CompuSTAR Alarm

[slowbird]

I was thinking about maybe getting a 2 way pager alarm for the car.

I know our cars are sometimes finciky with the passlock and such...are there any issues that people come across with alarms in GA's?

Also...any opinions on people who have them or have thought about them or if it's even worth the money.

I do NOT have any aftermarket Stereo Equipment, nor do I plan on getting any.

I'm more leaning towards the 2 way alarm for Vandalism purposes, or to alert me if someone hits my car in a lot or on the street.
(Maybe even save some $$ on insurance)

Any info/opinions would be helpful.

[sunrunner_pei]

If the alarm doesn't include a remote start (which you don't mention in your post), you won't have to worry about passlock. :)

[slowbird]

Originally posted by sunrunner_pei
If the alarm doesn't include a remote start (which you don't mention in your post), you won't have to worry about passlock. :) Really ehh?
Yea...no remote start.

Good to know...thanks! :D

[MantaGreen97]

Good ol' Compustar! The choice of Torontonians... If you don't drive a Honda Civic with a Compustar alarm, your car must be worthless :roll2: LOL.

Well more seriously I would say I don't have that much against Compustar. They make good alarms, yes. They aren't the end-all and be-all like every Civic-driving person in Toronto might tell you though.

Problem with Compustar is their dealer exclusivity. It could be viewed as a good thing, but personally I don't like it. The way Compustar works is that you can't aquire a system on your own and install it on your own. Well there are ways of buying them but Compustar will offer absolutely ZERO support and absolutely ZERO warranty on such a unit.

That means no self-install. Fair enough, if you're getting it installed anyway. However, that also means that *all* after sales issues *must* be handled through a Computstar dealer/installer, whether it's in warranty or out. None of the manuals, etc are available to anyone but Compustar dealers.

Imagine having to take your car to a dealership (and nowhere else) anytime you needed service... It's the same type of deal. If you have a problem it's very unlikely you'll get help from anyone other than a Compustar dealer and if it's not covered under warranty you're definitely going to be paying for the fix, and Compustar ain't cheap, lol.

For that reason I tend to dislike Compustar. Personally I would never buy one, but lots of people are happy with them.

What I really don't get is the general attitude of Toronto people that have to have their Honda Civic and have to have a Compustar alarm. :roll2: According to those types, if you buy anything other than Compustar to protect your car, you're buying a crappy alarm system :roll2: There are certainly other brands of car security systems that are excellent products, so don't let someone tell you Compustar is "the best" when that's hardly the case.

Anyway if you do go with Compustar, you will be getting a good product. However just be clear on the way Compustar does business before getting one installed.

[slowbird]

Originally posted by MantaGreen97
Good ol' Compustar! The choice of Torontonians... If you don't drive a Honda Civic with a Compustar alarm, your car must be worthless :roll2: LOL.

Well more seriously I would say I don't have that much against Compustar. They make good alarms, yes. They aren't the end-all and be-all like every Civic-driving person in Toronto might tell you though.

Problem with Compustar is their dealer exclusivity. It could be viewed as a good thing, but personally I don't like it. The way Compustar works is that you can't aquire a system on your own and install it on your own. Well there are ways of buying them but Compustar will offer absolutely ZERO support and absolutely ZERO warranty on such a unit.

That means no self-install. Fair enough, if you're getting it installed anyway. However, that also means that *all* after sales issues *must* be handled through a Computstar dealer/installer, whether it's in warranty or out. None of the manuals, etc are available to anyone but Compustar dealers.

Imagine having to take your car to a dealership (and nowhere else) anytime you needed service... It's the same type of deal. If you have a problem it's very unlikely you'll get help from anyone other than a Compustar dealer and if it's not covered under warranty you're definitely going to be paying for the fix, and Compustar ain't cheap, lol.

For that reason I tend to dislike Compustar. Personally I would never buy one, but lots of people are happy with them.

What I really don't get is the general attitude of Toronto people that have to have their Honda Civic and have to have a Compustar alarm. :roll2: According to those types, if you buy anything other than Compustar to protect your car, you're buying a crappy alarm system :roll2: There are certainly other brands of car security systems that are excellent products, so don't let someone tell you Compustar is "the best" when that's hardly the case.

