' function. Your radio fires up, the dash lights return to normal, and you're good to go!

Note: If you step on the brake *before* putting the key in and turning it to the 2nd detent... your car will shut off. That's the AutoStart anti-theft feature kicking in!

Also, if you've already autostarted your car and change your mind you just press the AutoStart button again and your car shuts off! I think your car will idle in A/S mode up to 12 minutes before it shuts off automatically.

Good luck!

V.

Beason

Thank you vperkins2 that was exactly what I wanted to know, I'm gonna get the Compustar, just need to find a good dealer. Anyone know if Ron does Compustar alarms?

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Yup he does.

Beason

How many remotes does it include?

vperkins2

Mine came with only one remote. My installer informed me that buying a second one, either to replace or augment the first one, is a costly endeavor. About a hundred bucks! If anyone has the actual cost... please speak up!

So the moral of this story is... Don't drop your remote!

V.

tdoh

Vincent--see, if only you were his bro like me...or (better for him), if you had spent more money than you did while you were there, he might have cut you a deal on a second remote...

Too bad I gave my bro the second remote for my Tahoe after I sold it; yeah, it's a moot point but I just had to rub it in ya a little bit!

TUFF GONG

Hey Neil, you didn't warn Beason with the thread about the Compustar alarm.

I give Compustar props for it's "range" but I'll pass personally. I will always stick with D.E.I. products. Be it a Viper, Aviatal, Clifford, etc etc.

You can read all about it in this thread.


http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=90042

Beason

I'm looking for one thats the top of the line, I was thinking about Clifford, but I'm gonna parking my car in a parking lot most of the time and need the remote to know if something's happening to it. With the Compustar I get a good alarm, not the best, and a pager that lets me know when and where something happening to my car so I can either not worry about it or go bash some guy's head on the concrete for picking the wrong car to mess with, MINE!! But thats just me personally.

vperkins2

Yeah, I read that thread before. Didn't convince me then, either. I'd take the time to explain how happy I am with this alarm but I'd be wasting my time.

So here's the Reader's Digest version for you:
If you want to know how a Compustar owner feels - talk to me.
If you want to read someone's theory about Compustar - read that tired thread.

Later,

V.

tdoh

Man, I read this thread and the first thing I'll say is this--boy, is this Teken guy so enamored with himself or what? The only thing he keeps repeating in every one of his replies in that thread is that he can disable a Compustar in practically no time. Regardless of whatever truth there may be in his ramblings, I did notice at least two other things that made me think that this guy acts like a borderline selfish pompous fool:

--There must have been what, a half-dozen replies asking this guy as to what particular alarm to get; as far as I could tell, I don't think this guy replied back even once to these requests;

--Gee, he likes to boast of how great a repo man he is but the only thing I could infer from his "boasts" was that he could easily disable a Compustar alarm; funny thing is, not once did he mention as to whether or not he could (easily) disable the "top-brand name" alarms like Clifford/Viper/DEI/Alpine. Does that mean that these alarms are more harder to defeat than the Compustar, or that perhaps this guy isn't as great a repo man as he likes to claim?

Guess maybe I should tell this bozo that if I got a top-notch Clifford in my car I can take comfort in the fact that he won't be able to repo my car...

2007AcuraRL

That guy in the other thread is just a loud boasting a$$hole and i would ignore him if i were you. I have a Compustar alarm and i love it. I was an installer for 12 years and i had always used Clifford in my cars before. The Compustar performs perfectly, and the range is phenominal. Couple that with a great price and it cant be beat. I paid $260 USD for the alarm. Naturally I installed it myself, but even so, all these guys that are paying like $600-700 for an avantguard arent getting anything special for the price premium. <p> Now the one thing i will say is that NO alarm is any good unless its installed right. And any shop that would install it up under the drivers side of the dash is not worth going to. Any thief knows to go up there and grab the wires since 99% of all alarms are installed there because its easy to get at all the wires you need to hook it up when you put it there. My alarm is hidden away deep inside --- and no, i wont tell you where i put it. <p>
All, so be sure to add a set of airhorns when you have the alarm put it. That should cost you under $100 extra installed, and it will make alot more racket. everyone ignores sirens, but not air horns. I can personally tell you that in a car i once had in Boston, theives broke the door handle in an attempt to pry open the lock, and BOOM the air horns went off, the alarm woke me up from my sleep at 3 am I came over to the window and looks out in the alleyway and saw the a$$holes jump into a car a drive off. I ran down with my keys, and chased them about 10 blocks, through 3 red lights, before backing off the chase. Moral of this story is that the airhorns save the car.

NsX Pilot

Let me add this ,that he is 100% rite about alarms ....there only as good as the install ... i had an old compustar and added a proximity sensor for extra protection ...this protects the outside of your vehicle and will sound your horn or siren once a presence is sensored close to your vehicle...anything that will slow down the thief is a plus also .......ig. the club .. shift lock .. ignition lock...hood lock ..you can also add strobes to your alarm .....drawing visual attention as well as audiuable to your vehicle.....also a back up power supply for the alarm is always a good thing because they sometimes go to disconnect the battery to silence the alarm once they gain entry and lemme add one more thing.....my friend had a custom seat pillow made with nails in it to give the guy a surprise when he got in if he got that far .

HOT

My installer asked me if I want to use Clifford sensors W/ the Compustar alarm,,, Cuz I was keep asking how great the clifford alarm is?!!!! His answer "I installed Dozens of different alarms over 8years and let me tell you something.! There is no such as GREAT alarm! Clifford has great sensors but they don't have the Cool functions & the range (1.25miles) that Compustar gives.
Like I mentioned before If you want to know What the HELL is going on with your car while u r away,,,Let's say,, you r in the building. you won't hear damn thing, what so ever if u r inside a building.(like u r visiting a dentist office, and u parked your car far outside of the building)
Seriously, Does any1 here think that people these dayz really care about some1 else's car when alarm goes off?????!! HELL NO! That's y I bought this alarm. and it DOES WORK! I can just see through the remote LCD to find out when the alarm goes off!
Trust me I had Clifford alarm before and I know its good alarm, but If you can't hear when the alarm goes off. It's totally USELESS! I know this cuz my whole stereo system was stolen when I had the clifford alarm,, and I DIDN'T hear a damn thing!

vperkins2

Good suggestion! I don't know shinola about air horns though. Can you suggest a brand/model to get and a good location to mount it?

Thanks,

V.

cls-driver

Hella makes good airhorns.

2007AcuraRL

Any brand of airhorns will do the trick. The difference between brands is really just the quality of the sound. Hellas have a higher, slightly sweeter sound, but the compressor isnt any better than any other set you can buy, and you will probably have to pay about $60 for a set. Auto parts stores usually sell an airhorn set by Wolo for around $30 and that should do just fine. Save the rest of the money for the install. <p> As for where to put them, i once did a post on this a while ago Click Here
but the picture was long ago deleted from my ftp site so you wont see the pic, which gives you an idea of exactly how to do it. I put them up front behind the grill, firing outward to just under the bumper. You will have to fashion a bracket out of a $1 piece of metal you can buy at Home Depot, and as you will see in the picture, the bracket can hold the air horns, the compressor and the relay. The hood area is real tight, so this makes a great spot to have everything, plus you can also mount the siren up there too. And its out of reach of anybody's hand so you dont have to worry about anyone pulling the thing apart. Having the horns firing outwards instead of just under the hood will make them extra loud.

vperkins2

Thanks for the info! I'm sending you an e-mail as I write this.

Later,

V.