I am either going to purchase a RTI T2 or wait for the color Pronto. I really like have some of the hard controls of the RTI T2. Please convince me one way or the other! (by the way, I can certainly wait until 1Q 2001 for the new pronto if needed). Thank you! Tom

Geez....your level of patience is, well, disturbing! :-)

When it comes to sheer possibilities, I think you can't go wrong with neither the T2 nor the Pronto. All depends on your personal preferences when operating the remote.

With the Pronto you will need to look at the LCD screen to know what you are doing, except for the volume, channel and mute buttons. If you use arrow pad or transport controls a lot, you may find the hard button arrow pad on the T2 quite convenient.

The T2 software is much easier to learn and use than the Pronto software, and probably a little more versatile when it comes to the things you can do with macros. But on the other hand, the Pronto has a very active user community, with lots of great templates, icons etc. Also, the larger screen size on the Pronto allows you to be more creative. If you like toying with the remote's interface, the Pronto will probably hold your interest better. With the T2 I found myself "done" quite soon.

Next to that, you may want to factor in that the T2 can send in both IR and RF, the Pronto can not. But the T2 is also quite a bit more expensive.

I would recommend giving the Pronto a try first. If the "mostly-LCD" nature does not bother you, you will probably be very happy with it. If however you find yourself wishing for more hard buttons, the T2 is pretty much the best option out there.

One other thing to factor in. The richer interface of the Pronto also results in a slightly steeper learning curve for occasional user. You can obviously create moron-proof menu's on the Pronto, but that may require a lot more tapping. And some of the more fixed attributes items on the interface may still be confusing.

With the T2 there is little room for confusion, unless you create a confused spaghetti of menu's yourself. Most T2 user will branch out once from the main menu, and have only pages of buttons underneath. Leaves very little room for confusion.

I'll give you a straight example. I must have spent a total of over three man-weeks on my Pronto interface during a span of a year and a half, and it could never do all I wanted to my satisfaction. With the T2 I spent a total of a couple of man days during a three-week span and I have something that works far better than the Pronto did for me.

Of course I'm talking about functional design here. If you like to do artistic design, then the Pronto is the way to go. You can do things in it that you can't in the T2, like having full names of entries in a DVD changer setup. You's have to use abbreviations in the T2.

Cheers,

DJ

Thanks for the advice! I really like the hard controls of the RTI T2, so this should probably drive me towards getting it.

The layout of this unit the feel and accessories that the T2 offers make this far and above the best product out there, at this cost. The one thing that has always bothered me with the other remotes is the ability to sense "on" state of components when executing macros. The RTI folks really spent some time thinking this through and developing it’s line of products.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com