Anyway if you do go with Compustar, you will be getting a good product. However just be clear on the way Compustar does business before getting one installed.

:explode:

Uhhhh....okay.

I never knew all that. I figured Viper was the alarm brand of choice. My buddy has a good Viper alarm.

Only reason why I'm going CompuSTAR is that it's on sale with free installation and it's $100 less then the other alarms I found.

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by MantaGreen97
Good ol' Compustar! The choice of Torontonians... If you don't drive a Honda Civic with a Compustar alarm, your car must be worthless :roll2: LOL.

Well more seriously I would say I don't have that much against Compustar. They make good alarms, yes. They aren't the end-all and be-all like every Civic-driving person in Toronto might tell you though.

Problem with Compustar is their dealer exclusivity. It could be viewed as a good thing, but personally I don't like it. The way Compustar works is that you can't aquire a system on your own and install it on your own. Well there are ways of buying them but Compustar will offer absolutely ZERO support and absolutely ZERO warranty on such a unit.

That means no self-install. Fair enough, if you're getting it installed anyway. However, that also means that *all* after sales issues *must* be handled through a Computstar dealer/installer, whether it's in warranty or out. None of the manuals, etc are available to anyone but Compustar dealers.

Imagine having to take your car to a dealership (and nowhere else) anytime you needed service... It's the same type of deal. If you have a problem it's very unlikely you'll get help from anyone other than a Compustar dealer and if it's not covered under warranty you're definitely going to be paying for the fix, and Compustar ain't cheap, lol.

For that reason I tend to dislike Compustar. Personally I would never buy one, but lots of people are happy with them.

What I really don't get is the general attitude of Toronto people that have to have their Honda Civic and have to have a Compustar alarm. :roll2: According to those types, if you buy anything other than Compustar to protect your car, you're buying a crappy alarm system :roll2: There are certainly other brands of car security systems that are excellent products, so don't let someone tell you Compustar is "the best" when that's hardly the case.

Anyway if you do go with Compustar, you will be getting a good product. However just be clear on the way Compustar does business before getting one installed.

I seriously hope people don't take this MISINFORMATION the wrong way :???: What has been said here is completely FALSE AND INACCURATE.

Exclusivity? http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_censored.gif sakes man - Robert Thibert (a common distributor) sells the ENTIRE LINEUP. Shit, every shop from here to timbuktu buys from RT...thats exclusivity? And support? How about http://www.staub.ca/tech/manuals.html for online manuals for every module and remote in the Compustar lineup?

And do yourself a favour - http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&catref=C6&satitle=compustar&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1 I did the ebay search for you....only2 pages of product to order from online Etailers.

And after-sales support? yep, here's a google for ya http://www.compustar.com/support_C.htm would you look at that???!!! CONSUMER SUPPORT with manuals, FAQ's and a freakin 1-800 support number!

So lets see:

1. yes, you can purchase a unit from other than an "exclusive dealer"
2. yes, the manuals (install and users) are openly available on the web in PDF format
3. yes, Compustars customer service will in fact help you, the consumer

So basically everything stated about the Compustar line by MantaGreen97 IS COMPLETELY FALSE AND INCORRECT. I am a Compustar/Artic Start dealer, and have been for several years with GREAT SUCCESS.

I regularly sell units over the counter along with the bypass modules and relays/resistors/inverters/etc to go with it for the install. Warranty? Yep - if YOU smoke a unit, I ain't touchin in...but if something don't work right, it goes back and you get another one....simple. Stuff like this really pisses me off :mad: Shit-talk, 2nd hand banter and misinformed BULLSHIT are what lead people to avoid buying a product that would otherwise blow them away.....

bmoney

[hamiltonaudio]

Originally posted by slowbird
:explode:

Uhhhh....okay.

I never knew all that. I figured Viper was the alarm brand of choice. My buddy has a good Viper alarm.

Only reason why I'm going CompuSTAR is that it's on sale with free installation and it's $100 less then the other alarms I found.

What model of Compu are you looking at? As well, please notice my previous post - what has been said here about Compustar is entirely false and incorrect...please ignore it.

You will NOT be disappointed with your Compustar purchase...I guarantee it.

bmoney

[slowbird]

Ummm..

