Customer Rating: 
Summary: great remote
Comment: This universal remote is great, first one that actually turns everything on and off correctly, and eliminates all of the other ones.
highly recommend
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Fantastic Remote from Universal
Comment: I don't know what people are talking about, this being difficult to program. I downloaded the software at work, configured EVERYTHING on the remote, downloaded the settings to my phone storage card, uploaded the file to my computer when I got home, downloaded it to the remote and I was done. The most difficult part was me simply trying to decide how I wanted things laid out on the menus. The actual programming itself could be done by a young child with basic computer skills.
I started off with the MX-500 about 5 years ago. After much abuse, the light broke, something started rattling around inside, and it was starting to become less responsive for some reason. It may just be in my head, because it still does everything I could ever want it to do.
I decided to upgrade to the 850 because I needed to do some reprogramming and the non-computer-based method of the 500 I didn't want to mess with. Call me lazy.
But the 850 is a very fine example of engineering and design at its best. It's a little different than the 500, with fewer buttons and a slightly different look. But other than that it is a beautiful piece of equipment.
I love the fact that if I want to change a setting, I simply plug it into my PC, make the changes in the easy-to-use software, and download the new settings. Done. I really don't know how it could be any easier to use. Perhaps the software could be a bit more refined asthetically, but even as it is it is very intuitive and user-friendly.
I would highly recommend this remote. It does more than I could ever afford to buy equipment for, and I expect I will get years of use out of it, as I did with the 500.
Great job Universal Remote. Keep up the good work. You have a life-long customer here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Remote-2nd One Purchased for my House
Comment: This remote is fantastic. I already owned the MX-800 which operates my home theater downstairs, and was looking for a second remote to control my home theater upstairs. Looked at the new releases, MX900 and MX950, but these were $200 more and offered a lot of functionality that it is not really needed or worth the extra money.
Note, this remote is not for the novice computer person, but you also do not need to be an expert. If you are willing to spend roughly 4-5 hours, you can save your self alot of money avoiding professional programmers and end up with a great remote. Software, once downloaded, is "somewhat" intuitive as it walks you through each numbered step from 1 to 9. Once you get the feel for how it works it is very easy to work with and extremely stable. When people talk of programming it is more like linking remote command to a button on the remote and then designing what the buttons on the screens should say. I am very type A and I love to tinker with the different commands getting them just the way I want them. Most of the time spent was around deciding on what functions to put on the remote, what to call them, and where they should be placed on the screen, and which screen. All of this flexiblity is a curse to me as I keep fine tuning it to match up with my usage. My goal is have 90% of the buttons I use on the first screen.
After having the remote downstairs, my wife insisted I spend the money to buy another one for upstairs to navigate our cable box, home theater, and TV. She hates to spend money on these types of things, but she loves the simplicity
Customer Rating:
Summary: A versatile and capable remote, but takes time to program
Comment: This is a mighty powerful remote, but it does take time to learn the programming method (software) and to put all of the information into it. I would not recommend it to most users unless you have trained installer to do the initial setup for you or you enjoy that sort of thing.
However, that said, it is a great remote to use. My wife was able to use it almost immediately without any special training. My 7 year old uses it pretty well, too. Especially nice is that once you have it programmed, you can program a second one identically without any additional effort. It is also flexible enough to be used for home automation systems - not just entertainment systems.
I recommend having 2 sets of rechargeable batteries (4 - AAA) because it does go though them in about 6 weeks. I wish the screens could be renamed and that button names were longer than 5 characters, but those are my only real complaints.
By the way, RF remotes are the only way to go. You can put your components inside a cabinet. You don't have to aim any particular direction, you can even be out of the room. Range on these is quite good - I control my house from the front yard without a problem
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding remote; software works, but could use improvement
Comment: Summary:
On balance, this is an outstanding remote. Personally, I'm convinced it's the best remote you can buy today. The software could certainly be improved, but you can do what you need to do.
Rating as 5 stars, since I can't rate 4.5. 4 stars is too low a rating, given the outstanding core functionality of the remote itself. I'd take off a 1/2 star, but not a full star, for the software and lack of USB connectivity.
