Crisp Solutions UCommand Universal Remote Remote Controls

Crisp Solutions UCommand Universal Remote Remote Controls 

DESCRIPTION

The UCommand is an all touchscreen universal remote control, for operating up to eight consumer electronics devices, in particular those devices normally considered to part of a "Home Theatre".

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 12  
[Apr 04, 2002]
t_bohannon
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

convenience, cool looking, nice backlight and ambient light sensor.

Weakness:

No hard buttons. It takes some getting used to. Somewhat overly sensitive when learning codes.

I have the Sur-20 (same thing) and have found it to be a great remote. I had to "trick" the unit to follow some commands, especially from my Kenwood VR-507 receiver and Phillips TV. The company''s customer service was very helpful, even though I figured out the problem before they called me back. Anyway, the device seamlessly controls devices from Kenwood, RCA, Phillips & Toshiba without a hitch. This little device has allowed me to put 5 remotes in the drawer! If you can find a good deal on one of these BUY IT! I think it would be a good deal even at retail ($120) but you can regularly find them for <$50 on EBay. My system: 32" Phillips Kenwood VR-507 receiver RCA DirecTV interactive receiver w/optical Dolby output Toshiba SD-2700 DVD Bic 52 center channel Cerwin-Vega LS-12 fronts Stock Kenwood surrounds and powered sub.

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 10, 2000]
Larry
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Value ***CUSTOMER SUPPORT***
Value ***CUSTOMER SUPPORT***
Value ***CUSTOMER SUPPORT***
Value ***CUSTOMER SUPPORT***

Weakness:

Lack of customized labels (big deal eh?)

At first, I did not think I would like this remote. Problems with the backlighting, would not learn my receiver remote, etc. After many e-mails to Crisp Solutions that did not solve the learning problem, I decided to try to cheat my receivers remote and the U-515 remote. That is not to say that Crisp Solutions did not try to offer support, I never expected them to get back to me within hours - they were great. To make a long story short (it took me a half a day), Kenwood home theater receivers have a multi function remote that sequences input modes (Video/Audio/TV) and I had to setup dummy buttons, hide buttons etc. for it to "learn" correctly and had to do it in my garage well away from the receiver! My only complaint (though minor) is that I do have a number of blank buttons. I would recommend this remote to everyone - and it has a great price!

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood, Sony

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 13, 2000]
Matt Ludtke
Audiophile

Strength:

Features, Range, Easy to program, X-10 IR automation support.

Weakness:

None

Remote is great!! Has excellent range and works well with any IR remote you currently have. Easy to program all you remotes into one. Excellent backlit touchpad, has audible beep confirming selection. The best part about the remote is the quality and customer service diven by Crispsolutions.com. Thanks to Uli and his staff you will not be disappointed!

Similar Products Used:

Sony, One For All, Jensen

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 29, 2000]
Bob Bolton
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Overall design and construction; No-brainer learning method; Bang for the buck; It really replaces the pile 'o remotes on my coffee table

Weakness:

No hard buttons for vol/ channels.

If you ever wished for a remote that would operate all your a/v equipment, and wouldn't require a doctorate to operate and program, this is it!

This remote will learn ANY command from any remote, including X-10 codes for lighting control. The learning method is so simple you can program and reprogram an entire function in a minute or less.

You can assign an up to 25 step macro to any button. The Ucommand has a variable ambient light sensor for backlight activation, variable backight timeout, and on and on.

I have two minor suggestions for improvement: There is no tactile feedback on this touchscreen remote and it take some thought to remenber where your fingers are. Hard buttons for volume and channel selection would be nice. I am deaf to the VERY high pitched feedback beep. Although on/off switchable, the tone is easy to accidentally re-enable, and my wife is constantly reminding me "You're beeping!" A pitch adjustment or better means of defeating the beep is desireable.

Similar Products Used:

One of everything

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 24, 2000]
Tom
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Lowest priced touchscreen remote on the market, can be configured to control anything

Weakness:

No hard buttons

The 515 is a great remote for the price. Got it for $89.00 including shipping at www.surfremotecontrol.com. The touchscreen buttons can be modified for any type of function and you can create macros to turn everything on or off, or change devices. I almost bought the higher priced model, the 616, because of the hard buttons, but it was too expensive ($179) for my wallet. Crisp Solutions has made a great users manual for this product, and their customer support is great if you have any questions. A great way to have a cool remote without breaking the budget.

Similar Products Used:

One for All Home Producer

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Sep 13, 2000]
Ed
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Everything

Weakness:

limited amount of buttons assignable per device as well as a limited amount of labels available per button.

This is a fantastic learning remote. It learnt every essential function of each of my original remotes and then some. It is very thin, lightweight, extremely fast and responsive. Love the ambient light settings. Very inexpensive and very well thought out. It even has a security feature so you don't accidentally memorize or erase a previously set up button or device, or record when you do not want to. Cannot praise it enough. However, there are minor details that I would have liked in this remote that are not available. First of all since this is not a dot-matrix display you cannot create your own label for each button so if u learn a certain button into the remote and there is no label that will be similar to the function set on the original remote you have to either leave it with the label the UCommand provides or make that button blank. In either case you have to remember what that blank space actually does or you may find yourself pushing the wrong button. Second minor flaw is the fact that you can only program 28 buttons into each device which kinda limits the buttons you can actually learn from the original device's remote. This, however, is not really a flaw if you dont have 8 devices so that you can use any of the other empty devices as a secondary menu to learn more buttons on. In conclusion, for $100 this is the best universal learning remote you can find. No sense in spending more unless you want the ultimate in customizability and design which is the Pronto. That would set you back $200 more. IMHO, it is not justified to spend that much money on a remote when you have this UCommand which, although it has certain minor limitations, it can provide you with all the functions you will ever need and fantastic customizability. Oh, the customer service for Crisp Sollutions is fantastic. I'm giving this remote five stars even with its very minor flaws. Fantastic!

