5 star Alarm options

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

I'm looking at installing an alarm into our family car and the insurance company has recommended a 5 star alarm. Had a check on Trade me and there are a few options and alarms seem to be similarly priced.

So i'm looking for some feedback.. pros/cons of different brands.

Seems the popular alarms are:

AVS S5

Mongoose M80G

Uniden VS2600

Any other alarms I should be looking out for/consider?

Cheers,

Laurence

[hotwire 352]

I would not go Uniden, although most of their product is good, their alarms are not their own but a rebranded unit & from experience - not as good as others.

AVS, not had a lot to do with & not sure of their backup.

Mongoose would be my pick, also good after sales support if required

[antil33t 90]

http://www.vehiclesecurity.co.nz/

Go see Julian. He likes to send angry emails to the NZSA about their sh*t ratings.

I have an AVS3010+ in my E30. It's good as gold. But not star rated.

Edited May 25, 2012 by antil33t

[huff3r 347]

I'd go for the AVS personally, I had an S4 in my Subaru (4-Star) and it was great. No false alarms, but did go off when someone tried to pop the lock on the back door.

Mongoose I'm not so fond of, I've heard a bit that they are a very successful company at branding, making their alarms desirable but that they are no better than any other 5-star, and normally more expensive.

And my flatmate had a mongoose. It went off on every single hot day there was without fail. Absolute pain.

Edit: Also the AVS has many cool add-on features you can get, tilt sensor, microwave sensor, gps tracking etc etc

Edited May 25, 2012 by huff3r

[Driftit 1951]

I was reading that the star system no longer exists in NZ. Will find it and post it up.

Here we go.

http://vehiclesecurity.co.nz/blog/new-chec...rmsimmobilisers

Edited May 25, 2012 by driftit

[hotwire 352]

I'd go for the AVS personally, I had an S4 in my Subaru (4-Star) and it was great. No false alarms, but did go off when someone tried to pop the lock on the back door.

Mongoose I'm not so fond of, I've heard a bit that they are a very successful company at branding, making their alarms desirable but that they are no better than any other 5-star, and normally more expensive.

And my flatmate had a mongoose. It went off on every single hot day there was without fail. Absolute pain.

Edit: Also the AVS has many cool add-on features you can get, tilt sensor, microwave sensor, gps tracking etc etc

Paul, I have had a lot of experience with Mongoose over the years. They make a very good product & it IS reliable & cost comparitive.

The reason that the one you mention will be false alarming will more likely than not be a setting f%## up ... or a crap install - & I have seen plenty of these over the years.

ANY alarm is only as good as the install/setup. They should NOT false alarm & don't when set correctly.

That said, I can't say I have always had that sucess with Uniden.

There are plenty of quality alarms out there, AVS, Dynatron etc , & Mongoose probably no better than these.

Where they have an advantage is that they have good backup facilities, unlike some others.

Adding to - they have all the other upgrade options you mention re AVS

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

Cheers for the feedback guys.

Going to see a few companies around Wellington this week. AVS and Mongoose are on par price wise at around $500-$550 installed for the 5 star rated alarm. I will try my luck and see if I can get them down in price a bit and go from there.

Cheers,

Laurence

[Andre3000 55]

I'd recommend Autowatch, have them on all but one of our family cars and have never false alarmed to my knowledge, in saying that it is mostly the installers reliability which dictate results, but good quality sensors definitely makes a difference.

[Old_Skool_Bmw 0]

I'd recommend Autowatch, have them on all but one of our family cars and have never false alarmed to my knowledge, in saying that it is mostly the installers reliability which dictate results, but good quality sensors definitely makes a difference.

Thanks,

After some further research i've chosen the Autowatch 5 star alarm. The battery back-up siren is digitally encoded and this means I don't need an override key or to have the unit in an easy to reach position.

Needless to say any potential crooks would have to remove some serious body panels to get to the battery back-up siren to turn it off

Cheers,

Laurence