When I first got this remote and had it professionally programmed (which, unless you are a geek, you must do), it worked pretty much fine. It's a little uncomfortable in the hand and requires at least 2 keystrokes (and sometimes 3) to turn the system on. That was annoying but tolerable. The really unacceptable thing, however, is the lack of durability. After about a year, the "0" key became sporadic in its responsiveness, and then completely failed. Since then, other of the number keys have stated to fail and the remote has become essentially unusable. I have since read other reviews that refer to the same problem. For almost $500 this remote should be more durable.