I've been checking the BulldogSecurity remote starters at Wal-Mart, waiting for them to go on sale so I can snag one or two RS-82 models, which are basic remote starters without keyless entry, for a nice upgrade on a couple of used cars I'm going to be selling but which don't have power locks on them.

So anyhow, suddenly the last one disappeared from the local Wal-Mart _and_ its shelf sticker was gone as well. "Self," I thought, "I better see if the other Wal-Mart has any left." Raced over there last night and found them rearranging all the car electronics, and sitting on a clearance rack was one of those stupid BulldogSecurity "talking" alarms, marked down to $20. After a lot of ransacking of shelves, I found one RS-82 left, obviously a returned unit as it seemed to have been opened by beavers, was missing the package artwork and was resealed with scotch tape.

These are the ones I like to buy, the ones that were bought by somebody else who took them home, opened them up, freaked out after reading the instructions and realizing how much work was involved, and promptly returned them. The packaging is that plastic clamshell stuff that'* impossible to open without basically destroying it, so I'm usually able to bargain-down the store into re-selling the opened package to me, since it looks like hell, may be missing parts (not a problem for me but a useful bargaining point), and no one else is going to buy it when they could get a sealed one instead.

HappyHappyJoyJoy, I scored on this one last night. Their computer wanted to charge full price for it ($44.84), but I pointed out that the similar alarm kit was being clearanced out at $20, and _that_ hadn't even been opened, so how would they like $20 for me to take the last remote starter off their hands? Much dithering ensued: the counter guy called his boss; she mucked around with the computer and then called her manager; the manager treated the whole thing as if it was a corporate merger bid, but finally said Sure. So I got the last one out of that store, and it seems like they may not be back.

So that leaves Meijer as the last local outlet for over-the-counter BulldogSecurity stuff, and Circuit City for some other brands, although it'* not clear how easy it is to just buy the hardware at Circuit City without them trying to lump in an installation charge and insist on installing it themselves. (Best Buy seems to be similar...)

Are these any good? I bet they'll bring a new one along, most stores always do.

If it starts my car, and i don't have to drop the whole dash i may be interested..

Regardless of brand, they all need connections to the same wires on the car, so you're looking at doing some surgery no matter what you buy. The BulldogSecurity stuff is the cheapest in price. Quality is okay in my experience, having installed three different systems over the past year or two, and I've had no equipment failures. I did have one processor that was dead in the package and one remote with a bad button, but I got them exchanged promptly and everything else has been fine ever since.

I can't say that their tech support is any good: on separate occasions I tried two voicemails and two emails to them, and they _never_ responded, but you all can use us for your Tech Support anyway.

I know quite a few people that use the Bulldog remote start, they work fine, the range on a few units isnt the best but who cares when it cost under 50 bones?

At target they had a car and driver unit pretty cheap.

Hey, you're right, I totally forgot about Tar-zhay... I saw that Car and Driver unit, too. I think it was a repackaged BulldogSecurity product but couldn't swear to that now... Would know it if I saw it again...