There are, quite literally, dozens and dozens of remote car starter systems and keyless entry systems available for your vehicle. The market can be very confusing, especially if you are not sure whether you need a 1-way system or a 2-way remote start system. But what does that mean?

Basically, a 1-way remote starter only communicates with your vehicle in one direction, or one way. In other words, you send the signal to trigger the remote starter, or set the alarm, or disable the alarm, or any number of other commands, and the system does it. But if you are away from your vehicle, in the office, or inside the house, there’s no way for you to know if you are in range and the system actually worked.

A 2-way remote starter system communicates back to you and tells you what’s actually going on with your vehicle. It lets you know that the engine is now running, or the alarm is set. Think of how handy this would be, for instance, if your work place is out of the sight or sound of your vehicle’s car alarm and some creep starts messing with your ride. A 2-way remote would tell you that the alarm has been triggered. It can also tell you what zone of the alarm were triggered. If the doors, hood, or trunk were opened, or the motion sensor was set off.

Typically, the fob, or control unit with the buttons on it, will have either LED lights to “communicate” with you, or an actual LED or LCD screen on the unit. For 2-way communication in a remote start or car alarm, you have to have some sort of visual.

If your vehicle requires you to turn the ignition key over more than once to start it, we’d first recommend a good tune-up. But we’d also recommend a 2-way unit for you.

Another consideration beyond the need for 1-way or 2-way is do you want a 1–button remote for remote start only, or do you need a 4-button remote to operate keyless entry or with keyless entry plus a car alarm system? If your factory ignition key has the door lock/unlock buttons built into the black head of the key (and you don’t have a key fob, like new Ford F150 trucks, Hondas and many others), you only need a 1-button, unless you want an alarm. If you currently have a key fob in addition to your keys, we recommend getting a 4-button unit with keyless entry. This would replace your factory key fob eliminating the need to carry two key fobs.

Many of the top brands, like Python, have a clear line of sight range of up to 2,000 feet. This is more than adequate for most applications, but if that isn’t enough, there are apps that will enable you to control your remoter starter and car alarm system from your smart phone. In that case all you need is to have your vehicle in a place where there is a cell phone signal and that is just about everywhere these days. You could lock or unlock your car doors in Los Angeles from a smart phone in New York!

4 Wheel Parts carries the full line of Python remote starter systems and alarms. And they also carry another very popular brand, Avital. For nearly 20 years, Avital has been one of the biggest names in car alarms and remote start technology. The staff at 4 Wheel Parts are experts in all of this remote start technology and can help you decide on the exact system that’s right for you.

See just a few of our remote start systems and ask our experts about different options for your car or truck, starting at just $259 installed!