Well I bit the bullet and ordered an MX-500 from Bluedo.
Got a couple of friends interested so we have 3 of them on their way to Australia.
Also grabbed a URC8811 for some extra programing.

Now, just have to wait for them to arrive, hhhmmmmm

Can't wait.

Congrats, but I think that the money spent on the 8811 may have been better used going towards the purchase of IRClone.

I love the IRClone, but the URC-8811 setup surely has it's advantages, too. For one, you get a second remote to use elsewhere in your home, plus it's considerably less expensive ($37 cheaper to get MX-500, URC-8811 and JP1-Cable versus MX-500 and IRClone-MX). I'm a big fan of either setup, but they both have pros and cons.

David
www.BlueDo.com

The advantages of the 8811 are the advanced codes that go with the preset setup codes, but OP being from downunder, I doubt you'll find many preset codes for Aussie components.

The ideal, of course, is to have both a JP1 remote (a 15-1994 in my case) and IRClone but I think at this point you can find just about every command you could need in the IRClone-MX files section here. And if you can't, with a request posted here, you will probably find someone who can send you the command in a .m5 file.

As long as I can get some discretes working like on/ off, AV select etc then I'll be happy.

I couldn't stretch the budget to an IRclone unfortunately.

I can always look for an Aussie version of a One For All that is JP1 compatible if the 8811 goes pear shaped.

Well, I just tried teaching codes from my new Pioneer DV-270s DVD player to my 7 yr old Remotec RemoteMaster 2000 learning remote. The transport buttons worked OK but teaching any others caused the 2000 to show "ERROR".
Hope this isn't a bad sign of things to come with the MX-500.

Well, what can I say. What a great unit.
Gunna have lots of fun setting it up.
Inbuilt codes aren't much chop, especially here Down Under in Oz although the inbuilt codes did contain some usefull discretes depending on with codes I tried. I'll just teach those discretes to my other learner then teach back to the MX-500.

Although I'm not really sure how much impact the LCD actually has on the current draw, my only critisism would be the LCD not turning off after inactivity.

I realise that this isn't an advertisment forum but I must comment on the great service and speedy provided by Bluedo. Thankyou.

The LCD has limited draw or effect on battery life. The light, and using the remote draw the most power. Average battery life I've seen is between 4-5 months with alkaline batteries. Your results may vary, but if you're really concerned about saving your batteries, you have a few options:

1. Use rechargable batteries. Though they draw less volts, they seem to work fine on this remote.

2. Create a favourite page with all-blank lables. This will not save batteries very much as LCD draws little power anyway, but it may give you peice of mind. Leave the remote on this page when finished.

3. Set the light button to only operate when pressed (set the timer to 0 seconds). If you're new to the remote, try to set it to the lowest comfortable level (2 or three seconds). You'll find, once you're used to your setup, you really wont need the light.

4. Remove the batteries if you're not going to use it for an extended period. The memory in the MX-500 is non-volitile and will work when you put the batteries back in.