Hi All,

Bought an MX-500 about five years ago. It's been a great remote, feature-wise, but a few of the buttons are getting kind of balky and the surface finish... well, let's just say I should have left the patina of dirt on it. Now that the wear has been uncovered, so to say, it looks pretty nasty :(.

I'm wondering if there's anything out there very much like the MX-500 that has a more durable finish and maybe the buttons for which won't start dying on me in a mere five years.

I've got a Yamaha MRX-100 that's over 20 years old, still works like a champ and doesn't look like cr*p.

Thanks in advance for recommendations.

Jim

Jim, The MX-850 would be a great way for you to at least get to the modern era. A lot of screen real estate, a rubbery feel and tough remote in my opinion. It would give you the ability to transmit optional RF to a sompatible base unit if you were interested in hiding that Yamaha Fossil (just kidding). It should last you for several years.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm disinclined to gamble that much on another URC remote.

I'm now considering going lower-end. Perhaps the well-reviewed, here, Sony RM-VL610 or the like.

Jim

You want something more durable than a URC remote, but want to go lower end? Good luck with that. Let us know in five years how that worked out.

The buttons are more likely to give faster on the VL610 than a URC remote. And if you really want, there are instructions on how to get the URC apart to clean it.

The MX-850 has a much better finish than the MX-500. The top half of the case is hard smooth paint (not soft like the MX-500), and the bottom half although grippy seems a lot more durable than the version used on the MX-500 or MX-700 (at least the ones I had, which are quite old by now - and yes, I've had some of those go all gummy).

MX-850 would be great suit as it is much durable and with good finish.