Have had and enjoyed my MX-500 for 4 years. Am now looking for a 2nd remote for a different room. Haven't been back to Remote Central in a long time. Now see that there's the MX-700 and IR-Clone for the MX-500. What do people think who have both remotes? What the easiest for programming? Will be using with a Panasonic LCD HDTV, Yamaha receiver, Mitsubishi VCR, Panasonic DVD and a cable box. Thanks for any feedback.

IRClone gives you the ability to program your 500 more easily, as well as letting you save the configuration. It can also assist in getting discrete codes into the 500.

The MX-700 has double the device (20) and page-per-device (4) capacity of the MX-500, as well as the ability to program a macro on any button and use Pronto files to obtain discrete codes.

Mike
www.SurfRemoteControl.com

Assuming a comparable price, the MX-700's features win the prize. As Mike mentioned, the big brother bests the MX-500 in every category!

Of course, since you already have an MX-500, one option is to get a second MX-500 and an IRClone, which you could then use for programming on *both* MX-500's.

Having said that, I was in your position and went with the MX-700. It really is a much nicer remote in so many ways.

Thanks to everyone...very helpful info.!

I have a 700 and 2 500's. The guys have already covered the differences pretty well. I like both and either works for me. I have been using the 500's lately...

One other advantage of the 500 (if it can do the job ok) is that it's cheaper to replace if the remote dies a horrible death...

What about the software for each? Are most if not all of the software functionality of the 700 available to the 500 w/IRCLone?
Can I upload learned commands from the 500 to IR Clone?

Also, about macros. The 500 has 3 buttons at the bottom for quick macro commands.. how would I access a quick macro (ie: turn off light) on the 700?

thanks

The software for each is quite different. You can download each one, try them out and see the differences.

I know I could download them myself, but I'm asking for responses from people who have actually used both.
People who use these have more time spent with the programs and will generally have a better feel of what it has to offer over downloading the software and trying it but not actually using it in conjunction with a remote.

In the case of either software, you really don't need the actual remote to do anything but add learned commands. The major differences in the programs lie with the different abilities of each remote. The MX-700 has more devices, more pages per device and macro capability (including more steps) on any button. The MX-700 connects directly to your PC, IRClone makes use of the MX-500's "clone" feature to upload and download configurations.

I've used them both extensively and find them equally easy to use for what they can do. The MX-700 software is more complex because it includes an IR database, the ability to import Pronto CCFs directly and the additional features of the MX-700.

I recommended trying them out yourself because each person has their own idea of what's easiest for them to use. Hope that helps a little.

Beyond the editing software the big difference is in the capabilities of the remotes. The MX-700 has a lot more functionality, for instance any button can be a macro (and that is why you don't need three macro buttons)

The IR clone + MX-500 is a hack, someone thought you can clone remotes, if I study how it is done I can make the MX-500 think my PC is a 500 and it can clone back and forth. So it does not add any power to the remote (just makes a lot of things easier to do)

The best thing to do is read the MX-500 and MX-700 reviews

However the MX-700 has fewer buttons and lacks the dedicated macro keys that some find useful for spouses and kids i.e. M1 is the TV macro, M2 is the DVD macro, etc. regardless of device and which LCD page you are currently on.

If you count the M1-3 keys, the 500 has two more hard-labeled buttons than the 700. The 700 actually has one more regular button than the 500, it's just that some of them are labled differently. Of course, the 700 also has twice as many LCD-labeled buttons.

I could never get my wife to use the M1-3 buttons on my MX-500, so I gave up and just programmed them with macros for my own use. Some people have labeled them with a label maker, which might have helped me if I had one. ;-)