What is the real life span of the urc remotes? I see plenty of posts on them. My Harmony 890 had lasted 4 and half years and now has suffered from the loss of 6 buttons. From what I hear this is actually really a long life for the 890.

I went to a local dealer and he wants much more than $300 for the mx-780 and he claims that he would lose his dealer status if he gives out the software again. He also claims that he has had issues with the frequency of mrf260 and recommended the 350i and the i version of the remotes as it allows for switching between two frequencies. Additionally the programming rate is $150 an hour. The 350i is $250. So I would end up at almost $1,000 all said and done, note the i versions are listed as commercial line on the urc website.

Obviously this is just one dealer. I see via amazon market I can do much better than this dealer. For mx-780 $240 and the mrf260 for $140 so under $400 total.
Of course the big issue is getting the software to program it.

I don't mind spending the money for a quality product that will last and programming a remote is no issue as I write computer software for a living.

Do these remotes really last? And does urc actually give the software to end users?

The best part of the harmony has been the quick ability to swap components out. I have replaced most the components in my system at least once an for the cable box probably 3 times since I bought the Harmony so having to pay a dealer for this will be really inconvenient and costly.