Hi

Looking to buy the pronto or RC5000 but the big question is, which one is more useful as the two have special features for their own models. In pricewise i want to get the cradle so the RC5000 seems to be slightly cheaper. Does anyone know if the rc5000i is availabe in uk and where, how much??? Do you really need all that extra memory as i don't know how much memory it takes to program the controller when i get one. Is the screen a blue backlight or green as i've seen various pictures on the web?? Sorry about these questions but i just want to make sure before i buy.

thanks in advance

alan

Alan,

1. From a "cost" point of view, if the average battery life in the pronto/rc5000 is 4-6 months...how many years of service would you need out of the unit to have replaced the batteries enough times so that the cost of batteries was even close to the cost of the cradle? The cradle seems massively overpriced to me - and it seems that it would be false economy to grab one (but I'm sure that everyone with cradles would have good reasons for having them other than cost).

2. I bought my Pronto from http://www.letsautomate.com (UK), and it looks like they sell the RC5000 too - but not sure about the 5000i. It's worth a look.

3. I'm colourblind, but I'm 99% sure the screen backlight is blue on the Pronto.

4. If you're interested in memory utilisation - download the latest pronto edit from this site, and grab some System CCFs from this site and load them in. Go to the system panel to see how much memory they use (and compare this to the number of devices/functionality/codes etc in the CCF file. You'll get the idea pretty soon. I was shocked that my CCF only used 50% of memory.

Regards

Floydster

Floydster,

you were correct when you put "if" in front of the estimated battery lifetime - it is far from 4-6 months for normal use, more like 4-6 days in my case.

So, the rechargable battery pack and the charger are necessary accesories IMHO.

/Allan

As I usually put it, the desktop charger is NOT something that will save you money. It is, however, something that's nice to use and awfully convenient.

Thanks for the info guys, but Allen the battery on last 4-6 days??? Are you a heavy user as the spec shows 4-6 months, big difference. When was the RC5000i released cos i can't find it on the web for sale at the mo, just pronto and RC5000 for sale.

RC5000i standalone will ship in the USA in the next few weeks. It is currently only available with the purchase of an SR14EX receiver (Marantz's top of the line piece).

I'm not an especially heavy user (unless you refer to my bodyweighttttt ;-) ) - actually my wife uses it most during the day.

4-6 days is maybe a bit exaggerated, but it is definitely much closer to the truth (for my RC5000) than 4-6 months!

I have been using NexCell NIMH batteries in mine an they last 3-4 months. However, I rarely ever use the backlight, which is a blue backlight.