come out to the country where I live...........I'm on my horn at least twice a day (more at night) just to scare the deer away that are standing in the road.

 

Yeah, no!

I live in a rural area. I don't think I could do that for a minute.

 

Does that work?

I figured that would make them freeze, or jump out in front of you.

 

Obviously you've never sat at an intersection and when the light turns green the d-bag in front of you is clearly screwing around on their phone. That gets the horn going quickly. I am in Florida so we get our fair share and then some but everybody's got a phone.

 

Yeah, I live in Florida as well (rural), and that happens occasionally around here, but I'm not usually in a hurry, so I just wait for them.

 

You obviously don't spend much time in the Boston MA area! Come hang out and drive around here for a day and you'll make up for the last 20 years of no horn use!!

 

It really does, there are so many of them, its almost like moving cattle. Once they hear the first honk, they know someone is coming through and slowly clear out.

 

My 2019 is pretty loud ... loudest factory horn I think I've owned. With that said, today's cars have great insulation, loud radios, and there is already a lot of traffic noise. So, having a good horn that cannot be easily ignored is a good thing. When you need a horn, you want people to hear it ... there is a reason that horns are required equipment on all motor vehicles.

Around here, I use my horn at least twice a week. Not constantly, but enough. And I only have a 12 mile, 20 minute commute each way. Generally, there are two reasons: Cell phones prevent people from driving (usually stopped at green lights and such) and people who won't use merge lanes (stopped at a merge where the lane has it's own dedicated 1/4 mile lane to merge). These folks need a little encouragement to go ahead and drive. The third reason, and less frequent, is the near crash ... the person who doesn't see you and begins a maneuver that will end in a crash. Horns are great for this. I envy the people who say they never have cause to use a horn. Dang, I wish I drove around such conscientious, careful, and aware drivers!!

Since around 2015, we (Colorado) have tried to enact a "No Driving While Using a Cell Phone" bill a few times. It always gets quashed. The latest attempt in 2018/2019 was killed due to racism, because everything is racist. Some also used the "Why pass a law that people are going to ignore anyway?" excuse ... people will use their cell phones while driving anyway, so why bother with a law? Really weird stuff. We do have a "No Texting While Driving" law, but you can do anything else you want with the phone ... just no texting. That bill, apparently, isn't racist. Banning cell phone usage outright while driving ... that's clearly racist.

For replacement factory horns, there are a few options that usually get thrown around. Almost always, these horns have mixed reviews with some claiming that they're screaming loud and others who claim they're about the same as the factory horn.

1. Electric horns like the Hella brand are common. I see lots of good reviews for them. PIAA also has some, but I've seen fewer discussions about them. FIAMM is probably the most polarizing, though it could be faulty memory. Some love, others think they're the same as factory.
2. Mini Air Horns. These have a little compressor built in. The idea is to get some benefit of using air to make the horn noise, but be compact enough to fit in factory-ish locations ... no big compressors, tanks, etc. Stebel Nautilus and Wolo BadBoy are common (and may be identical, other than branding). People even figure out ways to mount these on motorcycles, so they should fit somewhere on a SD truck.
3. Denali SoundBomb is another newer option. It's similar to the Wolo BadBoy, which has been around forever. The Denali product is a bit newer, was designed for motorcycles (I think), and boasts of a next-generation design of the Wolo-type products -- both for quality and performance. I have no experience, but it's work checking out as people seem to really like it among motorcyclists. There's also a kit that splits the compressor from the horn to allow for easier mounting options.
4. Vintage & Other Factory. Old Cadillac horns were like 4-5 tones and can be found on eBay. I forget the sweet spot of years, but these horns are loud, deep, and full. Remember, the ear works differently than just decibels (db). We work off of "perceived loudness/volume." Db only measures air pressure, which is merely related to how loud something sounds to us. For example, +3 db doubles the sound pressure, but it does NOT double the perceived volume we hear. So, things like tone, frequency, and other factors make a difference in how loud a horn sounds to a human ear/brain. That's why an old Cadillac 4-5 tone horn is so good. By pure db, maybe it's rated similarly, but it will sound so much louder and be heard by more folks. I think Toyota also has a factory horn that is commonly used by people as an upgrade, but I'm too lazy to look it up. Just know that there are some factory horns out there that can be good replacements.

Good luck.

 

Yup, I am not IN the city but I certainlly LOVE to Beep when I know someone is looking at their phone, 1st in line at the light and just sit there.
My 1st F-350 had the horn get stuck about 2 weeks after moving to Dallas... and yup you guessed it, 3 AM I just pulled the fuse. Had to Jerry Rig a horn button under the steering wheel for inspections. But my knee would hit it just about EVERY time I got out haha

 

Took the words right out of my mouth.