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Thor Car Alarm - A Review


m]dot
03-10-2004, 02:35 PM
We've all seen these alarms, possibly under different names but there all the same. Sold under the brand Thor or Phonix Digital, these alarms look like inexpensive alternatives to offerings from DEI, Alpine, Bulldog, and other good alarm manufacturers. However, purchasing one of these alarms at any price is not worth the risk of your personal safety and the well being of your ride.

I picked one up from allstarsalez on eBay, who seems to be one of the main peddlers of this alarm. My max bid was $100 and I paid $99 dollars for it. Add another $16.99 for shipping and we're at $115.99. Not bad for an alarm that appears to be as feature rich as alarms selling for over $600. In fact, it states on the sales page that the alarm is valued at some where close to $600, so how could a consumer go wrong?

What you get:
It's an alarm. Really it is. It comes well packaged and appears to be of some quality. There's a central processing unit, a couple of relay packs, wire, an antenna, two key fob's, and other misc. bits that go with the install. It even has two batteries to go in the alarm remotes, pretty nice. The instruction manual is well written and displays clearly how everything should be installed.

Sadly, thats where the pleasure ends.

The Install:
My good friend and incredible installer, Jeff, who works at All Star Sound (no relation to allstarsalez on eBay), did the install for me. The test bed? A 1996 Mazda 929. Mind you the alarm was installed by a 20 year mobile electronics professional who I both know and trust. Jeff had no trouble installing the alarm, as he's installed them before (he did warn me btw). One of the main issues we have with the alarm is the way it remote starts. See, every GOOD remote start system uses a tach sensor to determine when the engine has been started, so when the engine hits a certain rpm the alarm knows to stop trying to start the car. The Thor alarm uses the oil light. Yeah, the oil light. The problem is that when most cars start (1985 and up), the oil light comes on for 4 - 10 seconds. The Thor alarm dosen't stop trying to start the car until the light goes off. This means that even if the car is started, the alarm will continue to 'turn the key'. Ever accidently turn your key while the engine was running? Think of doing that for 4 - 10 seconds every time you start your car. Thats the kind of damage this alarms remote start feature can cause.

To remedy that situation I found a timer that would stop the alarm from trying to start the car for $75. Once installed, the alarm only tried to start the car for two seconds instead of the eight I was getting.

As if killing the starter in your car isn't bad enough, this alarm will cause your ABS system to either false trigger, or stop working completely.

When the car is remote started, the driver must turn the key and step on the brake to notify the alarm that they are taking over, thats universal, all remote start systems are like that. There is a sensor in the alarm that monitors the brake pedal. When we test drove the car after using remote start, the 4Wheel ABS light came on. Not only that, but the brakes were studdering and we had a hard time stopping. When we test drove the car without starting it remotely, the 4Wheel ABS light was off, but so was the ABS. Yeah, thats right, no ABS. We slammed on the brakes in my wifes otherwise sure-footed 929 and did nothing but slide to a stop 75ft later.

And then...
I figured the problem with the braking system was being caused by current finding its way through the line (how?). So I ran a test to see how much current was being drawn and what do I find? The alarm is literally leeching the car for every drop of electricity it can find. Before this alarm was installed, the car could sit at the beach for 4 hours playing movies and music (Xtant X603, Monitors, 2X10 Xtant Subs, Xtant separates all around, you know how we do!) and have no problems starting at the end of the day. After this alarm install, the battery keeps dying. New gel cap battery drained after a couple of hours.

The Solution:
Clifford G5.

At this point the owner of All Star Sound (no relation to allstarsalez on eBay) showed up and told me that he installed the Phonix Digital version of the same alarm in his wifes 2003 Escalade EXT, and had the same problems.
So we removed and nicely repackaged the Thor alarm, and installed a new Clifford Concept G5. Everything works flawlessly. Remote starts without a hiccup, no ABS issues, and the battery can run forever.

Conclusion:
If this alarm was free it wouldent be worth the potential safety risk you take having it installed. My wife is very important to me and having her car not work because of a poorly designed piece of electronics is simpy unacceptable. Buy well known alarm systems, because todays alarms spider into just about every sensor and relay on your car. Don't trust you car, or your life, to these cheap rip-offs.

ponchonutty
03-10-2004, 06:01 PM
Funny that you said all of this. I have been seeing these trickle into my shop too. The customer thinks that I am nuts when I tell them what to expect.

loopyloon
12-06-2005, 09:31 PM
Thanks for the great review. I am in the market for an alarm and was interested in Thor. Glad that I googled. You save my day and $60.

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