Date:         Tue, 1 Jul 1997 18:23:55 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Charles D Earl <cdearl@cats.ucsc.edu>
Subject:      Re: Hornet car alarm?

Hey volks,

Anyone had experience with the Hornet car alarm?  It is made by the same
company (DEI) that makes the Viper alarm.  It has fewer of the silly features
that the Viper has (which is one of the reasons I like it).

The guy at the alarm/audio shop wants $200 installed for it.  It seems a fair
price to me.  He will have to put in two pin switches (one for the sliding
door and one for the rear hatch, included).  It has a starter kill, remotes,
warning siren, shock sensor, frequency code hopping, blah, blah, blah...  

*I had a DEI alarm installed 3yrs ago (don't know if it was a Viper).  It 
has all the features you list.  Likewise I had pin switches installed for 
the sliding dr and rear hatch.  Originally I had a magnetic switch for 
the sliding door, something went wrong with it and they replaced it with 
a pin style.  Thats the only problem I have experienced, it really has 
worked flawlessly, and thats after a lot of rough roads over the years.  
I had the shock sensor sensitivity turned-down, now it doesn't go off for 
Harley's and mild earthquakes.  The remotes work from an impressive 
distance.  I have been able to start the van after over 10 days of 
sitting w/it on (I was told cheap alarms drain more juice).  At the time 
the folks at SF Autocenter seemed convinced that DEI was a leading 
brand.  I paid about 225.  
An interesting side-effect is that one needs to keep the remote handy 
when reattaching the battery ground.  It thinks you are trying to hotwire 
the car and sounds the siren and disables the starter circuit.  
One word of advice, check out the "pin switch" used on the sliding door.  
Mine is a fairly long and skinny metal plunger.  It sticks out a fair 
ways, one time camping I cut my right forearm pretty bad going in 
through the sliding door :(  Obviously this entrance gets heavy use, I 
plan on replacing that *!?%@#* switch with something safer (shorter and 
more rounded, maybe plastic).
Hope it helps.

Charles
'83.5 Westy