I was on vacation in Cali with my wife and her family.....
We took my car which "had" a nice Pioneer cd deck.......
Well, I made the mistake of leaving the face plate on my stereo on and armed the car..............
From the time period of 12am-6am, my driver side window was smashed in and all my stuff in the car was stolen($100 sunglasses, ASU sweatshirt), jacked up the interior of my car leaving broken glass everywhere, and they even had the gall to take my coin stash in the ash tray($10 worth)...... THEY TOOK MY COIN STASH!!!!!!
So it goes to show that the bad guys will take whatever they feel like taking, even your 5 months worth of loose change from Taco Bell.
BUT, to make a horrible story end positive........
I had full coverage on my car so my window was replaced (minus the tinting) that day compliments of my full coverage policy from Progressive Insurance and my stereo was replaced with an equally priced deck within a week, plus I had rental insurance so I didn't have to pay for my rental car while my stereo and the interiors were being replaced (cuz not only did they steal my coin stash, they also jacked up my console and part of the door molding..... amateur theifs). They could've at least removed my stereo properly so I wouldn't have to replace everything on the console. AMATEURS!!!!!!!!!!
So in short....
Leave all items out of plain view, remove any advertisements on your window, get a cheap alarm system and change your policy to full coverage .......
1. you get a better rate on your insurance
2. You will be covered in any damage without panalties (solong as it wasn't your fault)
3. What thieves can't see won't be stolen (unless they see your $79,000 BMW, then you're screwed)
4. Learn to laugh about your stereo being jacked..... I did...... I hate you Stereo Theives!!!!!
So to answer the original question:
Get the Viper without shock sensors, but with trunk release, window, and car start buttons on the remote. Those options make life so much better.