He said he loved it...

I thought it was a POS. Maybe cause it wasn't set up well... That aside, I thought the buttons were horribly un-ergonomic and very difficult to work.

It seemed difficult to figure out what mode you were in, and the core buttons, channel / volume seemed way to small and poorly placed.

Finally, while I liked the texture to it, it seemed too light, small, and flimsy.

Are the 880's any better? Thanks.

It's always a subjective thing of course, but compared to it's competition and what the 880 offers for ease of programming and use, it's a great component to have in amongst your HT gear.

Every manufacturer should put me in charge of buttton layout though..

880 to the GTG on Sat.

Still don't like it, and it's buggy. I pretty much stopped using it. The 880 is better in terms of key layout and ergonomics.

Although the MX-500 is big and bulky and doesn't have the sleek design of the 880, that is really why it excels in ergonomics. It feels good in your hand and all the buttons are spaced well enough apart so you can quickly become so used to the layout that you don't have to look at it.

I watch TiVo alot so I use the Play, Pause, FF, Rev buttons alot. The 880 has these keys all grouped together below the thumb pad and all shaped the same. You *have* to look down at them to find the right one. The MX-500 has them arranged around the central thumb pad and the buttons have a tactile positive feel when pressed. You never have to look down after a few days getting used to the layout.

In addition, the shape of the 880 is curved on the bottom, so when holding it in my right hand and trying to hit the play button which is on the far right of the remote with my thumb it has slipped out of my hand on numerous occasions. Also, most sofa arms are rounded so the 880 does not sit securely on the arm and easily slides off onto the floor or my lap. The MX-500 has a flat bottom so that it stays put.

If you are a "just push play" person then the 880 is fine ergonomically, but if you are a heavy Tivo user that needs to pause and FF through commercials often, then the MX is the way to go.

I plan on switch back to the MX-500 or MX-700 on my main system and using the 880 in the basement.

Ease of programming is no big deal since you only do it once. Ease of use on a daily basis is a higher priority for me.<ul><li><a href="http://www.remotecentral.com/mx500/index.html">MX-500</a></li></ul>

I don't look down at my remote all that often. It's all feel.

That said I don't like where the numeric keypad is, but it's not that big a deal.