Advice wanted: car alarms

[180HOA]

Hi all,

After being carless for a while I'm about to get my hands on my 2nd SRiT, and am looking for a bit of advice on alarm systems. The last car I had I didn't bother, as my garaging was fairly secure. However, I'm about to move and the garaging at the new place isn't terribly secure, so I'm a bit concerned about mindless vandalism (keying, that sort of thing). I'd like to look into getting some sort of alarm system, but have no experience at all in this area and would appreciate any thoughts or experience people have had. Basically what I'd ideally like is a system that's going to deter vandals, but at the same time I don't want something that's gonna be triggered every time a cat walks past...

Any thoughts or opinions?

[R3N]

You could get one with microwave sensors, shock sensors and if its a quality one, shouldn't go off all the time for no reason.

Its kinda hard to say, an alarm will scare vandals off, but it won't be until they do something that sets it off anyway, if you get what I mean.

I'm not saying I understand goes through the mind of a vandal, but if its mindless vandalism, a car with or without an alarm will not matter.

[Bernard Siong]

just put insurance
really... no joke

i think the astra security system is good enough
one the astra looks like a granny car... haha jkz

alarm wont do much these days as most people ignore them thinking its just another 'false' alarm
just double lock your car to dead lock it so even if they wanna get in they cant and you have immobilizers already so they cant joy ride it unless their pros! if they wanna damage your car they will with alarm and not
trick is to keep your car looking as simple as possible and not attract unwanted attention!

[InSaNe^Sna1L]

the one that Roger Moore has in one of the bond films...you know...the one that blows the car up....get that! or the one from The World is Not Enough....on the Beemer....that send an electric shock to the bad guys....that will do.

In all seriousness....the Viper car alarms are apparently pretty good. Any car alarm with a few sensors will be alright. For the money you can get a kick ass alarm for around $500. How much is your car worth?

[EL BURITO]

the one that Roger Moore has in one of the bond films...you know...the one that blows the car up....get that! or the one from The World is Not Enough....on the Beemer....that send an electric shock to the bad guys....that will do.

Wouldnt that be cool if you could really get that stuff.
Key gets placed on car, vandal falls to he floor unconsious, you find him and beet the **** out of his worthless ass.

[Nem]

the one that Roger Moore has in one of the bond films...you know...the one that blows the car up....get that! or the one from The World is Not Enough....on the Beemer....that send an electric shock to the bad guys....that will do.
All time favourite car alarm moment has to be Robocop:
"Magnavolt! The final word in auto security. No embarassing alarm noise, no need to trouble the police, (starts the car) and it won't even run down your battery!"
I dont think you need to go over the top when it comes to car alarms in small cars. People are more likely to wanna key your car just because it tells them to step off. Get something that does the basics (siren, autoclosure). If they want to steal the car they'll get into it anyhow. Maybe get something that pages/SMSs you when its tripped so you can investigate it ASAP (if you can afford it). But nobody else cares about your car alarm going off these days unless its because its loud and irritating. (I think they've actually banned loud excessive sirens in New York because of noise pollution.)

[Namus]

Alarms won't do anything against keying or vandals (apart from if they break a window or something significant) otherwise, graffiti and keying won't be stopped by an alarm...

I've got a Mongoose/Viper alarm; goes well.....prices would've dropped a fair bit tho from 3 years ago, so u'd have to go out and ask around

[low astra]

yeah true that, if someone wants 2 smash something on your car there gonna do it alarm or no alarm,

id rather not hear the alarm, for 2 reasons, it will wake me and that makes me mad, and secondly i will harm the person/ people vandalising or stealing my property and have 2 face charges, its not worth the trouble in my opinion,

just get a sensor light the shines bright as on your car, and that scares people away good enough

[imad4u]

There are a few options when it comes to protecting your car..... You can use a dual stage microwave sensor so if someone walks near your car the alarm will beep to warn off anyone... with something like this you will want a switch fitted so you are able to turn this feature on or off...

most modern cars are stolen from people being careless with the car keys... example, leaving them at home while your not there and the car is... or leaving your keys in the car at the service station etc... A biometric system or pin code system will stop that from happening... as you have to use your fingerprint or pin code before the car can be started...

you can have a 3d tilt sensor as well if you want to reduce the risk of someone stealing your wheels or towing the car away... example if the car is tilted more the 1 degree when the alarm is armed than the system will sound...

I would recommend looking at rhino car alarms new product guide...

http://www.rhinosecurity.com/go.php?p=2

If you want pricing than message me and I will get back to you..

[Chris R]

fire me a PM. done a couple of SRI-t 's now. can keep the factory key as well.

[platypus]

trunk monkey - thats the way to go

[DirtyHarry]

mate i bought a rhino upgrade alarm, with ultrasonic sensors, put it in myself.
works like a charm. cost me around $120 all up.