***Warning: BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!***
If the dealer doesn't mention this, then you probably aren't getting the full software. (In that case, you'll have to download a copy from URC's website, and it doesn't include the ability to Live Update the IR database.)
Detailed review:
I've had an MX-500 for years, and have loved it. It felt heavy when I first got it, but I quickly got used to that, and the ergonomics for the remote are the best I've come across.
But the backlight stopped working last year, and this year the wife dropped it so it has an annoying rattle (but still works!). I got a new a TV, and wasn't happy that I had to set up macros with significant delay built in in order to change inputs. Googling I found some reviews for the Harmony 880, which intrigued me, and was significantly less expensive than the MX-850 (even at online discount prices). Found the Harmony 880 unacceptable, though, and had to send it back.
At that point, I stopped messing around and got the MX-850 -- which is a slightly modified variant of the MX-500, with PC-based programming.
This is an outstanding remote.
Pros:
1) An excellent ergonomic design. The most important question for any remote is: Is the remote, itself, designed so that it is easy to use in daily use?
At the end of the day, even if programming is awkward, it's not something you're going to do very often. You get past it, and then make changes very infrequently. But the remote, itself, you use every day, constantly.
a) The buttons you use frequently should be laid out in a center area of the remote that you can comfortably reach in a one hand grip.
b) The buttons themselves should press easily, and should be easily identifiable by touch, so you don't have to look at the remote in order to use them.
c) The IR should be strong enough so that you don't have to think carefully about aiming the remote. There should be no IR lag.
(The Harmony 880 failed on these accounts, in my book.)
The MX-850 addresses each of these beautifully. The most used functions -- including those that are key to modern PVR/cable/satellite box use -- are all grouped together at the center of the remote, with plenty of space between them so that you can easily select the correct button without looking. (Toughest thing is retraining myself for a few keys that have swapped positions relative to my old MX-500.)
The MX-850 continues the MX-500 tradition of superlative IR performance. This remote works through heavy blankets. (And if that's not enough for you, the remote supports RF, so you can buy a separate RF-to-IR receiver, and use the remote through walls.)
2) PC-based Programming. The PC programming is far from perfect (see Cons), but it is effective. Easier to use, overall, than the remote-based programming of the MX-500. And a downloadable/updateable IR library including many discrete IR commands, for building macros. (But...BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!!)
3) The IR library includes discrete on/off commands for most devices, as well as discrete commands to directly select inputs on most TVs. This means you can build macros that allow you, with one button press, to quickly and reliably switch use modes. For example, turn on the DVD player, switch the TV to Component1 input, and put the remote into DVD mode. Now you're ready to watch a DVD.
The remote can learn IR commands from your remotes, if you find a function is not included in the IR library.
You can save the complete configuration for your remote in a file, making it easy to roll back to an earlier config.
Cons
1) Requires a serial port -- no native USB support. This is a mild annoyance, since some new computers may not include RS-232 serial ports (requires USB adaptor), and if you do have them, you may have other devices using them.
2) Programming software not the easiest to use/understand. Once you've figured out how the programming software works, it's fairly straightforward to do whatever you want, though not an optimal design. Depending on how tech-savvy you are, it might take you a very short time to figure out, or it might be a bit more challenging. (This is not wife-friendly software, but then again, it's much easier to program complex tasks than was the Harmony 880's software.)
My main complaint is that the IR database for a given device isn't managed well. They've munged together the command and the key that it's assigned to, making reassignment from their default key layouts confusing, at best. (Since the remote supports 20 different devices, I've addressed this for now by downloading an extra copy of each device database to an unused slot, and then reassigning keys in the primary device slot referencing the standard key assignments from the duplicate slot.)
3) Compared to the MX-500, they've eliminated the three macro keys at the bottom of the remote. These were convenient as always-available macro buttons, typically used to switch modes between your three most used devices. The MX-850 supports many, many more macro buttons, but in practice, you'll need an extra keystroke to access them -- first hit the "Main" button, then hit a device macro button.
Conclusion
On balance, this is an outstanding remote, and the best you can buy today.
