Had my eye set on a Pronto for so long that I failed to follow the unveiling of the UCommand ... until spending time today to read this entire thread! Impressive!

Two quick questions to you Power Users: Now that Daniel has posted his review, what is your reaction to his detailed comments?

And,

I'm a All-In-One Cinema 7 Learning Remote user (unbelievable for the money!) salivating for a remote that is completely Family Intuitive. Any Cinema 7 converts to the UCommand? What can you tell us about upgraded features?

I've had the ucommand for two weeks now. It has done
everything I have wanted. It will run the dishplayer,
kenwood receiver,toshiba dvd 5109, and toshibia tw56x81. With the macro I can turn them on all at once or when I switch to dvd I can have it switch to widescreen number II on the tv. It does take a while to get use to lcd screen and no hard buttons.

Kelly

JD,

I'm not a power user, per se, but I'll take a try at jumping up onto the soap box to share my opinions:

I recently acquired the UCommand after having discovered it on this site. (Daniel has a great site, don't ya think?) For what it's worth, I was also looking hard at the Sony AVR2100; Daniel gave it a promising review too.

I think people sometimes forget to keep everything in perspective, and to compare apples to apples. If you want/need ultra advanced funtions and maximum ability to do custom configurations, you gotta spend more, like well over $200. But relative to a moderate price range of $100 to $200, you'll probably not find much better than the UCommand. There are worthy alternatives,like the Sony, that have their own unique strengths and weakness, but as I said, there's still nothing reported to date in this price range that is clearly superior. Narrow the $100-$200 price field and the UCommand price is at the lowest end of this range - available now for under $110. In this subgrouping you'll be hard pressed to find anything that matches its combination of features, solid build, and realtively intuitive design for non audiophiles - like spouses and kids. That started to put the UCommand in a different light for me.

I am a somewhat finicky consumer and an entrepreneurial business person. I value a combination of good price (not always the cheapest) AND timely and fair service and support. Sometimes, when all other things are pretty equal, I may be willing to spend a little more for the same or comparable product when I can get also get better support/service. (Not to be confused with the racket of extended warranty.) As Daniel noted in his review - and supported by several peer comments in this forum - Crisp Solutions is a newcomer company, but so far their customer service and responsiveness has been very commendable.

When I put it all together-low price within its competitive range, positive comments about the product design/build and relatively robust features, and to date, exceptional customer support from Crisp Solutions....well you can do the math. That's how I decided to give UCommand and Crisp Solutions a try. (BTW, I didn't find the UCommand to do literally everything I'd like it to do, such as punch throughs and perhaps a couple of more keys for my 5-channel receiver, but overall it seems excellent for the money and I predict it will generously satisfy my family's needs.)

One sidebar comment: Crisp Solutions appears to be doing the right things with enhancing a pre-exisiting product and branding it as their first generation product. And they seem to be going above and beyond for their customers (starting with providing an unusually easy to understand owner's manual). If they stay the course, they should sell many more units, get lots of constructive feedback and incorporate some (obviously not all) of those insights into future versions of the UCommand.
=================

RE: Reaction to Daniel's Review of UCommand (aka a veiled invite to "Rate the Reviewer?")

I have only been familiar with this site for a couple of months, but I have become a fan in large part because of my perception of Daniel's professionalism and good hospitality. I perceive in his writings a genuine effort to be as impartial as reasonably possible. His experience, even-handedness, and love for these things is clearly evident in his impromptu forum comments and thoughtful wording of his reviews. (And his occassional missellings is probably his way of making us feel okay about our own mistakes.) I think he has a knack for pointing out things that many folks may overlook, yet he does so in a succinct and easy going way.

His review of the UCommand was characteristic of his style: straightforward, unpretentious, insightful and pretty balanced. I interpret his rating of the UCommand as very good for a first generation product branding from a new company,Crisp Solutions. He basically said that the UCommand offers excellent value for its price point from a the combination of a pleasing aesthetics/build and solid functionality/performance. He duly noted the thus far top notch customer service and seemed to offer encouragement for them to continue the course.

