Held it in my hand for the first time this afternoon, seems very cool.

Again I talked to 4 different people on 3 different occasions and one of them asked such brilliant questions as " is it plugged in?" Ad followed up with "sounds like your having a problem. I don't know what else to tell you"


I understand whole heartedly as Tech support is a last ditch effort as far as I'm concerned.



I agree whole heartedly. The problem is 1 of my client already had 3 Xantech remotes that worked, painfully but tolerable. I wanted to upgrade them to an mx 850/mrf250. We sell these programmed for $800. Due to the problems we were experiencing the customer actually looked on the INTERNET to see what it was he was buying. Well it turns out you can buy these on ebay for $180 new.
I lost the sale. The money means nothing its the embarrassment that I can not afford to tolerate.



I think my ass may have been hanging off. :^(

Well, I came back for the first time in a few days and am glad to see an active discussion about the 900. I checked out the manual and the software. It's pretty much what I expected with programming capabilities being more like the 850. Not sure if the 900 can handle the "Jump To" feature that is coming to the 950, but I hope so. Other than that, I think the 900 will find it's way into my living room shortly after official release.

Jeff

The 900 doesn't support the nav - and nav + which is supposed to be coming to the 950.

Vincent:

I'm not a salesperson, I just do install but I do have to talk to people about similar things sometimes. Ask the customer "Would you buy and $80,000 ferrari for $30,000 knowing it could be stolen or grey market? But more importantly would you buy it knowing you couldn't get service on it after the purchase? You might save money up front, but there will be nobody to help you after you get it."

We will not program a remote purchased from eBay or the like. And Universal Remote won't warranty a remote that isn't purchased from an authorised dealer. If everyone followed this policy, the only people that would buy them would be the DIY guys, we all know there are a lot of them.

That being said, when people see that much savings, it can be hard to discourage them but they need to understand why they are buying from an authorized dealer, because we will be standing behind that remote for many years to come, the internet guy is only there to sell it.

I will not work with anything that was not purchased from me period. I also don't deal with customers who insist on bringing up INTERNET prices on stuff. I explain things exactly as you have descried and if they need to buy it on the INTERNET then they need to find someone else to install it.

"the customer actually looked on the INTERNET to see what it was he was buying. Well it turns out you can buy these on ebay for $180 new.
I lost the sale. The money means nothing its the embarrassment that I can not afford to tolerate."

That's why we often try to stay away from Universal's too, even though they make a fine remote, I need to make profit from the product , not just the installation/programming.

God bless you!!! We need a nation of you!

I just had some contact with Jeff Wagner via email asking about the possibility of adding this to the 900 later. According to him not only will the 950's update roll out in a Live Update in this week, but this new "back" function as he said they are calling it, should roll out in that update to more models than just the 950. Pretty cool.

Jeff

So any word on when the 900 will be out?
Hopefully since the site is showing it and the software is available, it will be very soon but a actual date would be nice :-)

Training in our area in 2 weeks...surely by then...

I have a few already.

Actually, the price is $449 and it is in my dealer's hands as of this morning.

There were a bunch shipped last week, so they should be available to all dealers shortly if not already.

As an Engineer I can appreciate the design and engineering that went into the making of the Universal MX-900. It looks like a nice and capable remote control. However, as a consumer I can see that Universal's marketing department has missed the boat with this remote.

Your average consumer who is looking for both a powerful and stylish remote control will probably pass on purchasing the MX-900 with only a six button display and a MSRP of $449.99 when compared to something like their own MX-850 with a ten button display and a lower MSRP. Although it is probably not entirely true, the MX-900 will be perceived as having fewer features and less power than other brands of remote controls as well as Universal's other remotes and therefore should have a lower price.

I think Universal should have offered little more on the MX-900 such as a color screen, a sensor to activate the back light (as on the MX-950) or maybe the inclusion of icons for favorite channels.

Maybe Universal is getting a little greedy in their pricing. As a rule, electronic devices usually get more powerful and less expensive every year until something radically different comes to the market. My prediction is that the MX-900 will do well at first because of the newness factor but not do too well in sales in the near future unless Universal reduces their MSRP to a more reasonable level.

I'm sure they can't be available yet!

I just did a search on their favorite "dealer" site and only came up with a bunch of golf clubs!