car alarms

[hunker7]

Another ai606 vote here. Tilt, shock, proximity, and very stable. Proximity is quite a cool feature, gives 4 discrete pips if somebody/something moves within the adjustable range. Handy little warning to anyone getting a bit nosey.

Thanks mate, I've noticed cars beep when I get close to them and always thought that's cool By the looks of it ai606 is the one to go for, good price and quite extensive list of features

[Ringmaster]

Yep. I'd have another, and bought it on the numerous reports of it being more reliable than Cliffords, which are apparently 'highly strung'!

[chez]

Toad ai600 is a very good alarm system as is the cat 1 gt, selca ,lazerline and Clifford .
It's the time and care that an installer takes that's the key.
Cliffords are very time consuming and need setting up correctly. The G4 range was crap but not had a problem with my 950 intelligaurd.

[Error404]

I just installed an Ai606 in mine, cost me under £100. Took about 6 hours to install, with the dash already out. I did it properly though, "professional" installers don't bother and so I would NEVER get one fitted by a certifed installer as they are without exception failed electricians working to a budget in a dying cowboy industry.
Better to do it yourself, take your time do it right and they pay to get it certified afterwards, whatever worth that is to anyone except the insurers. The only reason I bothered is I needed one for insurance, and I wanted remote locking.

FWIW I have removed quite a few certified CAT1 systems now on my own and mates cars when they have ****ed up, all really easy to remove and/or bypass if you know what you are doing. One of them we did in a disabled parking space outside Tesco in about 45 minutes, with the alarm going off. Threw it in the bin, started the car and drove of. Noone batted an eyelid. They are ****ing useless unless you make it too much of a pain in the **** for a thief to bother and the only way to do that is to hide the unit really well and wrap all the wiring in OEM loom tape and route all the wiring "neatly" with the OEM stuff so it is not obvious that it isn't part of the OEM wiring harnesses.

Just my 2c

[UrS4boy]

Toad AI606 Video

Interesting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFRvW0EbZC4

[Ringmaster]

I just installed an Ai606 in mine, cost me under £100. Took about 6 hours to install, with the dash already out. I did it properly though, "professional" installers don't bother and so I would NEVER get one fitted by a certifed installer as they are without exception failed electricians working to a budget in a dying cowboy industry.
Better to do it yourself, take your time do it right and they pay to get it certified afterwards, whatever worth that is to anyone except the insurers. The only reason I bothered is I needed one for insurance, and I wanted remote locking.

FWIW I have removed quite a few certified CAT1 systems now on my own and mates cars when they have ****ed up, all really easy to remove and/or bypass if you know what you are doing. One of them we did in a disabled parking space outside Tesco in about 45 minutes, with the alarm going off. Threw it in the bin, started the car and drove of. Noone batted an eyelid. They are ****ing useless unless you make it too much of a pain in the **** for a thief to bother and the only way to do that is to hide the unit really well and wrap all the wiring in OEM loom tape and route all the wiring "neatly" with the OEM stuff so it is not obvious that it isn't part of the OEM wiring harnesses.

Just my 2c

Good point that. There are unfortunately a lot of one man outfits in this field that leave a huge amount to be desired, not only in the quality of their work, but also in aftersales care.

Maybe (for the not so electronically-savvy) we could pitch in with the details of some of the better installers/companies that are genuinely reputable when it comes to fitting alarms. The thread title wouldn't negate such a tangent..!

[Jamo]

Is any one useing a clifford 650 ?

I did on the old Avant, s**t alarm kept going off and dodgy control box

[Jamo]

And what does that certificate do?

Quite simple, it proves you have the alarm fitted to cat 1 standard. That's why there are certified installers

Some insurers insist on having a copy of the certificate per renewal, others want it if your car gets stolen to prove your car was alarmed.

If you are only doing it for yourself and not insurance purposes then you can do it yourself. But don't see the point in that myself unless you get it certified afterwards

It does depend on who installs it, my ai606 was done via CED's car alarms in brum , their reputation is so good, main dealers and local garages take their cars their for electrical diagnosis and repair.

[Error404]

Bet it's still a bag of **** if you look at the wiring. Fact is it takes time to do a good job, time costs money. Thatcham certified means muppet on my book, unfortunately a necessary evil on our cars.

[urS6Tom]

I just installed an Ai606 in mine, cost me under £100. Took about 6 hours to install, with the dash already out. I did it properly though, "professional" installers don't bother and so I would NEVER get one fitted by a certifed installer as they are without exception failed electricians working to a budget in a dying cowboy industry.
Better to do it yourself, take your time do it right and they pay to get it certified afterwards, whatever worth that is to anyone except the insurers. The only reason I bothered is I needed one for insurance, and I wanted remote locking.

Any advice on installing the Remote Start module? I've got a Toad Ai606 fitted in my S6. I've got the dash out now, so I'm going to rewire it and make sure it's all fitted int there properly. I want to add remote start, but at the moment can only get a quote from Toad to do it for £250.. which seems a lot.

Cheers
Tom

[bluequattro]

I've a clifford on my Discovery, had one on a ur too.
Both with intelli start
Both a pile of poop!
Intelli start is a good gimmick, but I can't really see the point.
Bit unnerving seeing the tuned, 4l v8, with straight pipes start up while I'm in the house.
Don't like the auto door lock feature when it gets to certain revs either.
When the throttle potentiometer was playing up it would sporadically rev to over the auto lock rev and lock me out!
Good job it has crappy BL door handles that don't lock properly
If y aren't interested in a cat 1 job then a few hidden switches in the ecu and fuel pump circuits would do

[hunker7]

Why I am thinking of alatm is because i want remote central locking. CAT1 alarm increased my insurance, so fock it. Could get remote locking kit and wire in some switches for fuel pump.

[mike74]

I had an autowatch on my last motor. Was a fairly basic unit out of the box but, you could add 'modules' to it to proressively upgrade it. Nothing fancy but worked as it should for +3 years and still counting

[montyrs2]

Why I am thinking of alatm is because i want remote central locking. CAT1 alarm increased my insurance, so fock it. Could get remote locking kit and wire in some switches for fuel pump.

You can always get a CAT 1 so you have piece of mind it is harder for it to get nicked then not tell the insurance company it has one.

[hunker7]

Can anyone suggest a good place to fit an alarm, preferably somewhere around Leeds, don't mind driving a bit for a good fitter. I guess it won't hurt to have an alarm.