Customer Reviews

Gorilla Automotive 7017 Motorcycle Alarm with 2-Way Paging System

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you follow the directions closely, the installation should go fine. I spent more time trying to figure out where to locate the alarm than the actual installation took. Be sure to have all the remotes ready when the system is initially powered on so you can get them programmed on the first try. Once installed, I noticed that the motion sensor alarm was chirping several times during each cool-down period after I rode the bike and set the alarm. Not sure if this is typical of other users, but I ended up lowering the sensitivity to the middle of the seven step range as described in the directions. This seems to help prevent the inadvertent alarms but it does take a much stronger shake to get the alarm to go off now. Probably need to raise the sensitivity a notch or two. The range on the pager is probably more like a few hundred feet if you're in a building next to the motorcycle. In an open area with scattered buildings it might be close to a quarter mile. The one feature I'd really like to see them add is a battery backup. Other than that I think it's a great product, especially at this price point, and would readily recommend it to others.

This is a great alarm system for the price- very sensitive and easy to use. I had it installed by a mechanic who said that installation was not as simple as advertized on the box. On the other hand if you check out the youtube video, the guy there said that it took him about 15 minutes to install it. The Alarm has adjustible shock, tilt and circuit surge sensors all of which are very sensitive and work beautifully. Also, it comes with a pager that alerts you as soon as any of these sensors are activated. The only downside of this alarm is that it does not have back up power, which means that if the thief gets underneath the riders seat without activating the alarm and cuts of power cables, the system becomes useless. As I said before, this system pretty sensitive, so the thief will have to be very skilled.

Overall I'm very satisfyied with this product, given tha it cost only $140 and would highly recomend it.

Easy to install and get set up. Works as advertised!! Remote receiver reception reaches even further than advertised but may be based on conditions. None the less I love it!!

A friend of mine gave me an Amazon gift certificate and I was considering getting this alarm with it. I was not too keen on paying somebody to install it for me, but at the same time I was a little intimidated at the thought of installing it myself as I have zero experience with alarm installs, and minimal experience with electrical wiring in general. So I took a look at the install directions beforehand and it seemed very simple, and I went ahead and ordered it. It really is very easy to install, so I urge anybody that is hesitant to install it themselves: don't worry, go for it, you can't really mess anything up and you will most likely be pleasantly surprised at how simple the install is. If you can access your battery on your own, and maybe take your seat off or access your tail section, you can install this thing no problem.

The install is very straightforward. In a nutshell, you find a spot for the unit to reside, run the power and ground wires to your battery, and that's really all there is to it. If you want to run the tilt sensor and the LED, you need to find a spot for them as well. I did not want to drill into my fairings or anything like that so I opted to not use the LED, and after having this alarm about a year, I've found the tilt sensor to be redundant with the shock sensor. So although I did initially install the tilt sensor (I attached it to the main unit with the included velcro tape), I am no longer using it.

The deal with the tilt sensor is this... the shock sensor is so sensitive that nobody is going to be able to take my bike off its stand without setting off the shock sensor anyway, so I felt that there really is no point in even bothering with it. Like I said, I did install it and it did work just as it should, but the shock sensor, if you have it at its highest setting, is most likely going to go off before they even get the bike upright anyway. I had to remove the alarm at one point and when I reinstalled it, I did not bother reinstalling the tilt sensor. Just to reiterate how simple the install is, I think it only took me 10 minutes to reinstall the alarm. Add another five minutes or so for the tilt sensor but that's only because you probably need a little bit of trial-and-error to test its angle to get it just right.

The toughest part of the install will probably be finding a spot for the unit. I really wanted it under my seat but I ride a supersport (Suzuki GSXR), and if you are familiar with these bikes there is really not much room for anything on them. So after half an hour of agonizing over the fact that it would not fit under my seat, I went ahead and put it in the tail section which had plenty of room for it.

