Attended a training in Nashville yesterday with both the 810 and 980 remotes.

Walked out with 6 of the 810's as that was all they had left after the class. There were no 980's available yet, they should ship any day.

Sold (2) 810's this afternoon, with the caveat that we can move over to the mx-900 if the 810's give us problems in the installation. They are replacing pronto 3000's so there is only upside for the client in this case.

I'm impressed with both units, the 810 is a great price point and the 980 looks great.
Not to sure about the new top plate (the top surface below the buttons), it's on both the new units. It doesn't look as nice as the 900's.

Also the 810 has 3 different plastic colors, textures and styles which just looks a bit odd in my opinion. The 980 didn't have all the different colors and textures, but the top plate is the same as the 810. Neither matches the bottom plastic and it's just a bit odd.

810 thoughts:
The 810 certainly doesn't feel as solid as the 900/980 models, but it's much better than a harmony 890.

The "Rec" button on the 810 lights up in RED, as does the power off button. Both are a nice touch.

The usb port has a cheesy cover plug that will be ripped off within weeks of installation. I'm seriously thinking of just cutting them off before I sell them just so they don't fall off in the client's hand. . . hope they change that soon.

The power adapter uses a barrel style connection and the power supply is designed so it doesn't cover both outlets when plugged in. Nice.

Doesn't seem to play well with the 250 base station (not that anything works with the 250) will be testing with a 350 and 400 when I have a chance.

Built and downloaded a test file for my home theater in less than 45 minutes. Downloaded fine and it worked as expected, even the macros worked with no changes.

The IR power does not seem as strong as the 900/3000 models.

Visually,
My wife really likes the 810 better than the 900/950 models. She says it's easier to understand and she liked the button layout compared to the 900/950's.

980
The screen on the 980 is beautiful. Same resolution as the MX-3000 but a smaller screen due to the tighter DPI. Simply beautiful.

Didn't get enough time with the 980 to say much more, just really looking forward to the release of these too.

Just felt like there needed to be a little balance to the thread. Only time will tell if the 810 is a hit or not.

Thanks for the mini-review, jb!!!

I can forsee a pretty good sized market for the 810.

I should be perfect for the small systems.

It would take longer to haul out the boxes than to program the remote!

I wouldn't say "Any Day". It's due in mid-November, and they are still in BETA on the software, so hold your breath!

If you check Universal's installer site, they are getting hit hard.

On that site Dale responded to one installer that URC could have sold a lot more units if they marketed direct to consumers and that this remote is for a different type of installer... Frankly, they do. They just beta test through installers. Customers are not buying RF consumer stuff. They are buying MX from trunk slammers.

There's a wave of installers who are not biting anymore.

I am actually proud to be one of the first to call out this "810" move.

PS
Thanks to all those who gave me positive emails before I removed it. I was really reevaluating my position, b/c if I am the only one seeing the fiasco, maybe it was just me. I was literally never going to post here again.
Dale, I fully understand why you left this thread w/ "all" your friends and colleagues that were being insulted... I understand you got a full plate of the same to deal with elsewhere.

No Joe, I'll clarify again: I left the thread because you personally insulted a friend of mine, for absolutely no reason that could conceivably be considered relevant to your point.

I don't mind discussing the merits and even the drawbacks of our product line--rather, I'm proud to do so as long as the discussion remains civil and professional. With any new product there are always supporters and detractors, so I like taking the opportunity to clarify things when I can. When a discussion devolves into something literally no more sophisticated than one loud detractor calling someone "fatso," the opportunity for intelligent discussion is gone.

Best regards,
Dale

You said I had insulted coworker"s" and friend"s."
Hank's a renowned "foodie" and general good sport and I doubt he'd mind a good meal referencing him, but don't stay on subject.

Must be mighty lonely up on that pedestal.

Reminds me of Thanks For Not Smoking and the "chocolate and vanilla arguement"

Dale, you are right on and acting like the pro. You took the heat on the product well and gave some good insight. You kept cool.

Joe baby, you don't know when to back down and just say sorry, no harm meant. You may have not meant it as an insult, but it came off that way. Why don't you just chill out?

Dale,

I would appreciate your continued posts concerning your insights for the Mx-810. We just got 3 more 810s and one is already presold.

Since it is not possible for a tech to upload the current configuration of a 810 directly to a laptop I heard that there was going to be a website for storing configurations. Can you give us more details about this?

And, Joe if you don't have anything nice to say about someone then keep it to yourself.

Dave T.

Dave:

The new site isn't really a secret. You'll find references to it if you poke around the Help system in ProWizard. When it goes live, www.WizardRemote.com will let you archive a copy of any MX-810 file online. Eventually you'll have the option to selectively share your file with others if you want. We'll also post additional graphics assets there, like new favorite channel icons, and possibly additional graphical themes for the remote.

I'm not directly involved with the new site, so I don't have a timeline for when it's supposed to go live. As is usual in any company, if I'm not given the information specifically, I assume I'm not supposed to share it. However, if I learn anything new, I'll find out if I can spread the word here. Until then, there are a few hints hanging around in ProWizard help. (I'm not trying to be elusive... I just don't remember which specific pages mention the new site.)

Best regards,
Dale

I was at a clients guest house and there was a MX-810 running a small entertainmnet system. The .mxj file was found in his documents, but the new wizard software does not recognize the file.
Start from new or can I convert this file?

 i believe the .mxj files are for the MX880.