Summary: great remote
Comment: This universal remote is great, first one that actually turns everything on and off correctly, and eliminates all of the other ones.
highly recommend
Customer Rating:
Summary: Another Fantastic Remote from Universal
Comment: I don't know what people are talking about, this being difficult to program. I downloaded the software at work, configured EVERYTHING on the remote, downloaded the settings to my phone storage card, uploaded the file to my computer when I got home, downloaded it to the remote and I was done. The most difficult part was me simply trying to decide how I wanted things laid out on the menus. The actual programming itself could be done by a young child with basic computer skills.
I started off with the MX-500 about 5 years ago. After much abuse, the light broke, something started rattling around inside, and it was starting to become less responsive for some reason. It may just be in my head, because it still does everything I could ever want it to do.
I decided to upgrade to the 850 because I needed to do some reprogramming and the non-computer-based method of the 500 I didn't want to mess with. Call me lazy.
But the 850 is a very fine example of engineering and design at its best. It's a little different than the 500, with fewer buttons and a slightly different look. But other than that it is a beautiful piece of equipment.
I love the fact that if I want to change a setting, I simply plug it into my PC, make the changes in the easy-to-use software, and download the new settings. Done. I really don't know how it could be any easier to use. Perhaps the software could be a bit more refined asthetically, but even as it is it is very intuitive and user-friendly.
I would highly recommend this remote. It does more than I could ever afford to buy equipment for, and I expect I will get years of use out of it, as I did with the 500.
Great job Universal Remote. Keep up the good work. You have a life-long customer here.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Remote-2nd One Purchased for my House
Comment: This remote is fantastic. I already owned the MX-800 which operates my home theater downstairs, and was looking for a second remote to control my home theater upstairs. Looked at the new releases, MX900 and MX950, but these were $200 more and offered a lot of functionality that it is not really needed or worth the extra money.
Note, this remote is not for the novice computer person, but you also do not need to be an expert. If you are willing to spend roughly 4-5 hours, you can save your self alot of money avoiding professional programmers and end up with a great remote. Software, once downloaded, is "somewhat" intuitive as it walks you through each numbered step from 1 to 9. Once you get the feel for how it works it is very easy to work with and extremely stable. When people talk of programming it is more like linking remote command to a button on the remote and then designing what the buttons on the screens should say. I am very type A and I love to tinker with the different commands getting them just the way I want them. Most of the time spent was around deciding on what functions to put on the remote, what to call them, and where they should be placed on the screen, and which screen. All of this flexiblity is a curse to me as I keep fine tuning it to match up with my usage. My goal is have 90% of the buttons I use on the first screen.
After having the remote downstairs, my wife insisted I spend the money to buy another one for upstairs to navigate our cable box, home theater, and TV. She hates to spend money on these types of things, but she loves the simplicity
Customer Rating:
Summary: A versatile and capable remote, but takes time to program
Comment: This is a mighty powerful remote, but it does take time to learn the programming method (software) and to put all of the information into it. I would not recommend it to most users unless you have trained installer to do the initial setup for you or you enjoy that sort of thing.
However, that said, it is a great remote to use. My wife was able to use it almost immediately without any special training. My 7 year old uses it pretty well, too. Especially nice is that once you have it programmed, you can program a second one identically without any additional effort. It is also flexible enough to be used for home automation systems - not just entertainment systems.
I recommend having 2 sets of rechargeable batteries (4 - AAA) because it does go though them in about 6 weeks. I wish the screens could be renamed and that button names were longer than 5 characters, but those are my only real complaints.
By the way, RF remotes are the only way to go. You can put your components inside a cabinet. You don't have to aim any particular direction, you can even be out of the room. Range on these is quite good - I control my house from the front yard without a problem
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding remote; software works, but could use improvement
Comment: Summary:
On balance, this is an outstanding remote. Personally, I'm convinced it's the best remote you can buy today. The software could certainly be improved, but you can do what you need to do.
Rating as 5 stars, since I can't rate 4.5. 4 stars is too low a rating, given the outstanding core functionality of the remote itself. I'd take off a 1/2 star, but not a full star, for the software and lack of USB connectivity.
***Warning: BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!***
If the dealer doesn't mention this, then you probably aren't getting the full software. (In that case, you'll have to download a copy from URC's website, and it doesn't include the ability to Live Update the IR database.)