The shock sensor at its highest setting is very sensitive. I have accidentally set off the alarm just by gently bumping the front tire with my leg as I was walking past the bike. My dog also set it off when he was sniffing around the bike and he barely touched it. However, it's not overly sensitive to the point where I'm getting false alarms from cars driving by or from people parked next to me slamming their car doors, and this is with the shock sensor set to its highest setting. So at least on my bike, the shock sensor is pretty much perfect at its highest setting. However, I'm sure this will vary from bike to bike and dependent on environmental conditions, so you may need to play around with the sensitivity for a few days until you find your sweet spot.

I've not had any issues with battery drain although I usually keep my bike hooked up to a battery tender whenever it's parked in the garage, which is something we should all be doing anyway imo.

Range on the remote has been fine for me. I do not live in an apartment with a concrete park though. But typically, the furthest I am from my bike is if I walk into a supermarket and my bike is in the parking lot, and my remote is still within range of the alarm.

The sound that this thing puts out is absolutely ear-piercing. There's been a few times where I forget that I have it armed and I touch the bike and the alarm goes off, and it makes you want to drop everything and cover your ears. It's insanely loud. Nobody is going to want to stick around and break into your tail section or under your seat to cut the power with this thing blaring in their ear. When I set this thing off accidentally, I am literally RUNNING for the remote so I can shut it off. It really is hard on the ears.

The pager is nice in that it beeps whenever something happens with the alarm and it shows you what exactly was triggered (shock, tilt, etc). And it's loud enough that you would probably notice the beep even if it was in your pocket at the time the alarm was triggered. Battery life is pretty good - one AAA battery should last you several months.

All in all, great deal for the price. I've had this alarm for about a year and been completely satisfied with it. There are alarms out there with more bells and whistles at a higher price point, but for the money this one is hard to beat.

This alarm is really great in some ways, and not so great in others.

The positive:

-It is REALLY easy to install. I am totally useless in dealing with the insides of cars and bikes, and have no experience in doing so. But this was as easy as installing an app to your iPhone.

-It works great. It has a good range. When I park it in the parking space behind my concrete apartment block I will get a message on the pager whenever someone even thinks about touching my bike. Even when I am in my apartment on the other side of the block on the fifth floor. So if you park outside you should have no problems making this work inside a house or an apartment building. I also got an alarm while my bike was parked outside of a large IKEA bulding even if I was on the inside on the total oppsite side of the very large store behind lots of walls and other obstacles. But don't expect miracles. If you plan on parking in a concrete garage system underground...don't expect the signal to get to your apartment.

-The alarm is sensitive enough (and can be adjusted to less sensitivity) and extremly loud. I was a bit concerned about it being loud enough from other reviews, but mounted under the seat of my Honda Hornet it is so loud that everyone within hundreds of meters will look straight at your bike. I activated it once when my seat was removed and it was so loud that it felt like it was damaging my hearing. An alarm can never be loud enough, but compared to lots of others I have tested this is the absolutely loudest.

The negative:

-The remote pagers battery will drain from full to empty in about a weeks time even if you don't use it. This is really strange, since it shouldn't really use that much battery. My wireless PC-mouse last one year on a battery, but this thing uses one in a week.

-The alarm WILL drain your bikes battery really fast even if it's not turned on. This wasen't a problem the whole summer and autumn after installing the alarm since I was using my bike at least once a week. I also use my bike at least every two weeks during wintertime because we usually have really mild winters here. But last winter was unusually harsh. So the bike just stood in it's metal shed (inside a room temperature underground garage) for about two months. Just to make sure the alarm didn't drain the battery I turned it completly off. I know that your not suppose to let your bike rest for two months without charging the battery, but this have not been a problem before installing this alarm. And usually the winter here last for two weeks, but this time it lasted for two months. When I was ready to use the bike again the battery was completely flat. No sign of life whatsover. Reapetet attempts at charging it with high tech chargers couldn't save it. So I had no other choice than to fork out 500$ for a new bike battery. I had my suspision that this alarm had some of the blame for this. But was not sure. After getting a new battery and using the bike all the time during the summer I have had no problem again. But recently the bike was left unused for 2 1/2 weeks (with the alarm turned OFF). When i tried to use the bike again the battery was drained so much that I couldn't get the bike to start. The battery was however not completly flat since the light on the bike worked. So I charged the battery and put it back in the bike. This time however I also removed the cables from the battery to the alarm to make sure it wasnt able to suck power from the battery again. After that the bike was left alone for almost four weeks. This afternoon I went down to start it and it was as if the battery came straight from the charger. The bike started immediatly. So after this I am 100% sure that this alarm drains your battery really bad even if it's turned off, just by being connected to the battery.

