compustars anything to watch out for?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Security and Convenience
Forum Discription: Car Alarms, Keyless Entries, Remote Starters, Immobilizer Bypasses, Sensors, Door Locks, Window Modules, Heated Mirrors, Heated Seats, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=95990
Printed Date: April 20, 2024 at 12:59 AM
Topic: compustars anything to watch out for?
Posted By: Hymer
Subject: compustars anything to watch out for?
Date Posted: July 28, 2007 at 1:01 PM
Hey guys, I'm at a new shop now and we are thinking of going with compustar as our main line and Astro as a secondary... are they any good, what should I watch out for... how is their support.. any info will be appreciated
Thanks... Hymer
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Tire Proz Stillwater Mn
High End Restyling and Comlete Repair
Replies:
Posted By: Velocity Motors
Date Posted: July 28, 2007 at 6:06 PM
Their line has been pretty good for us for the past 4 years. This will be our 5 th year of carrying them and each year it seems that they are getting better and better. I've only had to use their support ( in Canada ) a few times over the past couple of years. This year I hear they have some very good improvements that will make installation even easier !! The only thing that I have a beef with them about is their lack of POS promotions merchandise. It's hard for a small shop like myself to promote them if they can't provide me with the proper gear to help them.
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Jeff
Velocity Custom Home Theater
Mobile Audio/Video Specialist
Morden, Manitoba CANADA
Posted By: KarTuneMan
Date Posted: July 28, 2007 at 8:23 PM
Hymer.... I also have the Astro/DEI blues.  -------------
Posted By: swerks
Date Posted: July 29, 2007 at 11:46 AM
My experience is tat computsar is very unreliable the main problem being that it is possible to enter programming via the remote, when you have a button happy customer who screws with things it is possible to knock the programming of the rs out. aside from that they areent bad also some models dont like coil on plug tach sensing. as for astrostart it is hands nown the finest remote starter that money can buy! they bare built with the finest components an 3 layer circut boards giving the unparreleled cuurent carrying capabilities. the only con is $$ they are more expensive than cs but by far the most reliable
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Steve Sverdahl
Swerksound Auto Electric
Red Deer Alberta
Posted By: KarTuneMan
Date Posted: July 29, 2007 at 10:31 PM
The "button happy customer" needs to be educated by a "profesional" customer service rep (salesman) or an installer. This is not a problem with the compustar product....it's a problem with the joint that did the sale/install. not making the customer aware of what the unit is possible of doing. AND SWERKS.....I like you buddy.  I have lived and breathed Astro for 8 years now, and agree 1000% on it being the best. You pay for what you get! Not too many posts here with guys asking silly questions about the product. ( and I know.... it's not mainstream......YET) DEI will be good for sumthin in the Astro world.......like advertising...maybe? The only product designed, built, and tested (brutally) waaaaaay up there in the great white north, where it's REAL cold for a REAL long time. I have an old 2100 series board, no box around it. It's next to a Compustar, and a DEI board. No comparison. Even an un educated customer can see, and feel the differance. A great sales technique. Thats all for now..... -------------
Posted By: xtremej
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 9:02 AM
This is our 1 st year with compustar pro. The install manuals suck, no nice way to put. Tech support is quick and knowledgable and the product is awesome, tons of features. Easy programming via op500 is cool also. Being upgradeable has proven to be more of selling feature than I thought to. I agree on getting p.o.s. is a struggle, brochures and some banners are all we have gotten so far. Button pushers are prevelant with whatever line you carry, the more you educate the less problems you'll have. You guys going direct or through a dist.?
Posted By: swerks
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 12:31 PM
Yes ythe button happy customer should be educated by sales staff but in the busy season when there are 15-20 cars in the shop that day this rarley happens. it aseems to me the manufacturer could easily prevent this with a slight design change thus eliminating this problem from possibly occuring
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Steve Sverdahl
Swerksound Auto Electric
Red Deer Alberta
Posted By: stratorider
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 1:16 PM
My only experience with Compustar was a bad one. The brain was huge and it was overly complicated to program the remote to the brain.
Posted By: JWorm
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 1:37 PM
stratorider wrote:
My only experience with Compustar was a bad one. The brain was huge and it was overly complicated to program the remote to the brain.
Complicated to program the remote? Key on and off 5 times...hit lock button. Doesn't sound too bad to me. If its a Spread Spectrum system....key on and off 5 times...put battery in remote.
The brain is a little bigger than other companies that have internal relays, but they are not that big.
Posted By: dswift
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 5:02 PM
swerks wrote:
Yes ythe button happy customer should be educated by sales staff but in the busy season when there are 15-20 cars in the shop that day this rarley happens. it aseems to me the manufacturer could easily prevent this with a slight design change thus eliminating this problem from possibly occuring
They actually did fix this issue. If you ever used a pro you would know this. The typical 20 customers a day in winter are your customers who hasn't used their autostarts all summer long and are probrably in valet mode, Lock + trunk release. Therefore Firstech is using the same programming for some of the non pro brains. like the cm4200. That mean to enter valet mode you will need the key in the igniton and on to the ON postion. That will knock out alot of valet mode calls for the future. ------------- "dont ground out!"