Whoah - I'm getting a nose bleed from being up on the high soap box for waaay too long. I'm gettin'down now...

Best wishes,
-Doug W.-

Misspellings? What misspellings? :-)

In all seriousness, if you find something misspelled (of course I'm not counting the forums when I'm on my own wits) please do let me know... I can assure you any typos that end up in my finished reviews are the complete and utter fault of MS Word. ;-)

Daniel,
To my chagrin you already fixed the misspelled "Cisp" for Crisp, in your original posting of the UCommand Review. Those darn dumb word processors......
-Doug W.-

The UCommand from Crisp Solutions is made by a company in Tiwan called SunWave. The exact same remote is being sold for $99.95 at MCM Electronics. mcmelctronics.com

I was told by people at MCM and Crisp Solutions that SunWave is the OEM for the UCommand. So, if you are interested in this remote and saving a few bucks you can get it from MCM.

go to http://Sun-wave.com and check it out

Doug: You know what's really weird about that? It was spelt correctly in my original document. I have NO idea how the "r" disappeared on the HTML version.

Eric: ...And up until a few days ago the actual UCommand was available for $102 from etronixs. I suppose "few" is correct! ;-)

"Missellings", eh? I agree 100% with Doug W, both about the product and the company, and the abilities of Daniel Tonks.

... but I do get punch-through on my UCommand... ... Mike

I just unpacked my remote today. I managed to program my Cable box,TV,VCR,Denon Receiver, and Philips CD Player without a problem. However, when I programmed my Panasonic DVD player, it learned all the command without a problem EXCEPT for the track forward and track backward buttons. No matter how many times I tried to teach it (and it beeped and indicated O.K during the process) the ucommand will not work. Every other command I taught it, including speed search forwards and backwards works fine. Any ideas, recommendations? Known problems? Let me know, Thanks..

Hmmmmmmm...... is a few bucks worth the wonderful service given to us by Uli at Crisp Solutions? -greg

Who's the cat who won't walk out, when there's danger all about... but I'm jest talkin' 'bout Gregor!

I have owned the Rotel RR990 for over a year, and decided that I needed to part ways with it. The lack of DVD buttons, and having to remember what mislabeled button when with what was getting old.

I read all of the reviews on the Sony 2100 and Ucommand (quite a long task). My local dealer (United Audio Center) was willing to match J&R's price ($119) on the Sony. I figured that with the 30 day money back guarantee, why not.

I must say, I am impressed. The 2100 easily learned all of my devices, without ever having to mislabel something. My gear isn't quite standard - Rotel preamp, Rotel amp, Yamaha Tuner and CD player, Zenith TV, JVC VCR, Panasonic DVD, Sony 200 disc. 2nd system is a crap GE VCR and Sanyo TV. Plus an extra Zenith VCR.

The sony had more than enough buttons for all of my components, with plenty of room to spare. The Rotel (and Ucommand) lack, in my opinion, enough buttons.

The hard buttons are also a big +. My wife & I like them a lot more.

I can hold the Sony in 1 hand, although I usually keep it in my lap or on the table next to me. Having to push the 'light' button to turn on the backlight is annoying - *but* having to press some random button on the Rotel wasn't all that great either (change the channel trying to turn on the backlight).

I do agree with most of the posts on this site - it is completely user preference. They are both great units, it just depends on your personal taste.

Well,
I got my OEM version of the UCommand. It is exactly the same remote. As far as customer service is concerned, with all of the information availble here and at Crisp Solutions web site, I will be able to get any questions answerd that I have. I used the users manula from Crisp's web site but it is not much different than the manual that came with my unit.

It is true that I only saved a few bucks by going with MCM, but I was already a customer with them.

I am still in the process of programing all the functions that I want. Then I will have to work on my macros. This is a very good remote and I am glad I got it.

Well, Eric, I'm sure we're all glad you can buy from one shop, and then use the "free" support services provided by Crisp Solution's website to answer your questions.

You can leave now.

Booooooooooooooooo! Booooooooooooooooooooo!
Boooooooooooooooooooo! Eric! Booooooooooooooooo!