[zoedragon]

We traded in my sweetheart's Xterra for the new '05 Nissan Pathfinder over the weekend. We had Lojack on the Xterra, but found out that it isn't transferrable. Big bummer because it cost us around $500, and now when I check the prices they're at $695 - ouch. So now we're looking at car alarms.

Now I personally HATE car alarms. All they do is annoy people and no one pays attention to it. But it might not be too wise to live in Inglewood and and have a new car with no security on it. So now I'm researching which alarms are a good price AND the least annoying.

Here's what I consider annoying:

1. Alarms that sound off at the slightest provocation, such as a noisy car driving by.

2. Alarms whose controls buttons start to lose effectiveness after a few years (meaning you have to press hard and wiggle it different ways to get it to work).

3. Alarms that lock your car when it's in the car wash.

#1 by far is my biggest gripe. It makes the alarm completely useless because it's always crying wolf. #2 is my friend's old "Viper" alarm remote. Stupid thing. #3 is my sweetheart's past car alarm. It would lock the car about a minute or two after it's been unlocked. It's useful for someone who forgets to lock the doors, but very annoying because it can lock you out easily. I like my BMW's auto-locking feature -- it only locks the doors after the car drives past a certain speed. Are there any alarms that do this?

With all this in mind, do any of you have any recommendations? I personally have no car alarm experience, so any advice would be useful.