Posted By: swerks
Date Posted: July 30, 2007 at 5:58 PM
mr swift i live in canada where its cold and 15 cars a day is not uncommon i personally do around 1200 remote starters per year your right i have not used the proline from compustar and probally never will.i have no problem paying a little more for the best in quality and neither do my customers
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Steve Sverdahl
Swerksound Auto Electric
Red Deer Alberta
Posted By: dswift
Date Posted: July 31, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Well we can relate then. I from anchorage Alaska and we do about 20 cars a day in winter time. each installer does about 3-5 cars a day and a maybe one warranty each. To some people thats insane. Compustar is pretty big in Alaska since it was originated there. you said you don't ahve a problem paying a little bit more for quality. What quality product are you speaking of? And why would you Never use compustar? But anyways, to the person who originally posted this, compustar is all around a good company. They are thier own manufacturer and they have good service. They always try to innovate and create things to make installs easier for the installers. therefore i give them two thumbs up. =) ------------- "dont ground out!"
Posted By: swerks
Date Posted: July 31, 2007 at 4:57 PM
I use astrostart and autostart the 2 original and best starter manufactures on the planet!! combacks are far and few between. Less than 1% total over my 13 year career.
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Steve Sverdahl
Swerksound Auto Electric
Red Deer Alberta
Posted By: Hymer
Date Posted: July 31, 2007 at 5:20 PM
Yeah, I'm with you Astro guys, It's been tatooed on my forhead for a while now, but there are too many dealers out here and the aftermarket manager guy wants compustar -- [???] -- so all in all they are good it sounds like.. just educate the customers and such.. do they offer software ie astrochart and bypasses also or are ya on your own there? I havnt had a lotta time to get into the tech stuff mainly cuz it's 95 out and who the hell is thinking about auto starts now [at least here] and we don't have any yet... thanks guys again...
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Tire Proz Stillwater Mn
High End Restyling and Comlete Repair
Posted By: xtremej
Date Posted: August 01, 2007 at 7:24 AM
You'll get installogy tailored for the compustar stuff and they have bypass listings and such. You guys looking at the pro line or the regular stuff?
Posted By: 1456wires
Date Posted: August 03, 2007 at 9:24 PM
we use the pro line. Only issues with them is complexity for customers who can't pay attention or read instructions say they hard to use. 2way remotes have had some issues with range. We use Compustar as our premiun line and Ultra Starter an our main line. No question about it Compustar can do more.
Posted By: Vyse
Date Posted: August 04, 2007 at 1:00 PM
JWorm] wrote:
[QUOTE=stratorider]
The brain is a little bigger than other companies that have internal relays, but they are not that big.
The brains for those are pretty big. Also, compared to a DEI system, the remotes are way too complicated.
Posted By: JWorm
Date Posted: August 04, 2007 at 1:43 PM
Vyse] wrote:
JWorm] wrote:
[QUOTE=stratorider]
The brain is a little bigger than other companies that have internal relays, but they are not that big.
The brains for those are pretty big. Also, compared to a DEI system, the remotes are way too complicated.
Remotes too complicated? You press Lock...it Locks. You press Unlock....it Unlocks. You hold the Start button for 2 seconds....it starts. You hold the trunk release button for 2 seconds....it pops the trunk.
The other 10 functions my 2-way Compustar remote can do are all printed on the back of the remote. If you don't have the ability to read and comprehend, maybe you should stick with a factory remote.
Posted By: stratorider
Date Posted: August 06, 2007 at 9:26 AM
I think he means they are more complicated to program than a DEI, comparatively. Key on and off 5 times, and put the battery in and whatever. Easier to just turn the car on, find the valet button and you are done. The Compustar that I put in worked just fine, just the brain was too big and the remote was ugly and I didn't like having to program it. Also, doesn't Compustar make Scosche remote start/alarms or vice versa? They look awfully similar.
Posted By: xtremej
Date Posted: August 06, 2007 at 10:04 AM
I think the programing of the remotes is easy and if you think about it, how many installers actually put in dei's valet swtich in? yes compustar makes the scosche remote start.
Posted By: dswift
Date Posted: August 06, 2007 at 10:40 AM
stratorider wrote:
I think he means they are more complicated to program than a DEI, comparatively. Key on and off 5 times, and put the battery in and whatever. Easier to just turn the car on, find the valet button and you are done. The Compustar that I put in worked just fine, just the brain was too big and the remote was ugly and I didn't like having to program it. Also, doesn't Compustar make Scosche remote start/alarms or vice versa? They look awfully similar.
Ugly?! Haha they have a way better cosmetics than others. But sure. And complicated? Are you an installer? There is no complications for non of the compustar products. Just educate your customers. For instance. All they have to know if you sell them a pro system is the following: Lock(arm), Unlock (disarm), remotestart (if equipped) and button 4 (IV). Button four for the temp, and voltage. easy. And for the "complicated" features. Thats why you do not give out the installers manual. They do not need that. The only thing that i think is pretty important is the RPS unlock. Just show the customers how to program that. Easy. ------------- "dont ground out!"
Posted By: flashmcclain
Date Posted: August 11, 2007 at 2:02 PM
dswift wrote:
swerks wrote:
Yes ythe button happy customer should be educated by sales staff but in the busy season when there are 15-20 cars in the shop that day this rarley happens. it aseems to me the manufacturer could easily prevent this with a slight design change thus eliminating this problem from possibly occuring
They actually did fix this issue. If you ever used a pro you would know this. The typical 20 customers a day in winter are your customers who hasn't used their autostarts all summer long and are probrably in valet mode, Lock + trunk release. Therefore Firstech is using the same programming for some of the non pro brains. like the cm4200. That mean to enter valet mode you will need the key in the igniton and on to the ON postion. That will knock out alot of valet mode calls for the future.
DSwift, do the installers need to flash the old brains for the new valet programing to take place? Or does the CM4200 come pre-programmed w/ that now?
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