I bought a Take Control a few weeks before Christmas. I ended up selling it and ordered a Pronto.
I first went with Take Control because:
1) Price. I paid about $290 from
www.shop4.com whereas Pronto was going for $399.
2) PC software. As everyone knows, the PC software from Microsoft was really slick and it makes programming the remote very easy.
Reasons why I sold Take Control:
1) IR Range. Like most people in this forum, IR range was a major problem with my Take Control. I have a Sony RPTV. My receiver and rest of my system is about 3 feets to the right of my TV. I had to point the remote somewhere between my TV and the receiver to get the macros to work. A major problem since I bought this remote to make it easier for rest of my family to use the home theater system. I usually sit about 7 feets from my TV.
2) Philips just introduced the ProntoEdit software for free. This eliminated a major advantage Take Control has over the Pronto.
3) Price of the Pronto is as low as $299 from a few mail order companies. However, most of them do not have them in stock. I bought mine for $399 because I could not wait.
Now, I used both remotes. My two cents:
1) Pronto's IR range is much much better. I can even get it to work when I point it to the left of my TV!!!
2) Since I have not received the ProntoEdit software yet, programming a Pronto took about 3 hrs compare to about 1 hr with Take Control software. (replace about 8 remotes)
3) Touch Screen is very good on Pronto. Take Control was not as bright.
4) Pronto seems to be faster than HK Take Control especially moving between devices or pages.
5) I like the "wheel" in the HK. I also found the HK much easier to hold with one hand eventhough it is much bigger than Pronto.
I hope this email will help some of you out there. I am not saying I do not like HK. I bought it over the Pronto in the first place. But I really think there is something wrong with the IR range. I really hope HK can fix this problem.
