Astrostart series 1000, 95 Mazda Millenia

I remeber the first time I installed an Astro....I was overwhelmed. The manual seemed to be written in some foreign language (like french or something)

That was my first complaint, it was written as if you had years of experiance with their product. The programming was the same way...mess up the sequence, and you gotta Hope you didn't change something you didn't want too....OOPS. I now see the great design and function of everything they build into their units. Smart design and function, for years of trouble free starting. YUP, I'm an astro guy Astro's weekest area (besides being owned by DEI now) is the bypass, and override modules they use. They all work just fine, BUT, you still need to put a "key in a box" for too many vehicles.

Thats all I got to say about that.....

In comparison, DEI does the same thing. Thier install manuals are written as if everyone installing the system has been doing so for years and understands "engineering" terms and ways of thinking. I have been using DEI products for at least 10-12 years (not solely mind you..but mainly).

However, dei states they will only sell to retailers provided thier installers are MECP certified. But we all know there are ways to get anything regardless. I don't think they actually make the manuals difficult for that reason. My theory is either A) everything is designed overseas so there is difficulty with translation or B) it is difficult to convert enginnering to be understood by anyone but an engineer, and these products basically go from enginner, to packaging, to distributor, to consumer.

However, in most cases the disconnecting of power has no effect on its progarmming. DEI claims it will hold memorty for like 100,000 years or something to that effect (basically a non-issue)

They come out of the box w/ the most popular default settings. There is a jumper on most of them for positve/negative light flash output as some with some newer vehicles even the parking light circuits are "computorized, data, multiplexed, or anything the factory can do to make a simple "light switch and bulb" be a technical riddle. Buts thats progress I guess.

Programming changes are done with a combination of the remote, valet/override switch AND the ignition switch (you need 4 hands so someone can hold the manual open (lol), but in 99% of the cases you do not need to access the "brain".

If you have a dei bitwriter and need to change the programming post install you need access to plug it in, but after that the bitwriter is quicker. But we continually need to pay for upated software for it or the unit will not work. So still "bugs' in it so to speak.

Dei does not however use dipswitches at all except with certain interface modules. But those are a "set and forget" kind of thing so not a big deal.