Best pager car alarm for our trucks?

[Rayyy]

My Yukon was stolen (I live in a 3rd world country called San Francisco).

The cops found my truck a week later. The seat was adjusted alllll the way forward and the stereo was set to Espanol.

Luckily my stereo was still there, but I had these big steel frame beams in the back with the seat folded down, and of course they dumped them somewhere, so they could fold up the rear seat and smoke blunts in my truck. Bastards.

I’d like to install a pager style car alarm, so I can be notified if someone enters my truck again… This was I can step outside and have a little conversation with them.

Anyone got any recommendations on a pager alarm system? Especially one that doesn’t have a monthly subscription fee?

 

[Doubeleive]

anything worth a shit is going to have a fee
i use a directed viper alarm and directed smart start module 4g/gps
the viper fob has a 1 mile range, the smartphone app has worldwide range.
i also added tilt & glass sensors, it has a digital fence feature as well so if it got towed you would be notified
the smartstart 4g/gps fee is around $20 a month but is billed annually or tri-annually at a slightly better price.

 

[S33k3r]

What Doubeleive said. Our trucks (2004 Silverado, 2003 Sierra) were broken into with intent to steal in September of 2020. We, too, have Viper Alarms installed, and pay the monthly. I do advise against installing the motion sensor as, at least the one in the Sierra, is crap and goes off all the time. We've had it adjusted a dozen times or so. The next adjustment is to disable it.

One other suggestion I have seen is a kill switch; this does not work well with remote start, mind you, but it is pretty effective in keeping your vehicle from being stolen. If you want the best money can buy, it is likely these folks:

https://www.ravelco.com/

If you are a DIYer, search our forums for kill switches; there is a lot of good advice here. Keep in mind a kill switch must 1) disable the vehicle, 2) be impossible to disarm except by authorized users of your vehicle and 3) must be easy to disarm by authorized users of your vehicle.

One last piece of advice: If you go the kill switch route, you need to arm it every time you leave the vehicle; EVERY time. Because 1) the first time you don't someone will steal it and 2) if you vary your entering and exiting the vehicle routine, a determined thief is going to take notice and may figure out how to turn off the kill switch. While point one is hyperbole, you will still feel stupid if someone does steal your vehicle when the kill switch is turned off...

 

[tRidiot]

I agree, Python two-way paging alarm with all the bells and whistles here (on 3 vehicles), as well as the Smartstart feature (on my Hoe) that allows me to remote start from anywhere and also get all the alerts on my phone.


Oh, and about going out to have a word... just don't. I know the temptation would be there, but we had a guy a few blocks from me who did that last year when he caught someone breaking into his vehicle. When the cops got there, he was bleeding out and died.


Your truck isn't worth that.

 

[S33k3r]

I agree, Python two-way paging alarm with all the bells and whistles here (on 3 vehicles), as well as the Smartstart feature (on my Hoe) that allows me to remote start from anywhere and also get all the alerts on my phone.


Oh, and about going out to have a word... just don't. I know the temptation would be there, but we had a guy a few blocks from me who did that last year when he caught someone breaking into his vehicle. When the cops got there, he was bleeding out and died.


Your truck isn't worth that.

When someone tried to steal our trucks last year, I did some really deep thinking. It isn't worth it to me to take someone else's life, or even maim them, over a vehicle.

If that is not enough to dissuade you from violence, your posts affirming that could potentially pulled into court when the ******, would-be thief is suing you for assault, or his family is suing you for wrongful death.

 

[tRidiot]

Eh, that's not my concern. In my home, the law says I can defend my castle - at least where I live. Out in the driveway, not so much. I know for a while in TX deadly force was authorized to prevent theft of property, I'm not sure if that has been repealed or restricted in some way.

I just don't want to see someone die trying to save their own vehicle.