Really? That statement bothers me alot. It's mine, I paid for it, I'll do what I want with it. I can certainly understand if I mess up the programing that someone else created, I have to pay to have it repaired. If I open the device up and break the hardware, my fault, I have to pay to have it fixed or I'm SOL. But if I buy a brand new, sealed in the box device that was faulty when it left the factory through no fault of my own, I would like to think that the manufacturer would stand behind it. As a DIY'er have I gotten myself in over my head before and gotten in trouble? Of course I have (iPod connection kit for the car comes to mind), but I knew the pitfalls when I got into it, and when I needed help I was perfectly willing to pay extra to have someone back out my mistakes and do it correctly. And I learned alot and enjoyed the experience much more than if I had just had someone else do it for me.

I love my Nevo, I've had it for a couple of months now and don't know what I did before. I've reprogrammed it, adding new z-wave devices, changing screens, new layouts, new colors, button changes, etc about a dozen times since I got it. Quite honestly, it would be worth less to me if I wasn't able to do this, if it was static and I couldn't play around with it I would be frustrated and probably not be nearly as happy with it. But that's me, I know I'm not the mainstream type of Nevo user. And really, programming this thing is pretty simple. I've even cracked open the packages to see what makes them tick, and it's they're really just a bunch of XML zipped up, it's pretty cool actually. Now someone will probably tell me that's not allowed either, and I'm a terrible person for doing it. I've even thought about putting a sniffer on my network and seeing how it controls the NevoConnect, that would be cool to see and emulate. I'd bet you could control it from an iPhone with just a little work. And I wouldn't downplay PDAs like the iPhone or iPod Touch, they will be the future of the Nevo. The only thing the Nevo has that they don't is the IR, and that can be done via a NevoConnect device hidden in the cabinet. Could you imagine if Nevo made a version of Studio/Software to run on the iPhone with a NevoConnect and then charged for the software and a small fee for each device's discrete codes?

I guess in the end we're saying the options are, buy it on ebay and pray it's solid, or buy it from an authorized reseller who is going to charge twice as much for services I don't need or want. What I'm asking, and I think other DIY'ers as well, is isn't there a happy middle ground somewhere? Pay more than they are going for on ebay, although I'm not sure why, the ebay sellers must be making a profit and I'm sure UEI is getting their cut, but hey throw another one or two hundred in and sell it as 'authorized' with a warranty.

Either way, mine seems pretty solid (cross fingers) and if it makes it past the UEI warranty's year long period, I'm ahead $750. And I can fiddle with it and add my own pictures and buttons and everything!

-CP