If, like me, you live in a scum ridden area of the world and own a motor car, you will appreciate the need for a top quality alarm, and that is exactly what you get with the Sterling ProCL alarm from Toad Innovations.
A couple of months back my car was broken into and my stereo was stolen. I love my car - I think it's fantastic, but why oh why Fiat fit a top of the range Sony CD player as standard and no alarm is completely beyond me. My car was a thief's dream come true, but not anymore.
I was put in touch with Toad Innovations by my insurance company as they also fit car stereos. The customer service lady that I spoke to was very helpful and asked whether I had considered having an alarm fitted. Okay, so it was a sales pitch, but because of my car being vandalised and broken into outside my house, i'd been thinking about getting one anyway.
The engineer from Toad came out and it took him about three hours to fit the alarm. I arranged for him to come out and fit the alarm in my employer's car park so I didn't have to take time off work.
My car now has a fantastic alarm fitted. It works via remote control, which also works as remote central locking, which my car did not previously have. It guards the doors and boot and has two shock sensors that are just above my doors inside the car, which detect movement in the car as well as guarding the windows. Oh, and a bright flashing red light now sits on my dashboard. So far, it does not appear to go off all the time (as some do) and therefore does not irritate the neighbours and it is working perfectly.
The only down sides to the alarm was the amount of waiting time for Toad to come out and fit it (approx 2 weeks) and it was quite expensive - £229 (fitted).
However, I now feel that I can leave my car outside at night and that it will not be broken into and that peace of mind has made it worth every penny.
All-in-all a fantastic alarm system and I am very happy with it.
Toad Innovations are based in Cheshire and, as I live in Coventry, I presume that they cover most of the country. They can be contacted on 0870 011 0044.
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Just got a toad alarm fitted myself to my Fiat, but every alarm fitter round this area has about 2 -3 week booking time..
(As for no alarm. you could look at it cynically and say that car (and bike) manufacturere arent really that bothered if your car gets stolen?
Why'? because if your insurance company bys you a new car - then they have sold 2 cars instead of one . . )
kevinsmbuk 21.05.2004 21:32
sorry guys but hasnt the man covered all these points already, or is this an updated review?
firelighter 31.07.2002 16:13
More detail needed for vh, just a thought, doesn't a top of the range cd player have a removable front panel? Dave