the remote, a trc-1280, must send the scene
data to the mrx10 , right? So, scenes are available
on all remotes, iPads, iPhones

The remote sends a signal over the Wifi network to the MRX10. The MRX10 then sends the signal to the RFX1, which then sends the signal to the rf dimmers.

Yes the scenes are available on all devices. I like the iPad because the screen is so much bigger than the 1280.

The best way to select a scene on the 1280 is not by touching the screen it's by using the navigation arrows in the middle of the remote and then hitting the select button. For example if you want to go to scene 4 (instead of trying to use the tiny little arrows on the right) use the navigation arrows and move down to the fourth scene.


since dimmer is a 1way device, there isn't a way for dimmer to
report it's current setting, is there?

No it's a one way device no feedback. The only way to have two way lighting with TC is Radio RA2.

Am I really saving the state the remote
thinks the dimmer is at? If this is true, dim with remote
and then save scene or does it matter.

No the remote is just sending the commands. URC basically creates little 1 way lighting modules based on the information you enter in the TC programming software. And it then lets you save scenes for each area or room that have one than one dimmer or switch in. It great because it saves a lot of time on programming, but it has two major drawbacks; it's 1 way control and it's lack of custimization. It would be nice to be able to re-label the scenes and have a module for whole house control or scenes. I had to create another device called "lighting house" I created scenes like "good night, good morning, movie, etc.. within that device.

Just so you know each URC dimmer or switch can save up to three lighting addresses. The first lighting addressed is assigned to each dimmer and the second address is for each room. So instead of sending a command like "lamp scene 1, high hat scene 1, sonces scene 1. It sends one lighting command to the second address for "scene 1" which makes it much more reliable.

You should also check out the some of the custom lighting control features in TC like event timers, vacation mode, alarm clock, etc.. You can programming lights to go on or off every night or morning, or set custom vacation modes. The customer can select the days and times the lights go on and off. All you have to do is program what you want each macro to do.