A place in New Market called Audio Heaven has a deal for the
Compustar 1WAMA Alarm installed with Lifetime warranty for $159.99.

However that is NOT the 2 way pager model.

So to add the needed Antenne and 2 way Pager remotes they quoted me $225 with the free install.

What's you opinion Hamilton Audio?

[hamiltonaudio]

Compu is very clear about their naming conventions...the 1W means 1-way, the AM means AM transmitter, and A means alarm-only (AS means alarm/starter). Thus 1WAMA means 1way, AM, alarm.

What does the install include? Are they doing just a basic install (parklamps, doorpin and siren) or are they doing the full job including pins front and rear, doorlocks, trunk, etc? If its just the base install, it still a reasonable deal...ask them about "throwing in" the doorlocks and trunk ;)

As far as I know, you cannot simply add-in the antenna and remote for 2-way...its an entirely different unit. The flagship in Canada is the 2W900FMA (you guessed it, 2way, 900mhz fm, alarm-only)... I sell tons of them! Great unit, bulletproof lcd remote, and the range is SIC.... There are variations of the 2way units as well....

You simply won't go wrong with the Compustar brand, no matter what you get...

bmoney

[slowbird]

That company has the 2W900FMA priced at $399....which is too much for me.

Hmmm...with all this you are talking about...adding trunk/pins and what kind of install they are doing and questioning if the alarm can be upgraded is steering me away from getting an alarm.

I may just pocket the money and give the car a tune up and by a Nintendo DS or something.

[hamiltonaudio]

you do what you want son...its your money. you asked some simple questions, and I gave you simple answers...its your show form there!

bmoney

[MantaGreen97]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
I seriously hope people don't take this MISINFORMATION the wrong way :???: What has been said here is completely FALSE AND INACCURATE.
Fair enough, I stand corrected a little bit at least.

To my defence, this isn't something that they've been doing for a long time. I know for a fact that Compustar/Firstech used to be pretty bad with giving consumers any support at all.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
Exclusivity? http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_censored.gif sakes man - Robert Thibert (a common distributor) sells the ENTIRE LINEUP. Shit, every shop from here to timbuktu buys from RT...thats exclusivity? And support? How about http://www.staub.ca/tech/manuals.html for online manuals for every module and remote in the Compustar lineup?
You completely misunderstood me there, I didn't mean at all by "exclusivity" that you only found like one place that sold them. Clearly from my post it should have been clear that you can get them at many different dealers. My point was that (previously at least) they were quite dealer exclusive.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
And do yourself a favour - I did the ebay search for you....only2 pages of product to order from online Etailers.
I don't need to do myself a favour. Compustar alarms have always been available on eBay, even way back to their first models. That still wasn't my point. Perhaps not anymore but previously you could buy them on eBay all you wanted but unless you didn't get any support or warranty at all.

And the ones on eBay I'm sure you still don't get any warranty. I seriously doubt that any great percentage of those eBay sellers are authorised.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
And after-sales support? yep, here's a google for ya http://www.compustar.com/support_C.htm would you look at that???!!! CONSUMER SUPPORT with manuals, FAQ's and a freakin 1-800 support number!
To my defence Compustar never had anything like that. Furthermore all that's up there are owner's manuals. That's hardly support... Other manufacturer's have their install guides online, etc. I wonder if you call the 1-800 number if they are going to help you install stuff?

But I guess you're right--they are improved quite a bit at least.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
1. yes, you can purchase a unit from other than an "exclusive dealer"
Well forget the exclusivity bit, you already misunderstood what I meant by that. But their pro line still shows on their website:
"CompuStar Pro Series is only available to authorized CompuStar Pro Dealers. "

But it seems they aren't much different now than other makers, so yeah I stand corrected ;) Glad to see they aren't just stonewalling customers like they used to.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
2. yes, the manuals (install and users) are openly available on the web in PDF format
I see no install manuals there. Given, DEI doesn't put their up either but there's an easy trick to get them anyway hee hee.

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
So basically everything stated about the Compustar line by MantaGreen97 IS COMPLETELY FALSE AND INCORRECT.
LOL seems that way eh? Sorry!

