What alarm systems do you guys have on your S2k’s and which do you guys think is the best?

 

You can make it simple with an Apple Air Tag. Geo fence the thing and it will send you a warning. Of course you can track it.

Manual transmissions are becoming more difficult to steal.

 

Funny you say that I’m literally doing that, geofence with the AirTag???

 

No alarm on mine but yeah simple solution would be an airtag. I have not shopped alarms in eons, when I last did Compustar was pretty big with a huge remote range and 2 way remote, not sure what the current hotness is.

But one bit of advice, dont keep valuables in it and dont lock the doors. I would rather a thief steal my $160 head unit than cut open my $500 top to break in and steal my $160 head unit. Door locks are pretty much useless on a soft top. You can also rewire the trunk button in the center console to only have power when the ignition is on, so if they get into the cabin, they still cannot easily get into the trunk so you can keep stuff in there when out and about.

 

I often park the car top down in nice weather (I do have a giant folding double hoop windshield screen that I pop out behind the pax seat to keep the seats cool) with the windows up and locked. All you have to do is reach over to unlock but it might keep the kids from opening the doors willy nilly. Nothing of value and I don't think anyone is really going to go to the hassle to break out a 10 year old HU in the middle of a Costco parking lot.
The air tag is great if I walk out of Costco and the S is not there!

 

speaking of Airtags... definitely limitations there.

 

Bought the Modifry kit that blinks the alarm led on dash. Fake alarm. Not sure which years had alarm led in dash.

Cheap and easy. If it never disuades anyone, nothing lost.

Also bought a hardwired tracker with battery backup. Uses cell phone card. Tracking app. Pings cell towers, etc. So none of the drawbacks of airtags needing to be nearby a user, etc.

Don't get me started on LoCrap. Similar to airtag in that a cop with LoJack tech needs to drive by it to be located. Get it to isolated area before reported stolen and Lojack activated, invisible.

With this cell tracker I can always track last known location and history. Even if tracker found and deactivated, or moved, can find where car was taken.

If parked can check make sure still where left. Know if stolen even before physically seeing it missing. Start tracking.

You can do most of this with an old cell phone you hard wire and hide. But this device can also be used as kill switch, activated from phone app.

So if carjacked, let them get down road a bit, shut them down. They'll think mechanical issue, abandon. Can do same if remotely noticed taken (assuming not a tow away theft). Wait till you're nearby, kill it. Collect it.

Some of these systems require monthly fee. I bought one (Amazon) that doesn't. Just need another phone on your plan (no need for any real bandwidth, etc). Just use the phone card, no need for actual phone.

 

All these cars have a simple alarm probably for the past 30 years. Not sure what practical advantage something more exotic can do. Good if parked in your driveway where you can do something.

Anyone who has heard a car alarm raise your hand. Good!

Anyone who has seen anyone other than the owner do anything about it? Most common reaction is annoyance.

(Anyone got a cricket emoji?)

-- Chuck

 

Was the purpose of alarm ever to ask bystanders to intervene? Wasn't the idea that it would make people look, be able give Police a description, etc.

The idea being if a real incident was taking place, people would actually pay attention, and that alone would scare most theives away.

It all went South when it turned out 99.9% of time it was false alarm.

It was a good idea, poorly executed.

 

You can be pretty clever hiding something like an AirTag. It is a little fatter than a quarter. You can find a great spot and even camouflage it.