ME

[quote]Originally posted by NoRdiC 200shot
My car curently has the avant guard in it and once i arm it, i couldn't steal my own car without disarming it. DO NOT GO CHEAP ON YOUR ALARM THERE IS A REASON WHY ONE COSTS $400 compared to $99

The Avantguard IV is an outstanding alarm but it comes at a hefty premium. Not many people can justify spending $1k+ installed on an alarm.

reason 1- ...when someone is trying to jack your car, he simply reaches under and cuts the only wire that is comeing through your firewall. the whole preocedure takes 10 seconds. BAM..your alarm has been disabled.

First off, I don't know anyone that can "reach under" a Prelude and find a siren wire. A more pressing threat is popping the hood and cutting the battery wire (battery backup solves that.) What is true is that a siren is usually placed high on the firewall and is thus very easy to disable. All you really need to do is have the siren well hiden, I recommend behind the fender. As long as you tape the wires, and run them discretely, a thief will have one hell of a time finding them.

reason 2- the ignition kills provided in 99% of alarms are a joke...all i have to do as a car jacker is simply pull one of the ignition plugs out of the relay and plug it into the relay pin in the middle, which would close my circuit. disable time=5sec.

All you have to do is locate the brain and cut the wires, viola car can be hot wired. As you correctly point out the brain is usually right up under the dash. Since most starter kills are the normally-closed type the car can be started once the alarm brain is out-of-service. The fix here is to hide the relay well and blend the wires into the steering column bundle. I do think this is one area Clifford is superior, they use normally open relays to avoid such a threat.

reason 3- 99% of the shops that do install alarms put the alarm brain in almost the exact same place. within 12 inches of the steering column.

This is very true, one of the first things it says in DEI install manuals is not to place the brain there. The fix here is of course to locate the brain elsewhere and hide the wiring well. The problem is people shop by price only and to be competitive shops have to skimp on the install.

reason 4- there is alot of hype in the alarm industry...Almost ALL of them 99%(theres that percentage again) do the same thing except diffrent packaging.

This is very true, DEI has the exact same alarm, with slightly different looking remotes, under several different brand names (Python, Viper, Avital etc.) I would stick with a name brand like DEI or Clifford, build quality is important.

reason 5-...reason is the alarms are ussually nothing more than a buncha minature relays packed nicely in a black box.

True and installation is so critical, people just don't realize that. Any $100 installed alarm is nothing more than a remote lock popper.

that is your basic alarm. now look at those wires. how many are actually a type of wire for securing your car? 2.

I don't see how the number of wires is releveant (that's a red herring.) What is relevant is how well the car is protected. Any point of entry (doors, trunk, hood) should trigger the alarm. Extras like a glass break sensor are nice and a battery backup is very helpful. And most important of all is a good installation, the reason cars are so easy to steal is because 95% of alarms are poorly installed. Yes, convenience has a lot to do with the popularity of alarm systems but what's wrong with that?

first of all, the clifford siren for the higher models is self powered.

A well installed siren and a battery backup are just as good IMO. Or add a battery backup siren, it sounds when the power is cut.

second, the ignition kill is built into the alarm brain itself and not simply a external relay attached to the cars ignition. This there fore does not allow for the car jacker to simply rewire the ignition.

I don't think theifs rewiring a relay is a real threat. The NO nature of Clifford ignition kills is a big plus though. As I said before, good installation of a standard ignition kill realy gets around the threat IMO.

third, the lead wires supplied with the cliford alarms are unbelevably looooong. This is so the alarm brain can be mounted extremely far from the steering column.

This is nice but as long as the brain isn't up under the dash the thiefs are going to have a tough time finding it.

fourth, most alarms have only 2 wires to detect intrusion, the lowest model of clifford has 5, and the highest model with a staggering 23.

With negative triggers all you need to do is diode isolate them and you can have as many as you want. True, you don't get as many zones reporting but they do trigger the alarm.

fifth, you have the option of adding a wireless imoblizer.

This is a very nice piece indeed, clearly an area where Clifford is superior. It does add a lot to cost and IMO there is a point of diminishing returns for making a car harder to steal. All they have to do is tow it and your $1k Clifford AG4 has meet its match.

conclusion?

buy the clifford, spend the extra $300-400, or dont spend $100 and save it until you can buy the clifford.

Clifford G4 products are nice but expensive. I think a decent brand that is well installed offers all the protection you need. Consumers need to educate themselves before buying and learn to place much more emphasis on the install.

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93 Prelude VTEC - SOLD