I feel I've been all over looking for the right alarm at the right price. Well, I don't even know what the right alarm system is for my truck. I have an 03 F-150 FX4 Supercrew, and I don't really want to spend $500 for a paging system, and I really don't want to have an el cheapo system that goes off for no apparent reason in the middle of the night (I live in apartments, and that wouldn't go over too well.) I've been to local shops that had some no name alarm that would cost me $230 fully installed, I've been to the Ford Dealership and been quoted $400, I've seen another Ford dealership quote me $580, and I've seen some systems at Best Buy, Car Toys, etc. that are twice as expensive as they are on the Internet without installation! I also tried LoJack, but they don't have that in my county. Where does this madness end? What do I need to look for? What features and options do I need? Back in the day when I had an SVT Lightning I might have spent $500 on a cool little pager keychain that told me when a bird crapped on the hood of my truck, but now I just want some piece of mind knowing some punk is not going to bash my window and try to steal my truck. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Austin

 

If the shop is long established, the "no name" alarm is probably fine. I think in your situation, the installer is most important. Best Buy, etc., have some good installers, but you may not know if you're getting the new guy. You want the individual who does the work to have done at least ten before you; bonus points if some were F150's!

I put a Ford "Gold" in mine because I didn't want to carry two remotes, but I think that may not now be necessary, and it was a VERY long and difficult installation. Some now claim to be "plug and play", but if you decide to buy one uninstalled, I would definitely go to Crutchfield or similar, who will provide technical assistance.