VIZIO 8-DEVICE UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL (XRU300)

This remote is pretty decent for the money. I didn't get mine at Amazon, but I don't want others to be deterred by the only other review on this product. He rated this remote with only two stars yet the person states in their review that the remote worked perfectly for every single one of his devices?!?!

Funcionality:

This remote works perfectly with all of my devices I have a Samsung plasma TV, an LG soundbar, a cable/DVR box, and an Xbox 360. Yes, I did have to use the "learn" function for most of the programming, but seriously it took all of 10 minutes to set up all 4 of my devices to work perfectly with all functionality without a hitch. Yes, you do have to press each individual device mode to power on or off, big deal...the other reviewer states this is one of the main reasons for the low rating this remote doesn't have MACRO capability. Seriously?! Did someone expect that functionality in an 8-device universal learning remote that costs under 20 bucks? Perfect example of champagne taste on a beer budget. If you want Macros, automatic device switching, etc you have to spend more money. Period.

I did take of 1/4 star due to the fact that there is no "master volume" setting where you can have the volume always control a certain device no matter what device mode you're in. That would have been nice, but overall not a big hinderance.

Look and Feel:

First, this remote is fat. At first I thought it had a slide out keyboard or something because why else would it be so fat? It doesn't. It's just fat. I didn't take off any stars for it or anything, because due to it's relatively small size, the fatness actually helps it feel rather comfortable in the hand.

Second, the responsiveness and feedback "feel" of the keys is spectacular! This is probably one of my favorite things about this remote. When you press a button, there is no doubt about whether you pressed it there is a very nice, non-audible, non-distracting and yet satisfying "click". Every time. Love it.

Third, the backlight is white. Very white. Not blue, not orange, not red, not yellow-ish, but instead a nice vibrant white. And everything is backlit except the little "V" smart button in the middle, but it's the most tactile of all the buttons.

Fourth, 1/4 star because the buttons other than the four-way keypad and the "V" smart button are indistinguishable from each other by feel alone. In time, muscle memory will take over and you'll know where every button is without needing to look, but still a little bump on the "5" and on the "Play" buttons for example would have been nice.

UPDATE 2/15/13:

Had to downgrade my review to maybe four stars but let me start by saying that I still really like this remote. Reasons for the downgraded rating:

1) I have noticed that as the batteries start to degrade, my "aim" needs to be better obviously not huge but I have found myself having to click 3 or 4 times to get it to register. And this is just as the batteries are "starting" to fade. When they get further along you actually have to get closer too.

2) The battery life. Could be worse, could be better. I'm sure it's the awesome backlighting, but two months is about all I get out of a pair of batteries before the "aim" and the "get closer" issues become too bad to deal with any longer. I haven't actually used the remote until the batteries completely died, but I have the feeling that by that point you'd have to have the remote 2 inches away and clicking 5 times to get it to register.

3) Annoying but relatively harmless, the "V" button on the remote for TV special features (like smart TV menu) doesn't do anything for my TV AND it can't be programmed. Maybe if you have a Vizio smart TV it'll work, but on my Samsung it does nothing.

When I upgraded to Time Warner Cable, I thought I would be able to program their remote to control everything, but their remote sucked pretty bad. It wouldn't change the volume or power of my Sound Bar, it wouldn't change the Input of the TV. I decided to get this because I have a Vizio Sound Bar and felt pretty confident I would be able to control it using this remote.

The remote is easy to program, once you find the correct code, and depending on what equipment you have that's either very easy, or a little harder. I have a Sharp TV which has around 6-7 different codes, so it took a little while to find the one that set the buttons up correctly. Same issue for the Time Warner DVR too, it took a while to find the correct code. I couldn't find one perfect code for the TWC DVR so I had to use the Individual Button Program feature, which allows you to point your old remote at the Vizio whilst pushing the function you which to program and the Vizio will learn the function and assign it to a button you choose.

Overall, I was using Four Remotes before buying this (TV, DVR, Sound Bar & Apple TV) and the Vizio works perfectly with them all. I can now all the hideous remotes and just use this great looking singular remote. One small kicker, you have to point the remote at the equipment, it's not one of those ones that you can point anywhere. Small price to pay for ultimate control of all your devices for virtually no expense.

Buy VIZIO 8-DEVICE UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL (XRU300) Now

After wearing out several of the cheap remotes that Time Warner gives out with their cable boxes, I decided to try something else and bought this remote. Overall, it's a good remote. All of my devices were easy to program and, while there were a few buttons on my TV and cable remotes that didn't work on this remote after doing the code-based programming, they were all easy to program using the smart learn feature. Basically, you just point the remote you are replacing at this remote, press the button on the first remote with the corresponding button on this one and this remote learns the signal.

The only downside is that the shape of this remote is fairly semetrical, so it's easy to grab it and point it at the TV the wrong way which can be a little frustrating.

Unlike the Time Warner remotes, which I seemed to need to replace every 3-6 months, this one's been going strong for about a year now with no problems.

Read Best Reviews of VIZIO 8-DEVICE UNIVERSAL REMOTE CONTROL (XRU300) Here

I have a vizio 42 lcd tv that came with the smaller remote that I did not like,so I ordered this one and it works fine

and I love the light up button feature. And it arrived at my house within 4 days.

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Would not work all my devices. Had to go back to a Logitech harmony to get everything working. Seemed cheap and the layout was really weird. Wouldn't even work my vision TV correctly. 2 stars for trying though. Logitech has never let me down. Even on the hardest to find devices.