[platypus]

mate i bought a rhino upgrade alarm, with ultrasonic sensors, put it in myself.
works like a charm. cost me around $120 all up.
have any issues getting into the opel electrics then?

[entice]

Alarms..

people are just so desensitised to noise that we all tend to ignore them.
GSMchips to dial out? the possibility of you receiving that call and getting there in time to do anything (and what would you do?) is um... well Buckley's and Nunn.

if someone wants your car, and is determined enough, they'll get it.

In my experience alarms are a greater hassle than their worth. The brant sysem in the subies was a good idea, but a real pain to live with.. and if it went nasty, it went nasty with a few cases of teh car being shut down at high boost due to faulty bits. noit safe when you're on a freeway etc etc in peak hour..

for a modern car, I wouldnt bother. For a convertible, well I'd consider a microwave setup. for an older classic, well maybe, but the chances are a lot of people will be noticing that car and you mostly wouldnt use it for day to day motoring for long.

My AH only has factory immobiliser, and that's teh way it's staying.
The convertible has the factory setup, and that's teh way it's staying
The 2 x Fiat 124 Sports have "modernised" factory electrics (heaven forbid I leave it to the italian's in the early 70's!) and no alarms
The STI Had teh Brant
The MX5 had a microwave setup
the WRX had a Mobileock alarm
the Cordia had a Black widow.

Oh, but I fail to mention, further reasons why i dont bother with alarms nowadays is cos I dont leave things exposed, lying around in the cabin, and I keep the audio dead standard (at elast visually), and I dont go advertising what it is....

hope this helps you.

[platypus]

i've got both my holden rebadged cars i want to alarm - the Holden Apollo (fiancé's car) and my Holden Astra....

i'm more interested in the central locking so that we can quit fiddling round with keys but also have that audio confirmation - otherwise will just get 2 Rhino RCX for remote locking.

i'm also interested in keeping an alarm with the antijacking features as i've been car jacked before in my Protege.

and yes i ignore alarms but i do normally give them a glance.

[Clint]

as everyone said withb keying the car after they start its too late anyways if an alarm goes off, the damage is done. when people say juet get insurance, i disagree with that. most the stuff in my car isnt insured s with most people, if i were to insure everything, it would cost a lot to do that, ive got over 4 or 5k of ice and insurance for that is emormous, and they can choose not to insure me if i want all of that insured.

anf for minor damage its not worth claiming insurance since my excess is $2,500. a good thing the vectras have is locks on the back of the rear seats so that you cant push the button and pull the rear seats down. so if i have that locked, they cannot get into the boot, so the carpc, amps, sub, screen, etc is safe, the headunit is not coming out of the car, when i made the custom place for it where the cup holders/ashtray was i made sure you cannot get it out! speakers cant be removed without getting the door skins off, cant get them off without opening doors, cant open doors due to deadlocks, and that doesnt really leave much else. wheels i suppose can be taken, and car cant be driven cause of the immobiliser, only thing they can really do is put it on a tow truck. and a car alarm would deter that. i have recently also thought about car alarm, was looking at the ones on ebay, heaps of features for a good price, not sure on quality tho, still have to do more research

[jvl]

fire me a PM. done a couple of SRI-t 's now. can keep the factory key as well.

Hi Chris,

I am also in the market for an alarm in an SRiT, have sent you a PM.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Charlatan]

since my excess is $2,500.

Holy hell, that is huge! I hope your premiums are suitable reduced for that!

Take the turbo badge of your SRiT, it'll attract a lot less attention from jealous vandals

[platypus]

Holy hell, that is huge! I hope your premiums are suitable reduced for that!

Take the turbo badge of your SRiT, it'll attract a lot less attention from jealous vandalsmine are the same - but at $240 pa i'm happy to have the cover! I've got two cars, and a baby and an income that totally wasn't designed for that so any saving is good

[Clint]

yea my insurance premium is $560 or something, im 18, second year of insurance, rating 4, 2nd year of driving. i had the option to half the premium and double the excess i think, or similar, so i took it.

[RudeOne]

Hi all,

After being carless for a while I'm about to get my hands on my 2nd SRiT, and am looking for a bit of advice on alarm systems. The last car I had I didn't bother, as my garaging was fairly secure. However, I'm about to move and the garaging at the new place isn't terribly secure, so I'm a bit concerned about mindless vandalism (keying, that sort of thing). I'd like to look into getting some sort of alarm system, but have no experience at all in this area and would appreciate any thoughts or experience people have had. Basically what I'd ideally like is a system that's going to deter vandals, but at the same time I don't want something that's gonna be triggered every time a cat walks past...

Any thoughts or opinions?

g'day mate, i just noticed your profile - you moved to canberra???

good to see your going back to the SriT.... :)

p.s sold 180HOA few weeks ago - was a good car !!!! thanks!

:)