I have used over the past four years, first the Sony VL700, then the VL900, even tried the VL1000 (got it cheap on EBAY a few months ago). I preferred the VL900 amongst these three, but after a couple years many of the labels on the keys wore off and now the OK button is starting to flake out. You can get new or refurb VL900's on EBAY for <$25 I got one of them there last year as a spare and its in like new condition. I even bought a bottle from a hobby store of a clear decal coating liquid that I thought I could brush on the new remote's keys to help protect the silkscreen labels. The VL700 and 1000 at least didn't have much silkscreen on their keys, instead its around the keys they don't have the rub-off problem to any significant degree for that reason.

Last week I saw info on the new VL600 (I didn't know about the VL710 before) and searched and found it listed at Best Buy for only $25 - amazing since the VL900 was $50-60 when I got one originally new at Best Buy years ago. Downloading the manual it appeared to have all the functionality of the VL900 and an even better key layout, smaller lighter (only 2 batteries, the VL900 needs 4 AA's and is heavy) and 5 more keys which I ALWAYS needed. For some complex devices like a cable HD-DVR I needed to use two component setups to cover enough key functions with the VL900, thats why I originally tried the VL1000 since it had more keys, but it takes a lot more work to change components and its so long its hard to reach all the keys - I still have it for another room use though and as a backup.

Anyway I called around and one Best Buy had the new VL600 for $25 in stock. Indeed it doesn't have a few of the advanced VL900 features like copy a component's button configuration to another component storage or copy between remotes, but I very rarely used that and cared a lot more for a lighter better key layout with more buttons and the VL600 provides that. So I bought a new VL600 last week and programmed it all this past weekend and its working fantastic - gave my old almost worn out VL900 and a still working old VL700 to a relative. Still have the backup new VL900 remote, but I may sell that on EBAY now - I prefer the VL600 though I do of course have to get used to the different key layout, but its not that difficult. I like it still has a lighted keys for the components so you can tell which component is being triggered when you press any other key.

The VL600 keys feel good quality and don't have silkscreen on the buttons themselves as much as the VL900 did, so the ruboff shouldn't be as much an issue - I'd only worry about the 8 component buttons, so I might coat them with the clear liquid soon. The extra keys are just right for my components, now all the features I needed for my SA8000HD-DVR fit on one component setting and the SA code provided even covered the majority of the keys too, which was not supported on the older remotes. I only have 5 components total, so the previous VL710 could have done the job too, but I like to have a few spares if I later add a component and with the VL900 I needed extras since it didn't have enough keys for some components. So I am more than satisfied with the VL600 assuming it has the long term reliability of the other Sony remotes I've used. No other cheaper (<$50) universal remotes I've tried or used by friends and relatives have the good key feel and key reliablity as the Sonys. The original remotes and universals by One-for-all, etc. always seem to wear out keys pretty quick like the vol or channel buttons.

For the past few years, I only use the original remotes long enough to program a Sony learning remote and store the originals in a drawer when I need to program a new model like last weekend. Sure I wish the VL600 had the couple extra VL900 features (copy whole components and between other VL900s) but I consider that a worthwhile trade for more buttons and the slicker lighter layout. The VL600 doesn't have the VL900's temporary lighted keys (its not backlighted, just stores light from a lamp for awhile) - but I find the VL600's silver top background reflects light well even from a source like a TV screen from my couch enough to see the key locations, no complaints in that area. I love that the system control/macro keys (now 4 instead of 3) are located at the bottom and easy to reach compared to the very hard to reach top ones on the VL900. I don't need lots of macros, so I was using a couple on the VL900 for extra keys for one component. On the VL600 they are labeled (A,B,C,D) so I used the A,B,C for my HD-DVR A,B,C keys and used the D key for a power on macro for the main components - perfect for my needs. I noticed that the new VL600 layout has the changes that the VL710 review on this site recommended for making a little more space between some of the keys and the location of one of the keys by the cursor arrows - Sony must have been reading here!

I heartily recommend the VL600 based on my experience this week and my past years use of the older model Sony VL700,VL900,VL1000 models. The low price of $25 is an incredible bargain, I kept wondering why is it so cheap, I worry it might be discontinued soon since Sony might not make enough profit on it!