Mx950 Remote.

mantis

Today I decided to pick one up. I have been programming them for a few weeks now and find a couple things I like better then my mx850 remote.I also conidered the Mx3000 but I didn't want to go back to a touchscreen.

First off it's rechargable. I like that. No more batteries to buy. Well the mx850 doesn't use up batteries often but if you don't keep tripple A in the house, you can't control your system untill you get new ones. Then again going to the basement and digging into all the factory remotes is another option.

Then theres the cool color back ground you can change to your liking Not huge but a nice little touch.

Ok it makes sounds, you can program in personal sounds when you want them to go off.

One thing I really like is the speed it downloads at. It's USP so it's much faster then Serial.

It also has a pick up sensor. This is useful. I like the fact when I pick it up , it turns on for me. I don't have to press the light button.

I'm not sure if I like this but it has seperate Main buttons. One for Listen and one for Watch. For my customers this seems to be huge. For me I'm still in the air If I like it for myself. On the Mx850 it just has a Main button which you access all your macros . I like that as well.

Between the Mx850 and 950, thats about all the differences I noticed. There both RF control and I own a MRF300. With the MRF300 you can control your system or many systems all over the house. Rf is great as you can go outside and change tracks on your cd player for your outdoor speakers. Change sources or whatever you want to do.

Nothing wrong with the Mx850 at all. The very little things I felt could be Improved seem to be done on the mx950. Universal remote is a great company.

You you want a truely full function remote, this is the one for you. MX850 or mx950. They both offer such value at there price points.

Dan

audiobliss

Your mentioning taking it outside brings up a question: exactly how sturdy and reliable are these remotes? They certainly seem to be very capable and fun and convenient, but how safe would I feel walking around the whole house with it and taking it outside? And should I even ask if they're anything close to water resistant?

mantis

audiobliss wrote:

Your mentioning taking it outside brings up a question: exactly how sturdy and reliable are these remotes? They certainly seem to be very capable and fun and convenient, but how safe would I feel walking around the whole house with it and taking it outside? And should I even ask if they're anything close to water resistant?

They are built very well. I have dropped my mx850 a few times with no problems. It fell on carpet so it didn't even get a scratch. I think if you dropped it outside on the grass , it would be fine, on the deck, well that could be another story. they cost alittle to much to test that out. If you have a concrete patio or laying around the pool and drop it, I can't say.

I do know this, I have many customers that use the Mx850 this way. They love nothing more then going outside, laying around by the pool, listening to the killer outdoor speakers that I Installed and having the ability to control there zone. We do put a outdoor volume control when Installing outdoor speakers but having control over source,Tracks , etc is killer.

Both remotes light up so night time outdoor use s way cool. Think about it, the game is on, and you want to lay by the pool or float around on a raft in it, and listen to the game. Once the game is over , you wan to listen to a cd or Xm radio, you need not get off your raft and go inside to change the source or volume. It's way cool .

There is however one thing I noticed owning the mx950 and mx850, the mx950 has no Favorites buton. Not a huge thing but I enjoy the direct access to my favorite channels that I sat and programmed. Again not huge as on the cable pages, you can program in a favorites buttona dn have it jump to a favorites page or pages where you can macro in as many channels as you like. With the mx850, they give you this, you just have to set it up.

A guess you have to give up something to gain all the other cool features.
After using it tonight , I like them both. The mx950 is a bit cooler. The NEW thing could have something to do with it, but I'm gonna give it this weekend to see if I really enjoy using the mx950 more then the mx850. The mx850 is very hard to beat. I have found sinse I picked it up that it has been my very favorite remote.

Dan