Low-Cost Universal Remote Has Ultra-Fast Setup

SlashGear has looked at universal remote controls before, and inevitably the one unifying factor is price.  They might have huge touchscreens or a massive jumble of programmable buttons, but they're invariably expensive.  So seeing RemoteShoppe were reviewing a remote that retails for $129 – with a colour screen, no less! – I confess I assumed it would probably be, well, a bit rubbish.  Not for the first time, I was wrong.

The x10 iconRemote can replace up to ten OEM controls, and despite the presence of a mini-USB port all programming is done on the handset itself.  While it's capable of learning IR codes, for the most part it's set up by choosing a manufacturer from the list and then cycling through a built-in bank of preset codes; reviewer Jim Bask found it was comprehensive enough to have all of his components.  x10 claim you'll have it all set up in under five minutes, and Jim even went out to buy a stopwatch to test it!

Then it's a case of picking channel icons to be displayed on the screen, again from built-in presets, setting up lists of favourite channels (for instance "His", "Hers" and "Kids") and finally settling back to enjoy some TV. 

x10 iconRemote Review[RemoteShoppe]