Phantom or Strikeback

P

POH

Joined
May 29, 2018
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54,135
MH
Pilote 740c
Exp
5 years
Hi, will need a alarm/tracker for the new van in March but don't know which to go for , have had a look at the above two but to my eyes there doesn't seem a lot between them, hope you good people can point me in the right direction. Thank you in advance.
 
Many on here have great views on the Strikeback system. I along with others have the upgrade version (Growler) installed and also linked to the Metatrak immobiliser. That all comes in at around £1500. A lot of money at around 1% of van value. In our case the van is our home and when left unattended has a lot of gear that if stolen/broken into, would be very upsetting. Only other reviews of the Phantom would give a balanced argument.

All I can say regarding support back up from Vanbitz, I have received outstanding service.

I do not know the cost of the Phantom but I did place a lot of faith with reviews from the site and meetings Funsters who had the system installed when meeting at various rallies.

If you decide to opt for Vanbitz Strikeback/Growler may I suggest you contact the team ASAP as normally they are fully booked for installation months in advance and that delay maybe longer with the various lockdowns. So by booking in around the delivery time of your van you can get it to them as soon as you collect.
 
I’ve had it on both vans, on my present van I even had an OTT system ripped out and a growler non starter installed before delivery, purely down to my preference of security and the great customer after sales service from Eddie and the boys (and girls) down there.
Fully agree with everything PJGWiltshire says👍 Personally I wouldn’t have anything else, but it’s your money, spend it how you feel comfortable👍
 
We had to have a Thatcham alarm for insurance on the new van which we picked up during the first lockdown. The dealer fitted a Phantom to ensure we were covered. It didn’t fill me with confidence but under the circumstances I felt we had no choice. As soon as restrictions were lifted we went down to Taunton and had VanBitz fit a Strikeback plus Growler and Metatrak non starter. Nick showed me the Phantom alarm when we picked up the van after a full day’s installation of the VB kit. A short loom and a plug into the under dash socket! ( I think Eddie has posted picture of a very similar bit of kit recently). I felt relieved we now had real security from a specialist . No comparison in my opinion. Costs more but as a percentage of van’s price it is well worth it. Also VB were available on the phone to solve a couple of issues we had, partly our fault! MetaTrak also talked us through a false alarm and tweaked the settings remotely! Very impressive.

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I have the Phantom Sentinel alarm and tracker and found it reliable. It has a good Thatcham rating and is operated using the van key fob or phone app so simple to use. I got the lifetime subscription hopefully job done. I think as long as you go for a reputable brand and installation you will not far wrong just check the cost of the subscription. For the Phantom it was about £149 a year or £599 for life of ownership.
 
Vanbits strikeback and the after service is 1st class too.

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Vanbitz growler and non starter. I was shocked to see the sloppy previous system, which didn’t work very well and had terrible customer Support
 
Yes Vanbitz every time, and we had to wait a while to get an appointment, so we deferred picking up the new van for a month.
Growler & Meta Trak, plus twin rear view cameras:xThumb:
LES
 
WESTY66 said:
I’ve had it on both vans, on my present van I even had an OTT system ripped out and a growler non starter installed before delivery, purely down to my preference of security and the great customer after sales service from Eddie and the boys (and girls) down there.
Fully agree with everything PJGWiltshire says👍 Personally I wouldn’t have anything else, but it’s your money, spend it how you feel comfortable👍
Click to expand...
I also had the ott system replaced with the growler. The fiat mechanic showed me how to disable the ott alarm in less than 2 minutes very worrying.
 
Looks like Vanbitz has gained a decent reputation on here, we are very happy with the Growler, the campsite is nice too if you are down that way.

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Phantom for me with subscription. Can't fault the service, called if vehicle moves over 10mph as I always forget to turn it off. They come to you to fit. Lots of add ons too.
 
Vanbitz for me Don’t understand why home fitting is quoted as a feature of other systems ....for a vehicle that is designed to travel?
Surely the ability to prevent theft and its durability/reliability are what matters ?
 
eddievanbitz is your answer.

Make sure you work out what your want, what you need and book weeks ahead.
We drove literally from the dealers forecourt to VanBitz to have a tracker, Growler, engine stop, solar panels and gaslow all fitted in a single day (and a bill with a comma)

The Campsite next door is good, and you can walk into Taunton for the day
 
Ernesto said:
Vanbitz for me Don’t understand why home fitting is quoted as a feature of other systems ....for a vehicle that is designed to travel?
Surely the ability to prevent theft and its durability/reliability are what matters ?
Click to expand...
Very often an alarm/tracker is a stipulation of the insurer, some may give you 30 days others less but either way it may not be convenient to travel to the other end of the country to have an alarm fitted, ours was fitted by a mobile guy at the dealer before we picked the van up which suited us and I am happy with the combination of alarm and tracker and the service of the monitoring centre.

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Someone asked a similar question on FB a while back and one guy was raving about how good his alarm system was including the back up, when I asked how he knew it was that good if he’s never been broken into and he accused me of being a trouble maker 😂
I’m on my 2nd Strikeback and although I can’t say if it’s any better than any other what I can say is “it does what it says on the can” I know this as we had an attempted break-in in the middle of Nice, they broke a window to get in but I assume the alarm must have scared them off as they took nothing. I can only assume the noise disturbed them or attracted other attention as we had an iPad 2 Rolex and a couple of grand sitting 😂😂 We actually had an iPad under the quilt but nothing was touched.
 
Have a read of this thread........ This is a very determined but failed attempt to foil the non starter, which gives me huge confidence in the system

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Massive thanks to Eddie Vanbitz and Metatrak

Long story, but here goes... My son's MH was stolen a couple of years ago, it was his pride and joy. Fortunately insurance paid out but he never wanted to go through that trauma again, so he bought another MH and went straight to Eddie who recommended going the whole hog with alarm, tracker...
www.motorhomefun.co.uk www.motorhomefun.co.uk
 
One reason we went for vanbitz alarm is the Dog.
yes it’s expensive. But we are confident when we go out and the dog is in the van if the alarm goes off it contacts me and I can get straight back. Better than relying on someone else who has no interest in your property calling you after a couple of hrs to say there’s a problem
I feel I would have a vested interest in sorting it out quickly and making sure the dog is ok.
 
There are lots of companies out there doing a similar product.... I’d research a few more rather then just two mentioned here....

to be honest I didn’t have good service from vanbits and have heard of others too but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good system...

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Fragle said:
One reason we went for vanbitz alarm is the Dog.
yes it’s expensive. But we are confident when we go out and the dog is in the van if the alarm goes off it contacts me and I can get straight back. Better than relying on someone else who has no interest in your property calling you after a couple of hrs to say there’s a problem
I feel I would have a vested interest in sorting it out quickly and making sure the dog is ok.
Click to expand...
Does the VB alarm report to a control centre or direct to a phone app?
 
Just smiffy said:
There are lots of companies out there doing a similar product.... I’d research a few more rather then just two mentioned here....

to be honest I didn’t have good service from vanbits and have heard of others too but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good system...
Click to expand...

Vanbits or Vanbitz.........two different companies. (y)
 
funflair said:
Does the VB alarm report to a control centre or direct to a phone app?
Click to expand...
It reports to the app on your smartphone Martin, through two layers of security, my eyes to open the phone and a pin protected app. I like it because I can immobilise the vehicle myself so no one can start it, even if they had the ignition key. My friend had his bmw car stolen, it was tracked within 20 mins........on fire!!
 

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