shark shk1500m, is this alarm junk?

Sold on FleaBay? Says it all. Question....are any "reputable dealers selling them?
Question.... Do they use an oil pressure switch voltage difference to sense tach? If so don't come within a mile. The fact is as pros we turn out X number of installs a week and we can't afford comebacks.
That's why we stick with reputable vendors such as DEI, Avox, Compustar, Zenesis.

howie, you are the man. couldnt agree more ahah.

well i installed one of these. if i remember this one has a tach input but overall its still a crappy unit. didnt mean to offend, just tellin the truth. The one mile range is more like 1/4 mile.

now this is assuming this is the remote start and alarm system. if its alarm only then sure it will be fine. a crap alarm is still better than none. if it has a remote start capability in it and it does require oil pressure lights, then as howie said "BIN IT"

Hey howie, did you know the zenesis is a compustar brain with just a few differant colour plugs?

i looked at the two today and was amazed at the similarity. im sure its just rebadged, kind of like the 5901, 990, and 50.7x?

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Ted
2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School
Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries
Compustar Expert

i haven been installing the zenesis 502's for a couple of months and have had lots of problems with the brains. my rep even said that they have had close to a 50% return rate. i my self have only had 3 bad brains out of 20 so little more than i like. that being said this is all the older big brains. last years left overs. the new stuff is pretty nice i really do like there units. i just wish they werent so expensive. the new units seem to be rock solid though

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Marks Auto Mart Sound and Accessories
2100 5th Ave. South
Fort Dodge Iowa 50501

Yup, over hear we have the Toad 101 and the Scorpion A30, just think Viper 1002 with ultrasonics. Not really surprising since they come out of the same Liteon factory in Taiwan as DEI.
Supposedly Zenesis, Easycar and Compustar are similar.
One of the reasons I'm against DEI is that Clifford up to about 7 years ago was the finest and most reliable product on the market, US built MIL SPEC boards and components, then DEI took over, outsourced everything and the rest is history. Along with Clifford's reputation. Just like Betamax and VHS the better software and product, Clifford lost out to the rest of the DEI product.

I've put in exactly one of those eBay Chinese alarm/starters. It was a 1-way unit and didn't have the "Shark" brand name, but I'm sure it was similar.

It never did work correctly, I removed it, and sold him a name-brand unit.

I don't think it's fair to just call something "junk" without saying why. And $62.00 shipped (I just looked at it on eBay) for a 2-way combo with two remotes......I understand the temptation. It's less than half the price of the name-brand stuff.

Here's what I found:

--Antenna cable too short to reach center of windshield. I had to put it off to the driver's side, which is not only ugly, but probably reduces range depending on which side of the car you're standing.

--Poorly written install guide. OK, pretty much ALL install guides are poorly written, but this was worse than most.

--Remotes were cheap looking and didn't appear to be very sturdy.

--Remote start doesn't work when car's door is open. This is not what installers are accustomed to, and I spent a LOT of time troubleshooting because of this quirk.

--Many new cars turn the domelight on when the engine shuts down. Modern remote start/alarm systems ignore the door trigger input at shutdown....this POS didn't. Every time the remote start timed out, the alarm would false. I could have wasted extra time by chasing down the SUV's five individual doorpin switches, I suppose.

--This unit had the antiquated system of having a bank of relays separate from the main brain, making for extra work and a less-neat install. Even super-stubborn DEI has finally almost admitted that this is stupid, and streamlined most (but sadly, not all) of their product.

--There was some kind of tech support number on the instructions, but I wasn't able to get through. I forget why.

--If you break a remote (or even just lose one), where are you going to get another?

--If you have a tech question, who will you call for help? I have friends who know DEI, a friend who knows Omega and Astra, one who knows Code Alarm, one who knows Compustar, and one who knows Ultra. If I have to program a remote or change a setting, I can call them. There is no one to call who knows this eBay stuff because no one touches it.

I would say overall, this stuff just isn't worth the trouble for the small savings in cost.

hey segal, you must have had the first revision of brains then. The first "$h1tment" of brains were all defective like crazy. now with the updated revisions, they are bulletproof, but i still prefer compustar over that anyday. Just the remotes look good. do you mind if i asked you waht you pay per unit? i think i got a good deal on them, they are similar in price with compustar sadly. the reason they became abit more expensive is

1) they integraded d2d into their units
2) they became fortin certified
3) you dont need bitwriters to do optional programming.

now with that being said. Howie, i know DEI owns clifford now, but are they reliable as they used to be ? if i remember you mentioned something about how the older cliffords respond twice as fast as new DEI products? *this is just thinking back, i might be wrong* do you get the same stuff the US market has such as the 50.7x? i know fcc rules are differant but just curious.

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Ted
2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School
Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries
Compustar Expert

compustar was out ages ago, then easycar, which died out in the NA market, then zenesis evolved into being a reliable unit. Now with that being said, basically they are the same units. maybe components are diff inside, but the brain itself looks identical.

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Ted
2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School
Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries
Compustar Expert

To sum up what they're all trying to say and to answer your question! Yes it's junk!

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COMMIT YOUR WAY TO JEHOVAH AND HE WILL ACT IN YOUR BEHALF. PSALMS 37:5

thanks for summing it all up.

great minds think alike!

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Ted
2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School
Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries
Compustar Expert

No we still have a few genuine Cliffords, they sell 2 Cat 1 models,the Concept 650 Mkll and the Avant Guard 5.5X. These are G5 with the later (Trilogix?) remotes.
They still use Wizard software.
The UK Viper Cat 1 equivalents, 460VX 480VX 2 way using Bitwriter software are MUCH slower on remote response, either trunk release (2+ secs hold against instant for the Clifford product) or disarming the unit once triggered. Lots of problems with the 2 way LCD remotes on the 480. (Quel surprise!)
Failure rates even with the current product and remember 2 immobiliser circuits, about 0.001 failure rate on the CPU, about 5% on the battery back-up siren.
The failure rates quoted by Segal on Zenesis product are completely unacceptable
Lastly and maybe I'm being paranoid damning without knowing, but I have tried (once) clones of this product. It was so awful that even the customer wanted it binned and replaced with DEI product.

FWIW:

Thanks to Sharky for asking - I have loved the responses - in particular ChrisL's itemisation and comments, but also ALL the rest (even you Howie). (That's jest - Howie knows my respect.)

And whilst FleaBay need not be bad (some things are quite the opposite - better quality at lower prices), the problem is as usual knowing the product, and seller.

But to get this sort or REAL feedback, knowledge & experience (whether right, wrong, unique, subjective etc) is INVALUABLE. (Hey - someone should put this info on the internet! LOL-again.)

Thanks to ALL!!



FWIW#2: (For What's It's Worth... aka 4WiW etc)

I hate spending, but I buy quality.
Where quality is required, I may spend three times as much, or more. (IE - for smaller or critical items. For expensive items it's often risk the cheaper - especially if the replacement is/are already paid for by the savings.)

In this case, a crap alarm is no alarm. A crap alarm can even damage a vehicle (ie, ever vandalised an annoyance?)
But in this case, to save a "mere" $100 or thereabouts (even to protect my $1,000 45 year old ute) is negligible. If in doubt, I'd pay double.

Then considerations like lost remotes etc... That alone almost settles it.
(And too oil-pressure switching etc if that can be determined - but usually it can't.)