Thank You Clifford!!!

[RACK 0]

My Clifford Concept 300 decided to Fook up big time last night, I had to get an alarm fitter out just to get my car started.

It totally killed it's self. The dash lights and the alarm LED wouldn't come on and the alarm wouldn't respond to the fob! :mad: :mad:

 

Anyway, it took me 4hours of messing about with the battery, then this alarm bloke just bypassed the thing in 5 minutes (Very Scary how easy he made it look!)

 

I've decided, instead of getting the Clifford sorted, I'm just gonna get it ripped out and have a different make fitted? I've had nothing but bother with it!!!

 

The fitter said he'd never touch a clifford (inspiring eh?)

He's reckomended a Toad Ai606 and will fit it for £260 all in.

 

Does anyone know what these are like?

 

The leason I have learnt is NEVER GET CLIFFORD AGAIN.

 

Thank you for letting me rant on (again)

That feels much better :lol:

 

RACK

[Jim 1]

I hear that the Toads are very good no-nonsense (John Smiths!) car alarms.. and £260 fitted is a pretty darn reasonable price mate.

 

Go for it :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Curiously my Clifford is pretty reliable but I only use it for the full closure as I've hooked the central locking up the 'Headlight' button on the fob. That way I can just walk away and plip the locks without activating the alarm.

 

Alarms themselves are a waste of time, so it's just the FC and Immobiliser aspect I bother with.

 

As for other brands, Sigma are good but the one in my mate's Subaru decided to act-up in the McDonalds drive through the other day, having been perfect for 18 months. So you just don't know. All alarm brands are hit and miss and it's largely down to installation quality than the product itself malfunctioning.

[Yash 0]

Had a Toad Ai606 in my Golf for the last 3 years without any problems. Good alarms just dont have all the add-ons that clifford have.

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

Its all very well saying your alarm isn't working when it won't let you drive the car.... but there is of course the times when it might not be working and you think it is at the other extreme!

 

There's no guarentee with alarms - but if I had a choice, I'd hope my car was immobilised completely, rather than "Here, steal me! Let me just start the engine for you too to make it easier!".

 

Cliffords have a lifetime warranty if the ownership of the car doesn't change. Just get it fixed, it'd be free...

The alarm is the most used part of the car, remember. I wish the whole car had a lifetime warranty!

[RACK 0]

I was thinking about getting it re-placed, but no-doubt no that, I had to get someone else to get it started, they'll just turn round and say, the warrently has been invalidated.

 

And I've had nothing but problems with the clifford.

 

I've decided to go for the toad, so I'll let you all know as soon as it's on.

 

Thanks for the replies

RACK

[yalan 0]

yeah - go with Toad!

I've never heard a bad word said about them & am now on my 3rd (3cars!) in 5 years.

No frills & no malfunctions.

 

Good solid chunky fob unlike most of the other brands too. And don't forget, the fob is something you've gotta see & use every day.

 

You've also got a few extra outputs for headlights, door poppers etc.

 

EDIT: the following statement is CRAP. See below..........Only down side is the full closure has a max of 3 secs power. Corrado roof & windows take longer than this so don't all close completely from fully open. You could add it on to one of the ancillary buttons but that's not quite perfect!

 

Personally I wouldn't go for anything else. Total value for money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sudden brainwave last night RE my non-full closure on the ai 606.

 

Rather than using the 'central locking output' to lock & close the car, I've just added a relay to the separate window closure circuit, switched it onto automatically close when armed, and hooked the c/l up to this aux output instead. Set the closure pulse to 8 secs and bobs your uncle.....

Now fully closing completely on Arm.

 

Well Happy. Toad alarms are the mutts!

[RACK 0]

I hear what you're saying about the fobs

 

Both my clifford fobs needed repairing twice.

 

The closure time isn't that much of a problem. Due to me having a compulsive behaviour disorder, I have to check the car about 5 times to see if it's locked :lol: :lol:

[RACK 0]

Just thought I'd let you all know, I got the Toad fitted on friday and have nothing but good things to say about it :D

 

I'll never have a clifford again! Plus the nice people who fitted the Clifford made a right balls up of it, so much so, they didn't even connect any interior sensors!!! :mad: :mad:

 

The thing is, the place I had it done, had a really good reputation, round south yorkshire, not any more though!!!

[BeavisJem 0]

i know the clifford feeling with the install, on my clifford 500 they put one of the proximity sensors in the middle of the car but the other one was put in the driver footwell behind the fuse box. Hmmm very useful. and its just a general mess behind the dash. They put the dash back with the wrong screws, just a crap install, i think i will rip it out and get another alarm put in.

 

Beavisjem

[randal 0]

Can give you another thumbs up on the toad. Had a little bit of gripe with it before, but worked out what that was. I goofed. The tape I put on the wires from the old door mechanisms had come off, and they had shorted on the door metal. :shock: Hence, my central locking was glitchy at best... Grr.

 

Well that aside, the alarm is awesome. Would be nice if I could find out how to wire the 3rd button up to something. The 4th is headlights, but there's something about a radio controlled spoiler that makes me giggle. :lol:

[STORM 2 0]

Curiously my Clifford is pretty reliable but I only use it for the full closure as I've hooked the central locking up the 'Headlight' button on the fob. That way I can just walk away and plip the locks without activating the alarm.

 

Great idea Kev - Ive got a concept 500 - how do I do this?

[Steve B 0]

the nice people who fitted the Clifford made a right balls up of it, so much so, they didn't even connect any interior sensors!!!

 

Which makes you wonder what kind of job they did with the more important aspects such as wiring...

 

Yet again shite fitting being blamed on the alarm.

[Supercharged 2]

HTRB!

[dinkus 10]

It's worth noting here guys that an alarm is only as good as the person that fits it. Most of the Cat1 alarms can be very good, but if they've been fitted on a Friday afternoon by a chimpanzee then it'll be unreliable and useless.

 

I've got an Autowatch which was supposed to be very good, but it goes off all the time for no apparent reason because the wiring is utter crap due to being installed by a moron.

 

The best advice I can give is to find a good alarm fitter and get their recommendation on what to fit and get them to fit it.

[PhatVR6 0]

Couldn't have said it better myself dinkus. Alarm installers ar idiots, I woulrdn't let one anywhere near my car again unless i was stood over his shoulder watching his every move.

 

I've had 2 cliffords. one a Concept 50x, which was so much bother I had to have it reinstalled.

 

I carried this alarm across myself to another car and it never gave me any bother at all. curretnly sat in a bag waiting to be installed on my missus's car.

 

Bought an Avantgauard G5 top-of-the-range Clifford off ebay for my Corrado, fitted it myself, only had a few false alarms until I got the sensor locations right. It seems they are very sensitive to heat, so don't place them on the tunnel where exhaust heat can get at them. Never even bothered with the remote start function, can't see the point of it.

 

Never had a TOAD, but every car I've borrowed that has one completely baffles me and i manage to set the alarm off all the time.