Detailed review:
I've had an MX-500 for years, and have loved it. It felt heavy when I first got it, but I quickly got used to that, and the ergonomics for the remote are the best I've come across.
But the backlight stopped working last year, and this year the wife dropped it so it has an annoying rattle (but still works!). I got a new a TV, and wasn't happy that I had to set up macros with significant delay built in in order to change inputs. Googling I found some reviews for the Harmony 880, which intrigued me, and was significantly less expensive than the MX-850 (even at online discount prices). Found the Harmony 880 unacceptable, though, and had to send it back.
At that point, I stopped messing around and got the MX-850 -- which is a slightly modified variant of the MX-500, with PC-based programming.
This is an outstanding remote.
Pros:
1) An excellent ergonomic design. The most important question for any remote is: Is the remote, itself, designed so that it is easy to use in daily use?
At the end of the day, even if programming is awkward, it's not something you're going to do very often. You get past it, and then make changes very infrequently. But the remote, itself, you use every day, constantly.
a) The buttons you use frequently should be laid out in a center area of the remote that you can comfortably reach in a one hand grip.
b) The buttons themselves should press easily, and should be easily identifiable by touch, so you don't have to look at the remote in order to use them.
c) The IR should be strong enough so that you don't have to think carefully about aiming the remote. There should be no IR lag.
(The Harmony 880 failed on these accounts, in my book.)
The MX-850 addresses each of these beautifully. The most used functions -- including those that are key to modern PVR/cable/satellite box use -- are all grouped together at the center of the remote, with plenty of space between them so that you can easily select the correct button without looking. (Toughest thing is retraining myself for a few keys that have swapped positions relative to my old MX-500.)
The MX-850 continues the MX-500 tradition of superlative IR performance. This remote works through heavy blankets. (And if that's not enough for you, the remote supports RF, so you can buy a separate RF-to-IR receiver, and use the remote through walls.)
2) PC-based Programming. The PC programming is far from perfect (see Cons), but it is effective. Easier to use, overall, than the remote-based programming of the MX-500. And a downloadable/updateable IR library including many discrete IR commands, for building macros. (But...BE SURE TO BUY FROM A DEALER WHO WILL DELIVER TO YOU THE COMPLETE SOFTWARE, INCLUDING LIVE UPDATE FUNCTIONALITY!!)
3) The IR library includes discrete on/off commands for most devices, as well as discrete commands to directly select inputs on most TVs. This means you can build macros that allow you, with one button press, to quickly and reliably switch use modes. For example, turn on the DVD player, switch the TV to Component1 input, and put the remote into DVD mode. Now you're ready to watch a DVD.
The remote can learn IR commands from your remotes, if you find a function is not included in the IR library.
You can save the complete configuration for your remote in a file, making it easy to roll back to an earlier config.
Cons
1) Requires a serial port -- no native USB support. This is a mild annoyance, since some new computers may not include RS-232 serial ports (requires USB adaptor), and if you do have them, you may have other devices using them.
2) Programming software not the easiest to use/understand. Once you've figured out how the programming software works, it's fairly straightforward to do whatever you want, though not an optimal design. Depending on how tech-savvy you are, it might take you a very short time to figure out, or it might be a bit more challenging. (This is not wife-friendly software, but then again, it's much easier to program complex tasks than was the Harmony 880's software.)
My main complaint is that the IR database for a given device isn't managed well. They've munged together the command and the key that it's assigned to, making reassignment from their default key layouts confusing, at best. (Since the remote supports 20 different devices, I've addressed this for now by downloading an extra copy of each device database to an unused slot, and then reassigning keys in the primary device slot referencing the standard key assignments from the duplicate slot.)
3) Compared to the MX-500, they've eliminated the three macro keys at the bottom of the remote. These were convenient as always-available macro buttons, typically used to switch modes between your three most used devices. The MX-850 supports many, many more macro buttons, but in practice, you'll need an extra keystroke to access them -- first hit the "Main" button, then hit a device macro button.
Conclusion
On balance, this is an outstanding remote, and the best you can buy today.
Universal Remote Control MX-850 IR/RF Aeros Remote Control Reviews: Page 4 of 6
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