In terms of performance, which is the better choice (MRF 250, MRF 300 or MRF 350) for RF from the MX 3000? In other words, which works better and has less problems or do they all have problems that need to be corrected by the suggested tricks in the forum?

Thanks in advance.

MRF-350 Hands Down. I have had some trouble with the MRF-250, and the MRF-300 but I have never had a single issue with an MRF-350. I've removed 300s that were slightly troublesome and put in a 350 with no consideration of placement or anything and they just work.

Definitely NOT the 250.

MRF-350 is best, then MRF-300 and finally the MRF-250. The MRF-350 is the only MRF with narrowband RF capabilities, which helps to eliminiate RF interference issues.



Thank you,
Damon DG
= = = = =
http://www.ProRemotes.com - Authorized Dealer & Remote Programming Services

we do two to three remotes a week all with the mrf350, and have no problems. I have two systems out there in the past two years that I could not make work with the MRF300. One was an MDU, and we changed to a MRF350 and it worked perfect. Stay with the 350 and you will never have any problems.

Mike

Thaks for all the responses. It looks like the MRF 350 is the correct choice to avoid problems. Why is it that the 350 works so much better than the 300 and 250 in avoiding the RF problems?

The MRF 350 has the RFX-250 antenna which is narrow band so it filters out RF which isn't in the same frequency as the newer remotes.

The MRF-300 comes with the RFX-150 which is not narrow band. You can add the RFX-250 antenna and it supposedly performs the same (at least that's what's been posted in other threads)

I agree with the above statements in order of effectiveness. However, I have had very little problems with the mrf-300 and those that did could be quite easily solved. Just an FYI if you cannot acquire an mrf-350 you may want to give it a try. It is also my understanding that the rfx250 can indeed be used with the mrf300 base station but does NOT take advantage of the narrow band width capabilities when paired with the mrf350 base.

Can someone confirm this?

I've read some threads saying the Mrf 300 + rfx 250 gives the same results as the mrf 350 (which includes the rfx 250)

But if this were true, how could it be, since the Mrf 300 (base) also receives RF commands unlike the mrf 350 (base) which receives the commands from the rfx 250.

The MRF350 includes the RFX250 antenna and is optimized to work with that antenna. The MRF300 can use the RFX250 to improve performance (you must take out the RFX150 antenna to realize this improvement) and often works for cases where you couldn't get the system to function properly. Keep in mind that adding the RFX250 antenna will add $99 to the system, so you'd only do this if there is an existing installation with a MRF300 - otherwise just specify the MRF350.

Does that help?

Jeff Wagner
Technical Training Manager
Universal Remote Control

Two additional questions:

1. Will the 300 or 350 put out a sufficient IR signal from the stock IR emitters to allow the emitter to be placed about 12 inches from the component?

2. Is the RF range for the 350 better than 300?


Thanks

1. That would depend on the component - cable and sat boxes are very sensitive to IR signals. I can't think of any IR system (RF base, connecting block or similar) that is designed to power emitters place a foot away from the component.

2. In testing we've seen many cases where the RFX250 antenna will work from 250' away, but that doesn't seem to be dependant on the base station.

Jeff

#1 Never gonna happen with the MRF-250, 300 or 350. They come with low output emitters (very crappy). The older MRF-200 came with high output emitters and work great at 12" mounted on the doors of my cabinets on my complete system using the MRF-300. The MRF-200 and MRF-250 also have a higher output from the base unit and on the emitters by 30% as measured with my Sencore test equipment. I have been all around this RF crap with the MRF-200, 250 and 300 and couldn't figure out what was wrong with my new MRF-300 until I started testing the units and emitters with my test equipment. My new MRF-300 wouldn't do anything on my Panasonic DMR-E100's at 5' or even with the IR emitter directly stuck on top of the IR receiver. I put an MRF-200 emitter near it connected to the same base unit and it works perfect.

Thanks. Sounds like my situation would work if I switch to a better emitter. I have a Xantech emitter from a bunch of years back that I recall was advertised as a high output emitter. I do not see it in their current product line. I wonder if that would work? Anyone know of any other emitters out there that produce a high output?


Edit: I did some quick searches and found some "blaster" IR emitters on smarthome.com. One interesting comment on one product by Smarthome was "the best range will be obtained when connected to an output that do not use 'current limiting resistors'." The other one I found by SpeakerCraft did not have this same disclaimer language. In any event, does anyone know if the MRF 300 or 350 use current limiting resistors for the IR output?


Thanks

I see you found my MRF Emitter forum. I would be interested in knowing what you find out.