lexls40092

Hey guys, I'm going to be getting an aftermarket alarm installed on my 92 ls400 in the next month and was wondering a few things:

1) What should I be paying for a decent alarm and installation?

2) Will it mess with the stock alarm system on the ls?

3) Would it be cheaper to buy one off ebay and get it installed professionally rather than buying from the installer??

...I've called a few places here locally (small town), and I get the feeling that most installers have no clue how to install one on this type of car, ....also they seem to be asking too much. For example, I've been getting some price quotes of about 500-600$ installed, for a decent type system???

Maybe I should explore the route of installing one myself?? I'm not too handy, but if its just a matter of finding a drill spot for the horn, and attatching a few wires and chips, I'm sure it wouldnt be too hard?

Thanks

SharpLS-96

I would not recommend buying one off ebay because many installers will not touch an alarm you bring to them because problems can arise while installing it etc. If your not handy and not familiar with the Lexus electrical wiring system then I recommend not trying to install an alarm yourself because it's a bit quite more involved then connecting a few wires.
Aftermarket alarms if they are installed correctly will not interfere with the cheap OEM one.

A decent price of an alarm installed is in the range of $300-$400 depending on it's features.
You can research the different alarms here http://www.alarms.com/ and go from there as far as what specific features your looking to have such as:
a remote start?
pager type one?
Etc

This Hornet 554R might be of interest to you with the remote start. It's a decent alarm IMO.
http://www.drdetailshop.com/554r.htm

Hope that helps.

LexLS

I consider myself pretty handy and know a fair amount about electrical stuff, but I wouldn't attemp to install an alarm. It's just not worth the hassle. There are a LOT of wires and you have to figure out where they connect to. In short, buy an alarm from a store and have it professionally installed.

My alarm was about $300, and I think the install came out to be around $50-$80 can't remember exactly.

The aftermarket alarm is installed in addition to my factory alarm. Both alarms work, the aftermarket one does not interfere.

blklexguy

Checked out the web site, did anyone look at the viper alarms, in particular the GPS tracking alarm. This is a sweet set up, you can operate any function of the remote (i.e. trunk pop, door lock, remote start) through the gps system using the internet or your cell phone. Ha so much for the old 2 block radius huh. You could remote start your car in cali from florida (dont know why you would want to, but interesting to think about huh? Great to show off, make a call and your car starts. Also, they have theft alert, such as if your car is moved over 150 meters they will call you. Man for around 700 i think its worth the money. Ne thoughts on this???

Hameed

How does the Compustar 2WSS compare to this Hornet 554R? Which one is better?

ddarbs55

Viper says you void the warranty if not professionally installed.
have the 791xv and it works along with the stock (useless) alarm. sort of like having an alarm
and a half. totall price with install for mine was $700. no, didn't get the GPS version - i also
just didn't figure out why i'd need it. i would probably end up buying Lojack instead if i felt the
need. besides, that's another $119 a month after the first year for their service. i'm also not
sure how they do their feeds to their remote systems are they all encrypted transmissions
or can anyone sniff the packets from your computer?
just something to think about...

PEACE.

jmecbr900

I have the 2wss and love it.

SharpLS-96

Jeez, that is one confusing run on paragraph oops I mean sentence.
"This car"? Why would you install an alarm in "this car" fifty times? You mean "these cars".
"also viper warranty is only good if not professionaly installed "

Basically he's stating that the Viper warranty is only valid if it is installed by a Mobile Electronics Certified Professional (MECP). Actually, that goes with all car electronics, company's aren't going to warranty their system if it wasn't installed by a certified & authorized person and/or dealer.

D-MAN63

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but how good really is the range on this alarm? Did you try testing to see how far you really have?

jmecbr900

I haven't done an empty Superdome parking lot kinda distance test, but I have worked all the features from great distances. It even works in high rise elevators, parking decks, way way before I could even hear the car confirm back. If I had any complaints it would only be one....when you are at those big distances or in elevators and such, you can remote start the car, but sometimes it won't be able to reach you back for confirmation so you think the car is not running. Don't know why the remote has enough juice to send a signal but the car with it's big antenna doesn't (sometimes)????? There have been several times when I thought, "I guess I'm too far away for it to have worked", only to get outside and see the car was in fact running just fine.

That's my only complaint so far. I haven't tested the 1.5 mile thing yet, but it's by far more than even their FM one (I had it for a brief time just before the 2wss). It's not cheap though. Even the install is expensive.