I am the salesman, designer, programmer & installer - eyes wide open. Emitter placement inside units, dealing w/rf issues, checkin' & recheckin' macros until their as bulletproof as I can get them, customer approved favorites & customer teaching. Am I missing something? Or am I just slow & stupid? What the F?!

I think my 'sore spot' runs a little deaper than yours ;-)

I don't know why I can't let it go.

I was being sarcastic when I compared the 850 to a $180 Harmony.

I have used a couple of Harmony's as a last dich effort to allow SOME control to the huge tight wads that wouldn't budge and found them rather limited from a programing perspective.

Almost all of the lines I deal with have restricted distribution(for now!)

URC was the first that became 'whored out'.

I need to accept the fact that everything will probably follow this route and adjust my plan to suite.

That's WAY too long my man...you need to hustle a bit more. MAX 4 hours with installation of emitters etc...

Yes. I am for real. I charge retail for everything. The "VALUE" the customer get's is free delivery and the best customer service/support they'd ever hope to get. It matters not what the customer can get stuff for. I dictate the pricing not the other way around.

P.S. - thanks for the eBay tip ;)

Maybe a little bit...

Simplify your life and standardize your systems. There is little reason they all shouldn't follow the same basic design.

The worst problem systems on a terrible day take 4 hours. Average, about 2.5 w/RF. I admit, I've done quite a few. The system and design has to be bulletproof before I can go home.

The 850 is the best all around remote I've ever come across. I hope they don't think they can trash it at URC just cause they've lost a little interest in it.

I never give my merchandise to a client without a mark up.That may sound greedy but I have to pay for Liability insurance, Truck insurance, Fuel, Phones , bookkeeping and so on.

I was joking about not marking it up. I am king of full pop retail. I was simply suggesting that we will always be able to sell & make money with items like that, because the learning curve is more than most consumers want to take on. Half the time I sell one it is to simplify someones existing system they can not control & equipment I'm not familiar with so I have some learning curve issues of my own as far as quirks of say a B&K reciever with all the delays for macros & such. What do you guys care anyway? It's not a race or competition & I provide great customer service & get paid for "all" my time & the customer is very, very happy when it's complete.

This is real issue. Sure people can get these devices for less money at times, and that's fine, but the learning curve is not part of the pkg. price. Some people will have the time and patience to learn how to program, but as Zinon pointed out, most of them will be hounding the retailers they purchased the device from.

Besides, a person that is going to buy an MX850 from Ebay is probably not a lucrative prospect.

If you do each remote from a blank template then I think you might have 2 to 5 hours into each one.

If you run into the same equipment or are supplying the same equipment on many of your jobs, then you should be saving devices and importing them on new jobs.

Example: I save a Comcast DVR, Comcast favorite channels, a Panasonic plasma, Integra receiver, DVD, CD, JVC VCR, etc because I either supply them or run into them a lot.

Instead of doing the IR database and spending time customizing pages, I import the device and have it fully customized in 5 seconds. All I have to do is build macros.

With common devices like that you will be in and out from 1-1/2 to 3 hours on average with RF included. 5 to 9 sounds like something is wrong or you are only on about your 5th MX850 at this point. It took me a handful to get up to speed.

Thats what its all about.

URC's website used to have a pop-up warning about buying from an authorised dealer.

Is this True about the unregulated distribution? If so, when did this happen?