So the conclusion is that this alarm is great when using the bike all the time. But never ever leave it connected to your bikes battery (even if the alarm is turned off) for more than two weeks. This will probably leave your bike unable to start. Left for more than four weeks you risk draining the battery beyond rapair. It cost me 500$ to find this out. So for your own sake follow my advice.

I will give it five stars for value and functionality, and zero stars for sucking power from your battery even while turned off. So I end up giving it three stars since it is a really good product, at a good value, if you use your bike constantly.

very simple and cheap chinese made system but not for this money, real sux. better to buy something other xxx

I really wanted this to be a good product.

Install was great.

After six months the alarm broke and they sent me another one a month or so later. Install again was a pain in the butt bc I was riding to work at the time of year and put the bike back together while I was waiting for a new one.

The remote that pages you runs out of batteries after a couple weeks so if you have it sitting in your house while you sleep and you have the cheaper key chain remote on your keys then you have to check the battery level every night before bed. I would suggest a plug in receiver option for your house that does not run out of batteries. It worked fine through a brick house.

Alarm is loud, level/movement switch works.

It did not come with the keyring option on the paging remote like the picture, so you have to carry it separately off of your keys; thus the need for a cheaper remote on your keys as mentioned above. The lady said it was because the remotes were breaking easily on a key chain dangling around so they changed it; sounds like poor quality to me.

I used one of my i-phone screen protectors to cut out a screen protector for it

The pager and or remotes and alarm need to be reset sporadically when it fails or something goes wrong with it. Believe me I have spent time talking with some guy (Jim or Bill) on how to trouble shoot. Lets say your battery dies bc the alarm stayed on all day, or the alarm ran your battery dead after a week or two, you have to reset all the remotes and stuff.

Finally I installed a rocker switch with a relay (to prevent switch burn-out) so I could reset the alarm without taking off my seat and stuff to get to the alarm to unplug it and plug it back in. You need a maintainer if you have the alarm set with or without the led light. If outside I suggest solar maintainer (low amp!) while at work or something. Harbor freight has the best waterproof ones I found and has worked for 4 years, but you need to paint them black or something. I strapped it to the back of the bike.

I stopped working completely after about 13 months.

If you are not home and a lawn guy sets it off then it will alarm until the battery dies, 10 minutes seems enough to me, I guess unlimited blaring would work if a guy was driving down the street with it in his truck. The neighbors were sick of it all day.

Don't waist your money on the 2 way pager version if you think you could hear the alarm inside your house. It seemed to cause more hassle and problems for the cost involved. Maybe if it sent a text or email to your phone over your wifi network or something it would be worth it for such a case where you might be at work. It's as loud as a honking car or car alarm. It does not work in huge buildings, theaters, etc so whats the point? A warning system to let you know your bike that is close enough to hear and send the signal to the remote, but you can hear it anyway.

I had already owned one of these and is installed in my bike. I was so satisfied with this product that I bought another and installed it in another new bike that I bought. If you were to buy this alarm, buy it with the 2 way pager.

Received a a Christmas gift and it is just what I expected. All of the features that I was looking for at the right price. Keeping the wires hidden is the greatest drawback. I would definitely like a wireless system some time in the future.

Good alarm for the price. The shock sensor is really sensitive.

The pager works well too, just not through brick and steel walls.