I received my ICON Remote IR10A yesterday afternoon. I have it mostly programed for my needs now. Everthing worked as advertised, they thought of most everything. I used all of the functions in setting it up. The only one a bit tricky is the learn. I had to place 2 of my 3 teaching remotes right against the bottom of the IR10A and then it worked pretty well.
My goal was to use it the SAT mode as much as possible and not have to jump to other devices except for rare operations.My wish list of things not implemented (at least I couldn't find) is a way to edit the text for the learned keys without reprogramming. Second, I would like a key to go directly to the learned functions without going through "select device" since it's already selected.
Also, I could have used a way to move and copy ICONs between groups without setting them up again. Selecting ICONs for your Favorites is a tedious job. There are about 324 (36x9) ICONs to choose from and some are very tiny and hard or impossible to read the small text. And of course, not all I needed were listed (for example Showtime HD, I used the generic ICON with a number tag). The optional number tag is a nice touch.
One other minor thing, I didn't find a way to delete a learned side key. And what do you do if you program a fixed key in error and need to return to the original code. Dig out the associated remote and reteach the Icon Remote. There are't too many expendable fixed keys in my setup.
I used one macro to step through TV Input choices using 4 second delay, this again for a surveillance camera. Worked like a charm.
Besides the ICON selection method, I wanted a way to toggle my PIP (surveillance camera) faster and directly from the remote in my hand. I set it up as a learned key but also found a better choice using the (-) hard key which I don't need.
I have had many (cheap) Universal Remotes but this is the first one I will probably actually use. The ability to learn the side keys or the main keys and the convenient Punch Through function pretty much meets all my needs. Even the placement of the jump back and jump forward (Tivo) keys are easier to get to than on the original Tivo remotes. The key layout is pretty well thought out and I find intuitive.
Once it did hang up on me after a learning attempt but I reset by removing a cell for a few seconds. Thank Heaven the programming memory is non-volatile otherwise changing cells would kill anyone because of reprogramming. Anyway at today's flash memory prices, it's mandatory in something so complicated.
That's all I can think of. Basically pretty well thought out except for X10 RF transmission which would be nice. Probably the OEM couldn't be persuaded to include it (yet?).
