Which is better, Clifford or Compustar?

I am going to get a basic car starter for Christmas from my wife. It looks like my choices are between the Clifford RS2.1 ($290 + tax) and the Compustar 1W900 ($325 + tax). Is one of these better than the other? It will be for a 96 Montel Carlo with a computer chip in the key. Both prices include a bypass mechanism.

The Clifford dealer was a Compustar dealer last year, but said they switched to Clifford because CS had too many problems in the past year or two.

Also, is $60-80 reasonable for a bypass module (installed)?

I've heard a a few bad things about the CS starters also, but I've never used either one. I know DEI owns the Clifford brand, and from experience 99 of 100 from DEI products are great.Also $60-$80 for a bypass and install is normal. I 556u bypass from us is like $55 and install is $24.99

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RTFM

According to my information, your key has a VATS resistor pellet built in, not a computer chip. A bypass module isn't necessary; these can be bypassed with a standard relay and resistor.

bob smith wrote:

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I am going to get a basic car starter for Christmas from my wife. It looks like my choices are between the Clifford RS2.1 ($290 + tax) and the Compustar 1W900 ($325 + tax). Is one of these better than the other? It will be for a 96 Montel Carlo with a computer chip in the key. Both prices include a bypass mechanism.

The Clifford dealer was a Compustar dealer last year, but said they switched to Clifford because CS had too many problems in the past year or two.

Also, is $60-80 reasonable for a bypass module (installed)?

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$60-$100 is a fair price.
I wouldn't worry too much about which brand to choose. That the least important part when making your purchases descision!

Look into the feature that you need and MOST EASIEST for the installer to applied it to the unit (you want to make their job easy too). Look into replacement cost of remote, how much it cost to program a new remote, who will stay around when your unit don't work anymore and most important, what do they $$cover$$ you when need someone to look into issue you have with the remote starter unit.   


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Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it.

Both units are good the compustar warranty is lifetime on the brain and 1 yr on the remote, I'm pretty sure it would be the same on the clifford but you'd have to check on that in terms of ease of installation it would be the compustar  in my opinion and the replacement remotes are pretty cheap. But I may just be biased but I just don't like clifford or dei in general

kaezoo wrote:

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According to my information, your key has a VATS resistor pellet built in, not a computer chip. A bypass module isn't necessary; these can be bypassed with a standard relay and resistor.

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If thats whats required, rather than a bypass module, is the $60 a fair price? It seems high to me, but I dont know much about any of this stuff.

All I want is my car to start from at least 6-10 blocks away.

$60-$80 is a reasonable price for the bypass module. I would say that both units are of quality and you don't have to worry about either going out of business anytime soon. Compustar isnt as "installer friendly" as clifford is and, therefore, could result in a sloppy install if the installer isnt very experienced.  Ask the dealer which one has more range. that might be a deciding factor for you. all in all, both companies make good product, so don't worry too much about the quality.

dre187 wrote:

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$60-$80 is a reasonable price for the bypass module. I would say that both units are of quality and you don't have to worry about either going out of business anytime soon. Compustar isnt as "installer friendly" as clifford is and, therefore, could result in a sloppy install if the installer isnt very experienced. Ask the dealer which one has more range. that might be a deciding factor for you. all in all, both companies make good product, so don't worry too much about the quality.

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Are you joking? Compustar is the most installer friendly alarm/RS units I have ever used. Maybe they aren't if you have a bad installer.

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South Side Audio
2501 S. High St
Columbus, OH 43207

I agree with mike the are the easiest to install as well as program. Out of the two it would be the cleanest as long as they know what they are doing

I personally sell and install Compustar. I have been very pleased with the every compustar unit I have done, and it is very easy to install. I don't have any experience with Clifford, but I would imagine that wouldn't be much different. An experienced installer that is familiar with either should have no problem.  I think it should be the VATS system which can be done using a relay and resistor. Personally I just charge for the relay nothing extra because it takes like 10 minutes to do. If they use a bypass module then $60 is plenty resonable, but make sure you ask which method they are using.

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Good Luck!
-Thad

SoundAudio wrote:

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I think it should be the VATS system which can be done using a relay and resistor. Personally I just charge for the relay nothing extra because it takes like 10 minutes to do.

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How much does the relay normally cost?

good quality automotive relay and harness together from a supplier costs my $10 cad