Clifford or Toad?

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Hi

Looking to get a decent alarm for around the £300 mark for my Celica.

I've got 2 quotes at that mark. One Toad, One Clifford, both fully fitted for the price. I would just like some advice and opinion on which is better, speaking from experiance if possible.

Both have exactly the same features - glass break sensors, proximity sensors, etc. The one thing the toad has ABOVE the Clifford alternative is that it comes with a paging system for the price.
I find this to be quite a decent idea, but I'm not sure how effective it will be.

If anyone could give me their opinions on both I'd really appreciate it.

-greg
 
I've had experience with Clifford, I was loaned a car fitted with one of their alarm/immobilizers. Only problem was if you left the keys in the car it would lock them in.
Other thing to consider is some of the top of the range cliffords was not thatcham approved.
 
I'm leaning toward toad at the moment, simply because theres not THAT much between them; and although clifford have a good name I've been told they're overrated, plus toad are pretty respectable just not as big a name from what I've heard. Both alarm systems are identical except the paging system...Not really a big deal to me but if I'm leaning in one direction anyway, the extra sounds quite good to me.
 
I've had one Clifford Concept in the past, and currently have a Toad ai606. I much prefer the Toad. It has not gone wrong yet (unlike the Clifford)!

My only criticism is that the siren isn't particularly loud. But as it has only gone off due to my stupidity (half closing doors, or leaving the courtesy light on) that's not been a problem so far.
 
Another vote for Toad. Had it in my old Punto and it did a good job, apart from the annoyance in disarming it when the alarm is triggered.

Clifford Concept (used in my cousin's Clio) has the fancy attractions such as the blinding flashing blue lights, the millions of "bleeping" choices and the annoying over-sensitive proximity sensor which goes off whenever a fly flies pass. Clifford does offer good alarms but they are IMO overpriced and overrated, most likely because they are advertised everywhere with 5 star ratings in Max Power, etc... :p
 
toad all the way.. BUT things which you may want to consider from the clifford is that:
- the remote fob range is far greater
- the interface and options for customising the settings is made far easier by means of the cliffnet wizard software


(i personally own a toad ai606 btw but looked into the two in great detail before making the choice. money wasnt the greatest factor either)
 
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The Toad AI606 has some nice features such as automatic central locking when the ignition is turned on and auxillary outputs to control window closure modules and/or boot release. However as phantom has mentioned the alarm isn't as loud as one would expect. You might want to find someone with an AI606 and listen to their alarm when it's sounding as it may influence your decision whether or not to buy one. The Toad AI606 includes Cat1 Thatcham approval when installed by a qualified installer.

The Clifford has everything the Toad has with the option of additional features such as 'BlackJax anti-hijacking' and 'Intellistart' and also customisation of existing features such as when the doors can lock ( at the pre-programmed RPM ) and how loud/quiet the siren will be. Again as mentioned by phantom the range of the Clifford keyfob is far greater than that of the Toad although the Toad range can be extended by altering the location of the antenna wire. A lot of the Cliffords do not carry Thatcham approval and some may consider this as a disadvantage but you really need to check whether or not Cat1 status will affect your insurance quotes as a lot of the time it makes little to no difference.

Having installed both alarms I can't really fault either. The Toad AI606 is a great alarm for the price and has perfectly adequate security features for most people. The Clifford is really a Toad with additional convenience features.
 
I've just got a car with an Ai606 fitted, but I've got no certificate, is it possible to get one from somewhere? How much is it going to cost?
 
You could try contacting Toad for a certificate although I would have no idea how much they would issue one for. Should you recieve a certificate it will cost you around £30 to get an authorised Toad dealer to inspect your installation and stamp the certificate for you.
 
I've got the Clifford Concept 300 with dual zone proximity sensor, full closure and headlight flash operated via the remote.

It's nice to have the gizmos but to be honest I'll probably just get a Toad on my next car, it seems to be almost as good and a fair bit cheaper.
 
i would go with the company that will do the best installation. a poor installation will make the best of alarms a **** one!
 
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Ish said:
i would go with the company that will do the best installation. a poor installation will make the best of alarms a shi*t one!
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Best post here, a alarm that cost £1000 or £50 is only as good as the installation.

Most older Clifford had bad problem, but mostly due to the fact you had a lot of people selling them and fitting them with little or no proper traning. You ask proper Clifford fitter that have been doing them for years on all kind of cars and I bet you they would say their fault ratio is near nothing.

The current G5 Clifford range is proof of this, no problems fitted by a proper company, but some people who decided to take the cheap route or even fit them themself has of course had problems.


If your anywhere near Birgmingham take a look at www.motorguarduk.co.uk as they are probably the best in the UK for most alarm makes, the main owener being the best Clifford installer in the UK. I drove 4hrs to get my alarm fitted there, while many people have come from as far as Isle of Man, and even Europe.

In fact while I was there a guy bought in his new cars from his fleet, he went for the Clifford 950 with tracker on his RS6, WR1 and new Range Rover, and had all of his supercar fitted here too.
 
got a mate with a clifford with all the danglies on and remote start on his scuby.

nice gadgets but the novelty soon wears off, he spent a fortune on it,

id rather have a toad!
 
Ish said:
lol what a coincidence. i use motorguard as well but luckily i only have to drive 10 minutes to get there instead of 4 hours :D
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Worth ever minuted ever time, such a quality place, and well the guys are first class as so friendly.

Was there last week looking at the Robin and the Cossie engined Prelude.

My only complaint is that of the drive home high on glue! :D

It's the only place I will ever get alarms for my car, and all my mates, not only do they have very good prices they go one further and give you freebies ontop of the alarms!

A1 company!
 
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