Alarms

[Azman]

Hi guys.

I have an old Clifford Eagle Alarm in my car. At the moment the thing goes off every hour night or day.

So I may have to upgrade it (well it is 15yrs old) especially as it is now not a thatcham approved jobbie.

Anyone got any good experiences of alarm companies or suggestions of alarms?

Cheers

Aaron

[A80Avant]

i think you should go for the newer clifford alarms.I got the matrix 2.5 which is very good!

[curlyks2]

I recommend that your first port of call on this is to the Thatcham website, particularly this page which has links to the approved alarm lists.

For fitters/companies, I have no specific recommendation - apart from to avoid (sorry to swear folks) Halfords like the plague.

NCT ... etc

Ck.

[Azman]

Anyone had dealings with GAP Security, they offer to come and fit it included in the price at home/work. Sounds Good.

Anyone used them, if so did they do a good job?

Cheers

[neebover]

Gap Security!

Ordered Clifford Concept 650 with Remote Start Option. Pushy on phone when trying to sell me it as it was cheaper elsewhere, after bartering got to a price I was willing to pay. Engineer made appointment which was changed twice. Took all day to install system and he also immobilised my vehicle by damaging my key. Audi had to get new key and program etc. No car for few days! Complained to him and he put me a turbo timer on for free, which is great option! Wrote letter to MD of Gap Security who refunded cost of new key and work by Audi and also hire car costs. Also refunded was cost of Remote Start and got to keep it which is now just about working. Basically, i got the complete system for free. Good system, good helpful company, maybe I got a bad engineer. Not 100% sure about them after initial sales push. Just don't get ripped off.. Cheers..

[Alistair C]

Anyone had dealings with GAP Security, they offer to come and fit it included in the price at home/work. Sounds Good.

Anyone used them, if so did they do a good job?

Cheers

err.... no for GAP:

they're just agents, they just seem to put independant installers in touch with customers. I'm sure there are some very competant installers out there - but FAR too many horror stories with GAP.

http://the-corrado.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26755

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=51778

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=481671

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=478053

Perhaps THIS LINK might have someone locally recommended for you....

And regards to brand of alarm - I'd personally steer clear of Cliffords. Too gimmicky & tempremental IMHO. Unknown beeps and chirps. Poorly designed fobs which just stop working. £60 for a replacement too!

I'd suggest a Toad Ai606. Simple, efficient and reliable. I've fitted / had fitted 5 toads to various cars and not had one false alarm or unidentifiable chirp.

But MOST important is getting someone good to fit it. Not someone who joins wires just by twisting together, covers everything in insulating tape (which then undoes itself) and fits screws with a hammer....... seen it all before!

[S2_Dave]

I had the Toad Ai606 fitted to my previous 20V Coupe and I now have the Concept 650 + some options fitted in my S2. I don't have any bad experiences with either to comment on which is the better alarm, but the Ai606 has been around for some time now and I almost had to be standing next to the car for the remote to work (even when new). Not so with the Concept 650, which works from a much greater range!

One benefit of the Ai606 remote fob is that it has separate lock and unlock buttons, so even if you're not sure whether you remembered to lock it, you can still press the button without worrying you're inadvertently unlocking your car. Although, you have to be so close to the car you'd be able to visually check. With the Concept 650 you get a single lock/unlock, so you need to be able to hear the two chirps or see your indicators flash twice to be sure you've just locked, rather than unlocked, your car. Of course, you have passive arming options on both alarms, so this wouldn't be such a problem if you had it enabled.

I had a GAP franchisee install my Concept 650, but I didn't go through GAP . He came out to my house (which is only a few miles up the A5 from you). My lights-on buzzer doesn't work and I've only noticed since having the alarm installed, but I can't say for certain it worked beforehand . I'd rather have an alarm than a warning about my lights being on though. Especially as the alarm monitors the voltage and will start the engine should it drop too low (around 10.7V I think).

PM me if you want his number and I'll see if I can dig it out.

[S2 Ant]

I had a Toad Ai606 and its now sat cut up on the floor of my room in the box that my Clifford 650 came in.

My car was broken in to a couple of months ago, damage done, but as soon as entry was gained THEN the Toad went off (no prox sensors on them alarms!) so not a lot of good really.

Ive now got the Clifford on my car, prox sensor is very easily adjusted from the fob to turn it up and down (I turn it up at home and down in carparks, so that people just walking past dont trigger the prox in town)
Never had any false alarms and that big flashing blue light is a big enough sign that a proper alarm is on the car.

From discussions like this across other car forums i use, the Cliffords seem to be the best alarms to get, reliability etc comes down to a good fitter or not, poorly installed alarms are always going to have problems whatever there brand.

I can recommend someone from the Croydon area that done mine for me, he is mobile as well. Company called SoundSecure.
He spent several hours finding the problem with my central locking that stopped working as i was sure it was electrical before getting to work on the alarm and didnt charge anything for this either!

I had the dual prox installed, along with internal siren and a 2nd external siren, so if it goes off now it will wake the dead! LOL, but the prox IMO is a good one which is enough to keep people away that think about it.

Its also go the BlackJax as well, so even if someone has the fob and gets around the alarm they still have to put in the Blackjax code as well or the car will die anyway, regardless of having the alarm fob!

[topsparky]

Ordered Clifford Concept 650 with Remote Start Option. Pushy on phone when trying to sell me it as it was cheaper elsewhere, after bartering got to a price I was willing to pay. Engineer made appointment which was changed twice. Took all day to install system and he also immobilised my vehicle by damaging my key. Audi had to get new key and program etc. No car for few days! Complained to him and he put me a turbo timer on for free, which is great option! Wrote letter to MD of Gap Security who refunded cost of new key and work by Audi and also hire car costs. Also refunded was cost of Remote Start and got to keep it which is now just about working. Basically, i got the complete system for free. Good system, good helpful company, maybe I got a bad engineer. Not 100% sure about them after initial sales push. Just don't get ripped off.. Cheers..

if you have remote start it's no longer thatcham approved .so check with insurance agents b4 getting remote start

[neebover]

if you have remote start it's no longer thatcham approved .so check with insurance agents b4 getting remote start

Thanks for that, its been installed but not operational. Will check anyway. Cheers
Chris..