I just bought a Pronto less than a week ago. I can already say it beats my other programmable remotes (adcom, onkyo)hands down. I researched this purchase for about 3 weeks and talked to people that have had the chance to use the competition (more than a day) and the bottom line is the Pronto is the best way to go for the money.
If you are strapped to that tight of a budget you shouldn't be looking to buy such a remote anyway! I picked up mine for $299, the internet does wanders for prices, new in a box with a warranty from an authorized philips dealer. I can't believe people here would even start to compare used prices to new (how ignorant). Obviously if you buy some used worn out no warranty junk from Ebay it will be cheap. Please compare apples to apples! I have not used a Palm as a remote, and I am not saying it is good or bad from a usefulness perspective, but I am against the ignorant arguments placed here.
If you like gadgets (like me) I enjoy the time I spend setting up my CCF's. If you don't enjoy tinkering with gadgets then use the remotes that came with your stuff. If you don't mind putting in the effort to make things exactly as you want them, and you have a wide range of devices to control, then the Pronto is the only way to go.
The HK Total Control (AKA. Mandrigal) is easy to program, but annoying to use.
The Marantz RC-5000 is very similar to the Pronto, but costs $449 (my best price) and clearly not worth the additional $150 as Marantz does not offer the same level of support on their version.
The Marantz RC-2000 $200 was the best in it's day, and is still a respectable remote, but has been left behind by technology (still enough for most folks)
The Rotel 990 $190 is very 'average'! Doesn’t do anything poorly, but doesn't do anything great, but is not flexible.
The SL-9000 $99.99 is the best BUDGET remote I have ever seen. It has hard buttons (a lot of them) and it is fully programmable, and is more than most people need. If your cash it tight check this one out, surf the net for the price. Most dealers sell it at 129.99 but I found a few for under $100.
As for the Palm, it does a lot of things, but my rebel days are behind me and I am not interested (personal decision from experience) in making things do something they were not designed to do (no matter how well they do them). Because somewhere down the line some little thing won't be right and it will annoy the hell out of me that I didn't just spend the extra money to get it right the first time.
Buy the Pronto, if you have any computer skills whatsoever you won't be frustrated or disappointed with it. There is great public support for it on top of Philips support.
