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...Continued from Page 4.
The next button is for audio. You can enable or disable the key-touch beep function. Since the remote is rather loud, I personally suggest disabling it. You don’t really need it – there is a small "transmitting" symbol at the top right of the LCD screen, plus the name of the key you’re pressing stays on-screen as long as you hold it (and for a second afterwards). Finally, we come what must quality for the "most useless button" award: [RESET]. Sounds fairly logical – reset the remote? Not quite. The absolute only thing this button does is reset the time and beep status. A similar effect may be obtained by removing the batteries. It’s almost as if they had four buttons to work with and couldn’t quite figure out what to do with the fourth!
It’s 6 volts any way you size it...
The UR362 requires four AAA batteries. Disregarding that the rather spacious size of the remote should have dictated AA’s, AAA’s were chosen. The smaller batteries do keep the weight of the remote down, but personally I feel that added weight would have given it a more solid and commanding feel. Thankfully, your programmed commands are not lost when the remote is without power. A two-stage low battery warning eventually dictates that you must replace the batteries (the remote refuses to operate). A good built-in capacitor can actually keep the display active and clock running for over 30 seconds without any batteries installed.
The remote itself is built out of a medium-gray plastic without any added tactile coatings or rubber grippy feet on the bottom. The long and narrow housing allows for a moderate amount of twisting action. There are no sharp edges on the case, which is good news for anyone with delicate skin. Although the case is not particularly ergonomic, a well-placed groove on the back provides an ideal place to rest your index finger while holding it.
The buttons – particularly the backlit ones – have a nice firm tactile feel and feature rounded edges. Although some such as the volume, channel, power and device buttons should be easy to locate, without looking at the remote, others such as the keypad and half of the transport icons may be difficult, due to their grid-like layout and identical button shapes. The useful LCD screen has good contrast, although it is not configurable to your lighting conditions. Backlighting for the entire top of the remote is accomplished via small LEDs, rather than an electroluminescent panel, providing bright but uneven coverage.
Documentation from the cutting room floor...
And then there’s the manual, a very important part of your new purchase. Tells you how to configure what you bought and use it, right? Well, sort of. The actual documentation you get is rolled into a convenient scroll and stuffed into a bulge in the blister packaging that doubles as a vertical support while on display. As you unroll it you’ll quickly find that it’s not a nice, bound manual but rather a single folded up piece of paper – uh oh, we all know where that’ll end up. Still, the manual is well printed with clear pictures. The writing certainly won’t win any awards for being direct or easy to follow, but if you read each paragraph three or four times they begin to make sense. For instance, "If more than one stored data in a special key need to be changed. User have to learn and starts from the 1st memory again." will soon become "If you want to change any of the learned signals under a multi-code key you will need to re-learn all of the commands assigned to that key." Piece of cake!
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