Nobrainer’s Think Tank

A couple weeks ago I splurged, nay invested in this fine product. Having used it for less than a week I am extremely happy and still excited about it.

Pictures anyone?

In short, this is a very highly rated, relatively affordable (about $180 brand new on eBay), and very easy to use ultra-universal remote control.

In the past, I’m sure many of us have had some “universal” remote that mostly works, but always misses a few things. This was my impetus for spending a little extra dough on something that would actually let me put my 5 remotes into retirment.

Before reading further, may be asking yourself why you should even give a rip? In short, Logitech sells a number of cheaper universal remotes that have fewer bells and whistles, but that will ultimately serve the purpose. If you have 2 or more remotes that you constantly fumble with, then you have some shopping and wish-list writing to do.

The good:
Setting up and using the 880 is very easy. It actually runs on a lithium-ion rechargable battery, so step one is to put it on its charging base and let it get charged up. After that, you plug it into your computer’s USB drive and are guided through a simple setup process. The most difficult part was figuring out exactly what model my TV was. After that you are good to go. The clear, color LCD screen makes operating your entertainment system a snap. It should be able to operate whatever you own.

The bad:
The initial set up may not be exactly what you want. There is too much lag between commands. And switching from activity to activity may be turning off components that you want to be left on. Fortunately, however, these problems are easily overcome by changing more settings via your computer. The menus for setting it up could be better, but the problems are easily solved. The only other thing I could ask for would be a paging function. Already I have lost the remote a half-dozen times. A page button on the base and a nice beeping sound would be awesome.

So this remote is really designed well. If you want to watch a DVD, you tell it just that, on comes the TV, DVD player, and receiver — easy as pie.