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
Shit-talk, 2nd hand banter and misinformed BULLSHIT are what lead people to avoid buying a product that would otherwise blow them away.....

Uh okay, I don't think all that was really necessary :roll2: The truth is Compustar used to be like that and I know because I was once interested in buying one and Firstech made it quite clear that any unit I purchased and installed outside of a Compustar dealer was going to be 100% unsupported and 100% unwarranted. Sorry that they changed their policies and I didn't know about it, geez!

Also you'll note that I never said they didn't make a good product, they do. It was just their attitude towards end-user that [used to] suck. Still, they're not the only manufacturer out there that makes good security systems.

[hamiltonaudio]

take a closer look bud -

http://www.staub.ca/tech/manuals.html

see the words INSTALLATION beside those manuals? I sure do ;) And yes, this was all quite necessary because you offered patheticly dated, misinformed jargon to a would-be customer based on information you had not validated in YEARS. Compustar has been treating people right since I've dealt with them, and thats 4 years now....

The reality is that there are plenty of great security products on the market, and further reality states that no single unit or product will be the FINITE end all be all... every customer has different needs, to which different units will fill....

And as far as I remember...DEI is pretty exclusive with their warranty and service too....and Clifford, and Avital, and....well, you get the picture...

My entire point here is if you're not 100% sure about something, don't talk like you're an authority on the topic...cause in this case you're quite far from it ;)

bmoney

[1999grandamse]

Not to be rude, but there seems to be a little bit of bias in this thread so far, albeit well informed.;)

I have a 2-way CompuStar alarm with remote start installed by an "authorized dealer," and I am quite pleased with it.
I will say that the LCD remotes are more fragile than I would like, but NO ONE can get in my car without tripping the shock sensor and waking up EVERYONE anywhere near the car. The range is excellent and the two way function and the paging abilities are wonderful when you go to school in a city. My sister's car has an AM remote start/ keyless entry model, but the range isn't so good and the remote is even more fragile than mine. One thing I really like is that my remote uses a AAA battery, so I can get a replacement anywhere, and multiple remotes are easy to program.

I would say go for it, as long as you get an FM model like I did. You will like it:)

[TA^Guy]

hamiltonaudio, is it at all possible for you to reply without being so rude, or belittling?

I know it must be hard being right all the time, but seriously can you simply answer a question or correct someone with a little respect?

[Jibo]

Originally posted by TA^Guy
hamiltonaudio, is it at all possible for you to reply without being so rude, or belittling?

I know it must be hard being right all the time, but seriously can you simply answer a question or correct someone with a little respect?

:applause:

Gotta agree Bmoney you coudl tone it down just a tad man, thanks

[hamiltonaudio]

hear ya...and duly noted. Its just sometimes hard to keep it down when you've had a rough day to begin with and then I read what I did.... no excuses...

everybody has a rough day right? ;) its VERY easy to get defensive in this industry...there is just soooooo much misinformation. I'll be nicer next time, I promise :) Can I have my ball back now? <tee hee>

bmoney

[sunrunner_pei]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
hear ya...and duly noted. Its just sometimes hard to keep it down when you've had a rough day to begin with and then I read what I did.... no excuses...

everybody has a rough day right? ;) its VERY easy to get defensive in this industry...there is just soooooo much misinformation. I'll be nicer next time, I promise :) Can I have my ball back now? <tee hee>

bmoney

:applause: Thanks for listening and understanding! :thumbup2: :toast:

[99GrandAMSE]

... have a beer, on me :)

[nineteen88ga]

can I have a shot of 151? :D

[TA^Guy]

Originally posted by hamiltonaudio
hear ya...and duly noted. Its just sometimes hard to keep it down when you've had a rough day to begin with and then I read what I did.... no excuses...

everybody has a rough day right? ;) its VERY easy to get defensive in this industry...there is just soooooo much misinformation. I'll be nicer next time, I promise :) Can I have my ball back now? <tee hee>

bmoney
Accepted. :D

And yes, I hear you loud and clear about having a bad day. Same goes for misconceptions and misinformation. People say the internet is full of valuable information, well for about ever fact that is shared I'd say it's safe to say about 10 false claims or statements are made. So I understand your pain.