i have an appointment on saturday to put the LoJack on my car. i have friends telling me that it won't help that much cuz if the car is stolen, the good parts would be stripped out by the time they find the car anyways. might as well invest in a real alarm. kinda makes sense, what do u guys think???

 

yeah my friend had one....all he got back was basiclly a beat up frame....but its all up to you

 

I had LoJack installed on my car. Well, at least I think I did. I've had just about the entire car apart, and I've never found the sucker!

 

much cheaper insurance...
....

 

Yeah, how does one confirm that Lo-Jack was installed on one's car? Unless you see it, is there a test that you can do to make sure it's on the car? I wonder if they rip some people off and then blame it on the thieves when the LoJack doesn't work.

 

LoJack is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and there's about twenty different places it can be installed so finding it wouldn't be easy. I think it passively listens for a wake-up call if the car isn't listed as stolen, so you can't just try to find it by an RF detector or something...

I think something like 80% of all stolen cars with LoJack are recovered and even better, 20% result in an arrest. Its not necessarily a bad idea, though it is limited to certain areas. The Club is supposedly getting pretty easy to remove in a couple seconds, so something more advanced might be good if you're worried about all that.

 

I dont think its too good an idea. The engine already has an immobilizer, making it quite difficult to steal outright.. what you have to worry about is parts being stolen off the car while its just sitting there, or having it broken into. I'm getting a 2-way alarm installed asap, b/c I live in an apartment complex, and leave my car out on the lot every night.. luckily I park very close to my unit, so i'd be in range for a 2 way to notify me if its being messed with, so I can run out in my underwear wuith a bat or something. invest in a good alarm, lojack is unecessary.

 

Best alarm system is a Viper. But as far as tracking, Lo-Jack is old technology. Not all areas have lo-jack tracking. I'm having a new GPS tracking system installed on my 2003 Cobra. With your code and password, you can view the location of your car from the internet anywhere in the world.

Lo-jack is not on the internet, and the police station has to have a low-jack device, and it's possible to go out of range with lo-jack. With GPS, you can see if your car got to China.

 

I like Lojacks. Never had one installed in any of my cars though. Here's why....

Professional thieves, the ones who will be able to figure out how to circumvent the cars immobilisor, and your alarm, usually have a tool that allows them to locate the lojack box....it listens for the passive signals the lojack emits....then they just rip it out when they are taking your car.

A good alarm is a great start....but it's all about layers of security...not one single theft deterrent that will keep your car in your driveway.

SC~

 

Mike,
Got any links to alarms like these? I would very interested.
Todd

 

I guess someone doesn't know what passive means

GPS-enabled devices are sort of a different beast. They don't work totally anywhere (as some here are implying) since the GPS network itself is a one way thing. They locate themselves via triangulation from the GPS satellite then transmit back on the cellular phone network. LoJack uses a proprietary one (which is why there are only certain, published areas that it works) to communicate.

 

Lojack is not a GPS based unit. Upon ativation, it emits a radio signal that the police follow. It does not interact with satellites, nor does it do any triangulation calculations. A Lojack system does not know it's location....it's a radio transmitter, that broadcasts a signal when it is activated. It's then up to those who can hear the signal (equipped with directional high gain antennas) to locate where the car is hidden.

AFAIK, the Lojack system remains dormant almost 99% of the time. But similar to the way a cop can detect your cars radar detector (even though it is also passive), thieves are able to find lojack systems in cars that are equipped.

SC~

 

http://www.directed.com/

DEI is the parent company that makes the Viper alarms. They also make Clifford and other brand alarm systems.

SC~

 

Lojack only gets you a percentage discount of a certain portion of your insurance coverage. In my case, about $23 a year for my EVO. The dealers mislead you regarding the actual savings. I wasn't going to get one, but opted to at the last minute. Actually, I don't care if someone steals it, because my insurance will cover it. What I worry about is somebody taking it joy riding and leaving it behind. Months later when the engine falls apart, I will be hard pressed to prove it was done while it was stolen. I assume that having a Lojack will mean the chances of recovering the car within the first few hours is pretty good. We'll see.

 

Thanks SC. I was specifically looking for alarm systems that work in conjunction with GPS for tracking purposes like Namlemez suggested.
Todd