Similar Products Used:

One For All Cinema6, cheap sony universal remotes

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 26, 2000]
Felix Ruiz
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Easy very Easy

Weakness:

None

The best remote around.I just bought the UCOMMAND from www.crispsolutions.com ($119.00) very easy to program does everything you want and more. Programd it in 5 minits, look good easy to use. You are going to love it!!

Similar Products Used:

Sony RM-AV2000 or RM-AV2100

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Nov 05, 2001]
Rob
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Flexibility, completeness, price

Weakness:

Battery usage, button labels are not customizable.

The Crisp Solutions U Command is truly a great remote controller. I actually have the Sima SUR-20 (I think that's the model #) which is the same remote marketed under another brand. Actually the Sima should be better because it's a universal/learning remote while the U Command is a learning only remote. This was hardly a problem as the built-in codes didn't operate much of my equipment anyway and I wanted to select my own button layout.
The learning function couldn't be easier to use. It is simple to program (and actually fun to do) and ANY button (except the 4 learning mode buttons) will learn any command or macro! There are about 32 learnable buttons on each screen and a total of 8 screens (for each component in your A/V setup) for a total of 256 learnable buttons! There are settings for when the backlight will come on (the remote control has a built-in light sensor) and how long it will stay on. Set these cautiously as my first set of (4) AAA batteries (Energizer E2, not cheapies mind you) lasted a whopping month.
The remote is extremely flexible, but some creativity is required. Each button gives you about 4 labels to choose from. These are not customizable and you can't relocate the label to another button on the screen. While 4 choices sounds like enough, you can quickly run out of labels as 2 or more of the common labels may be under the same key. This is where the creativity and the compromise come into play. Basically you cannot use this remote to totally replace your old remotes. You can program every everyday function in the remote without much problem, albeit some of the labels you've assigned to buttons may not be your first choice; you'll just have to remember which button meant what. My DVD and VCR remotes have a lot of infrequently used fluff buttons that are neat but could not be squeezed onto the Sima (even my programming button on the VCR had to give way to other more important buttons). While this sounds like a major problem (it almost kept me from buying it) once you own it, it's not. Frankly unless your willing to pay $400 for a Pronto, you won't get this kind of flexibility from any other remote out there (even the $180 Sony RM-AV2100 has the same basic design and is way to bulky).
The U Command/Sima is a little on the heavy side but is slim and rests comfortably in one hand. The backlight is bright and easy to read. The only problem that I've had with it is it's inability to learn sound field modes from the remote that comes with your Sony receiver. It won't learn them directly but there's a way around it (check out Crisp's website and look under the FAQ's). The remote now controls my Toshiba TV, Sony CD player, Sony receiver, Toshiba DVD player, and Panasonic VCR and is the best $100 I've spent in a while.

Similar Products Used:

Universal remote that came with my receiver

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Sep 26, 2001]
Jay
Casual Listener

Strength:

Easy to use, Learns everything, Great look

Weakness:

None!!!

Great remote. I is simple to use and program. It is very wife friendly. Super Product!!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 22, 2001]
Dale
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

attention getter
good value for a touch screen
good programming capability

Weakness:

No hard buttons
Illumination is not that sophisticated
A lot of functions are not intuitive

I'm afraid this is a re-review. After almost 4 months I am not that satisfied with my Crisp Soltutions. Perhaps, I did not find the solution, that crisp!
It's an interesting design, and had enough memory to handle anything I needed.
Most aggravating was the lack of tactile feel, especially for a remote where you have to rely on a touch screen 100% of the time.
I never used a pencil eraser which is often advised for touch screen use, that might be better.
Programming was okay. A bit unusual but worked everytime.
The touch screen, as I learned does not require a lot of pressure. And in fact, too much pressure and the particular will not work at all. With hard buttons, once you find the minimum pressure, it doesn't matter if you hit them harder.
The illumination seems a little primitive. You can make out the location of the light sources, instead of a nice even glow.
So I picked up a Sony VL-900 with no backlight, but I really find it much more satisfying to use. It has fantastic memory and adaptability, especially for the macros.
It learns other remotes very quickly, and besides putting out a good beam, macro commands are transmitted much faster than the CS. (Delays can be inserted if necessary).
I feel much more comfortable, and in command with the Sony.
On the UC 515 I did keep the 'protector' in place to increase the tactile feel of the CC, but that seemed like a squirrely solution, not a crisp one.
But for those that would have nothing but a touch screen, the CC is bargain.
For me, it's the Sony. By the way, if anybody wants a good deal on a used one UC515, I have it, complete with manual and fresh batteries.

Similar Products Used:

Sony VL-900
Cinema 7

OVERALL
RATING
3
VALUE
RATING
4
Showing 1-10 of 12  

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