OK, so I'm hoping someone here can steer me in the right direction.

We live in a nice, fairly upscale, neighborhood, but unfortunately the ghetto starts within walking distance, and in the past few months we've had a rash of car break-ins.

My truck ('05 F350 crew cab) was broke into a few weeks ago - they took a screwdriver and punched through the door skin of the passenger front door, let themselves in, popped the dome lights, and went to town. The only thing visible to the outside was my 5yo Pioneer CD receiver (worth maybe $10 at the Pawn Shop?), but I also had my Oakleys and some other misc items in the armrest console.
They let themselves back in this week but there's nothing left in the truck to take. I guess I should be appreciative that they didn't hack up any wires, were gentle with the dash and locked up after themselves. But with over $1k in damage to the truck and well over $500 lost in property...I'm still pretty raw.
It's going into the body shop next week to be repaired and I have the replacement stereo ready to install but I first want/need an alarm...hence my post.

What I want is an alarm that has a silent mode and that can call my cell phone when the truck is being tampered with. Obviously in a perfect world the little flashing LED on the dash would convince the f-ers to move on, but if not and they do decide to break-in I'd like them to stay there until either I walk out with the 12-gauge or the police show up. Having them run away after they break a window or destroy my door and my horn goes off does me no good, I may still have my property but I'd still have a damaged truck to repair.

So most importantly I want an alarm with a silent mode, that can contact me via my phone. I don't want a separate pager or fob, I have an iPhone and shouldn't need to carry around an extra device. Things like remote start are nice but it's an XL w/o power locks so a lot of the bells and whistles don't matter/pertain to my situation.

Anyone know of a manufacturer of such an alarm? I know Viper has an iPhone app for their alarms but it doesn't do what I want. Any help/leads are appreciated.

 

The silent alarm would be nice, then you can just walk outside with the 12 Gauge. Nice of them to lock up after themselves...

 

They punched right thru the door skin?
Autopage will call your cell and even has gps tracking, not cheap though.
What is C3?

 

Rather than create some confrontation that might get you hurt, how about a floodlight and a surveillance camera to watch (and document) these activities? Alarms don't provide a whole lot of evidence, but surveillance does.

 

Maybe an alarm that has a proximity sensor which sets off the alarm after 10 seconds or so when the vehicle is touched.

 

Shepherd - yeah, punched through the door skin, did the same to my neighbor's car too. Thanks for the link.

pbeering - thought about that but where we live presents several challenges. For one, we don't have a driveway and the truck is too long to fit in my garage so I have to park it on the street. Since we live in a historic part of town the streets are very narrow and with such a large truck I'm limited in where I can park and usually I have to park in front of my neighbor's house. So a stationary camera setup wouldn't work very well. It would be cool to have a cam in the truck, but it'd need to record to something that couldn't be tampered with.

glruff - not sure how that helps me? Seems that would give them a 10 second head start to wreak havoc to my truck before they're scared away.

 

This alarm will take a picture of the a/h and send it to your remote.
VS8000 - Scytek Full Feature Alarm W/ Engine Start Camera and Video Remote Control

One of these would be great.

YouTube - Trunk monkey (2) - Deals with a car thief.

 

ha.i had a clifford alarm system in my 2006 with command start and text from phone start.It was about 1300can installed.it was set up to phone up to three numbers when the truck was being molested by bad men.Thank god i never got that phone call we all dread.

 

Viper Car Security/Alarm System with Proximity Sensors

YouTube - Viper Car Security/Alarm System with Proximity Sensors

Secure that Dodge!

 

How do proximity sensors work? My fear would be that it would chirp every time a car drove by (we live in a historic part of town w/ very narrow streets). If it would chirp only when a warm blooded a-hole intent on breaking into my truck got too close - that'd be perfect.

Actually, "perfect" would be if it would automatically zap said a-hole with a strong burst of electricity...

Still, a proximity sensor may be the way to go since I can't seem to find anyone that makes an alarm that has a silent mode that calls your phone.

 

Most systems you can adjust the sensitivity.

 

Got my truck back from the body shop today and it looks great. The door looks mint, as does the rear bed corners where I bent it up a bit (OK, more than a bit) drifting in the snow last winter. I picked up some chrome bumpers off CL and they paint matched the trim on those to match my truck too. If you live anywhere near central Ohio and need body/paint work done, you should definitely go to Yoke's Body Shop in Powell. They do great work but more importantly are all-around great guys. Something that sadly seems rare these days.

My truck is now the perfect tow vehicle for the race track, looks like a Lariat on the outside but has the vinyl seats and rubber floor on the inside, so no need to worry if you climb in all sweaty or dirty, it'll all clean right up. Love it.

Goes in tomorrow to have an Autopage alarm installed. Nothing special but it should hopefully be enough to make a-holes walk on by.

 

I wished I lived around more neighbors like you...there would rarely be any break-ins after the the first bad guy got a very unexpected shotgun pointed right in his face with a warning to NEVER come back. Word would get around...stay away!!!

Best kind of car alarm...silent one...there's no recourse once the damage is done with a noisy car alarm...at the very least you have a hole next to the lock in your door even if nothing got stolen, which also happened to a Ford Ranger I had back in 2001 when it was parked in my grandmother's (may she rest in peace) drive way, in a supposedly good neighborhood near Sacramento, CA. I realized back then silent alarms are the only way to go...and the idea of surprising the ******* who is going through your stuff is too sweet and satisfying. It's the only kind of justice I understand, and the only kind of justice the bad guys will be made to understand...who up to now do not understand it and get to play for free.

Absolutely love you...man after my own heart. You said the right thing.

 

Hi.
I know it's really old post.
I have found on eBay a very inexpensive product that can help
Why replaying Now? Well. I get the disappointment of some one coming inside my truck in the middle of the night, with no footprints, no alarm warning at all.
The thief's get now an equipment that can scan YOUR alarm code and disarm it. Actually it is even worst, It opens your truck as YOUR key. No sound , no broken. Easy as you opening it daily.
So I got on eBay this equipment ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/201541994679?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT )
It costs $13.00 bucks and is actually a wireless door bell. You can adjust volume and kind of sound and light as well.
It does not alert if some one walk close by, they need to come inside to active it, so no annoying false alarm.
You just place the part A inside your truck, it can be connected to the usb power source, so you don't even need batteries. Part B inside your house. Keep your phone close by and call 911.
I hope it can be helpful

 

Lol even with footage.. police don’t do a damn thing.
the thief has to almost literally jump out at the cops saying “I did it!” Before they get caught.