Bulldog RS82-I Do It Yourself Remote Starter

Comment: this item need a bypass unless if you drive a 12 year old car, the do it yourself is hard on smarter cars like an minivan, and you will not find an installer who would want to do it without charging you a couple of hundred $$, so do the math

Comment: I've tried 2 different remote starters by Bulldog Security. To me they were easy to install with the "T" harness. But they just don't work worth a darn. One of mine had a stated range of over 1,000 feet. It would not work more than 10 feet fom the car. It would not start the car in the driveway while I was standing at the back door of my house or while standing at a window about 30 feet from the car. And it was supposed to have a range of 1,000 feet ? Yeah right ! And like almost everyone says, it's like going through hell and high water to ever get a live person on the phone. And then they act like they don't give a rat's a_ _. They are definitely not customer oriented. Very inferior product and company. I will never think about purchasing one of their products again. STAY AWAY from these people and their products ! I gave it only one star because I had to give it a rating to post. It actually does not deserve even one star.

Comment: I was given this product as a gift, and after looking into reviews I wasn't overly excited to get started working on it. I realized I needed a security bypass, which was not currently available online. I tried to call them, no one answered. I proceeded to call 4-5 times a day. I then tried to call other departments, sales, tech support, customer service, even accounting, accounts payable, receivable. Not one human ever answered the phone, or called me back.

It then became a sport, I was determined to get a human on the phone. Embarrassingly I probably called a total of 35 times. 3 days later, I realized I probably could spend my time better by just writing bad reviews online. So do yourself a favor, don't buy this product, and support a sham company.

Comment: I am a certified technician with over 25 years of professional automotive experience. I recently purchased a Bulldog RS82 remote starter unit along with the 791 Bypass for the Passlock-II security system for a 2003 Olds Bravada. I finally got the unit working, but it took upwards of 10 hours to install and another 10 hours of troubleshooting to get it working. I did not purchase the T-adapter for the wire harness, and spliced all of the wires as shown in the DVD. The T-adapter would most likely have saved installation time. There were no installation instructions for the 791 Bypass in the enclosed information. The installation video is OK for the RS82 install, but is incomplete for the 791 Bypass. The DVD only describes 4 wires that need to be connected for the 791. You actually need to connect 2 more ! Upon calling tech support, I was put on hold for 45 minutes and got cut off. Was on hold for another hour and finally hung up. The best way to contact Bulldog is via E-mail. Got a response the next day and a direct dial line to a support person. This person seemed to be very knowledgeable. After several phone calls and various testing suggestions, we finally determined that not all of the wires on the 791 had been connected due to lack of installation instructions and an inaccurate video. I would not recommend this product unless you are very determined and have alot of automotive savy.

Comment: Installed unit over Thanksgiving. Not very straight forward, but definitely DIY. Took me about 3 hours to install, with the correct T-harness. After the install, I can see how it could have been quicker if I was a professional installer.
Does it start our car? Yes is does. While parked in our garage, we can press the start button and the car starts as expected. Sometimes it may take two or three tries, but it does start. I have it installed in tachless mode. It may start more reliably if I had the unit connected to the tach. But for now it is OK.
Now for my may concern/complaint. The advertised "up to 400ft" range is actually closer to 90-100ft in our vehicle. I have read the vendors FAQ page and I have installed the antenna as straight/vertical/away from other wires as possible. I have actually tried three different antenna locations. None has produced any noticable increase in range. I have sent the vendor an email to help diagnose the problem.
Until then this is a two star product. If I can get an increase in range it, I would consider this a 3 1/2 star. Difficult install subtracts 1 star. Another 1/2 star subtracted for poor initial antenna range.
If I can't increase the range then this is a 1 star and I will find another brand/model.