Well, I was all excited about this remote. Customizable touchscreen with just the right amount of hard buttons, etc. So I decided to go down to my local high-end shop and check it out. (For those who care, Showcase Home Entertainment in Chandler, Arizona).

They had both the pronto neo and pronto pro to test out.

My first impression - the pronto neo is much smaller than I expected. The hard buttons look like mini-me buttons. From the pictures I have seen, I expected it to be a bigger remote. I just played with the default layout in it, to get an idea of how responsive and fast it is. One thing I don't like about touchscreens is their slowness to "load" a page. The Neo wasn't slow, but wasn't lightning fast either. You could see the page "redraw", as it trickled down, sort of like a web page loading. Not really bad, but not as fast as I expected for such a low resolution, low color screen. Well after using it for a few minutes, my excitement wained. I just think it may be too small for me to use. I don't have large hands, but using the navigation keys and other hard keys seemed a bit akward. Maybe after having it for a month that might change, but that was my initial impression. Why couldn't they make the buttons bigger? Other than that, the software (v1.3) to set up the remote is cool, and the customization is really cool. I can see why it is so popular.

So I figured, since I was there, I would check out the pronto pro - just to see how it worked. First impression - this thing just looks cool. The cool factor on a pronto pro is way up there. A beautiful color screen makes for a nice tech toy. But using this was VERY akward. My hands being so small, I can't reach the upper left corner at all with my thumb unless I change the angle of the remote in my hand. So for me, it would definitely be a two handed remote. Also, I don't like having to use the touchscreen for navigation. I like the tactile feedback buttons provide in this area.

I also checked out some of their higher end ($4000 and up) remotes that do everything. These things are cool, but overkill for what I have. They are touchscreens as well, but larger, and meant for two handed operation of a theater, not day to day use of satellite and tivo.

For comparison, I am using the remote that came with my Denon 3802 receiver. Despite a lot of bad press, I really like this remote. It controls my entire system, macros and all, and my wife has no problem using it. It does have some issues with learning some commands from some of my components, and has its own nuances. I am also looking at getting DirecTivo, so I am looking for a better remote to support that.

So I am again looking at the MX-500 to get. I am not thrilled with only having 5 chars to label things, and the macros are somewhat limited, but I think it will be the right remote for me.

Just thought I would put this out there for those who haven't seen this remote "in the flesh". Make sure you buy it where you can return it, if it doesn't work out for you.

Bryan