Tracker or cat 1 alarm? (1 Viewer)

4maddogs

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Nov 16, 2010
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I am buying a new motorhome and obsessing happily about which one and what to specify! The dealer has quoted for a Cat 1 alarm, but I wonder whether tgese are that useful? Who can hear an alarm in a remote area and can't a good (odd concept!) disable it quickly?
Would a tracker be better? If so which?
What else is a good idea?
Current MH has no security and is still with me.
Thanks
 
Jan 10, 2013
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Check with your insurance company. Depending on the value of the vehicle they may insist on a certain category and possibly a tracker. Ours is insisting we have a Cat 5 tracker fitted (at great expense I have to say!).
 

glenn2926

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Do you immediately phone the police when you hear a car alarm? No. Neither does anyone else. So I think the tracker would be your best option.

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Robert Clark

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A Growler and Non Starter fitted by @eddievanbitz is not only Cat 1, but also includes a tracker with no monthly fees, and also includes a Non Starter immobiliser which is controlled from your mobile phone and prevents vehicle theft due to key theft.

Considered the most effective Motorhome specific security system on the market.

Plus as a Fun Member you get a 10% discount.

#NoGrowler-NoSecurity
 

Derbyshire wanderer

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My take on them is that tracking devices need annual payment that IMV is adding another 30% to the insurance costs but an alarm only costs once.
Should it be stolen with a tracker they have a better chance of recovering it but if this happened to me I would prefer never to see it again as you don't know what they may have done to it.
Edit did not know as Robert's comment about tracker without ongoing subscription
 

taralabradog

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I think that the choice will be taken out of your hands when you try to get insurance quotes.
I remember trying to get quotes myself when we bought new 2 year ago and that was for quite an inexpensive one of about 40k. One of the first questions was about security devices.
Oh and we nearly sent them into apoplexy when I suggested they also quote me for keeping it at home.
Of course I may have just tried the wrong companies.
Having said that I still think that Motorhome insurance is quite cheap when you look at other forms of insurance.
Anyway enjoy it.:sun:

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Zigisla

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It doesn't really matter too much if the alarm can or can't be heard in the middle of nowhere, but with a Growler from the Bitzmeister @eddievanbitz the scumbags cannot stay inside too long to ransacked your MH without bleeding from the ears, then follow the blood trail and knick them.;)
 

eddie

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Do you immediately phone the police when you hear a car alarm? No. Neither does anyone else. So I think the tracker would be your best option.
Would you phone the Police or photograph the incident if you saw some one ransacking someones motorcaravan? or are you saying that you would ignore someones van being burgled?

The reality is that as soon as an alarm sounds, the thief is normally away, not stood there with his hands up saying "It was me, take me away"

Consequently there is normally nothing to report

Ten vans late at night in a Aire in France, the owners asleep inside. Nine appear to have no security whatsoever, one is very obviously alarmed. Which one would you pick first to break into? Bearing in mind that the majority of theft from motorhomes is casual and opportunistic.

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Feb 27, 2011
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If it were purely down to choice with no input from the insurance companies this is the order I fit security devices.
1) Deadlocks on all doors.
2) Method to disable the engine.
3) Tracker
4) Alarm

Physically preventing them gaining access or making it as hard as possible trumps everything else in my view. No deadlocks will stop them forever if they are determined. So onto some method of disabling the engine. This will make it harder for them to steal but if they really want your van they will just put it on the back of a recovery truck. Once it is gone you want a method of recovery asap. A tracker will be very useful. Thieves do however either block the signal for a time or in a lot of cases they will park it somewhere out of the way and wait to see if it is recovered. My last choice is an alarm. But I personally think they are next to useless except for warning you if you are in earshot. The better alarms with a remote notification to your phone would be more helpful?

If you are to get an alarm, then the vanbitz one is the only one worth considering I think.

These are just my opinions and I am sure some will disagree. I deal in security for internet based servers, which are constantly under attack from hackers. The big thing I have learned is never rely on a single security measure. We call it security in depth. Always expect one layer of security to fail and try to make the defences of the system you are trying to protect like an onion. Lots of layers and force the attacker to have to go through them all.
 
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MannClan

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bought our Adria new in Dec 15 and the insurance company wanted to know what "alarm/tracker" we had fitted to finalise the quote. we opted for a cat1 alarm.
 
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4maddogs

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I will have to make a trip to Eddie I think! My insurance company has not insisted so far, but my
M
H was new 7 years ago so they may have moved on since then.
Thanks
I will get some locks as well.....visual deterrant too.

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4maddogs

Free Member
Nov 16, 2010
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North Norfolk
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MH
Low profilke
Exp
6 months
I will have to make a trip to Eddie I think! My insurance company has not insisted so far, but my
M
H was new 7 years ago so they may have moved on since then.
Thanks
I will get some locks as well.....visual deterrant too.
 

Zepp

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Check with your insurance company. Depending on the value of the vehicle they may insist on a certain category and possibly a tracker. Ours is insisting we have a Cat 5 tracker fitted (at great expense I have to say!).


We also have to have a Cat 5 tracker fitted they are not cheap :eek: also getting the Growler and non starter fitted.
 

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