What are your thoughts on the onkyo CHAD remote? (1 Viewer)

[jonathanR]

Hello:

I'm helping my father put together a H.T. that will consist of either an Integra 8.2 or the onkyo 898, a pioneer elite rptv,polk speakers, paradigm sub,cd & dvd prog player, etc.

He's looking for a remote that can pretty much do it all, but yet he wants it to stay under $800 or so on the remote. It should have custom icons/lables...I should be able to hit a dvd1 icon, that switch the rptv into the right mode, turn on the reciever and, enable the rec. vol. and start the play of the dvd player. Also, it should be able to make an icon say... dvd2, turning on the dvd which would allow only the tv's volume to be activated, along with switching the tv to the right mode etc. He also wants it to function outside, say the patio.. where he can tap the lcd screen and play cd's or a mp3 playlist from a harddisk recorder.....which I know would require rf signals from the remote.

I showed him a couple of remotes off a few websites, the pronto pro....which was kind of expensive and more for an advanced user, the harmony remote, which looked a little too simple and cheap and the onkyo Chad which had RF capability. He really seemed to like the CHAD, especially the look of the remote, we just havent had the chance to demo it locally.

I tried digging up some reviews on the CHAD, but havent found any.....what are some of the opinions of members here in the HTF? Is it easy to use? Will it do what I'm looking for in a remote and is the programming difficult? I'll be the one programming it, since my father is pretty much a real HT novice.

Thanks for the help.

John

 

[John Sully]

The CHAD is a Pronto -- the best mid priced remote there is out there. If he gets an Integra 8.2 the CHAD is the supplied remote. I don't know whether the 898 comes with a CHAD or something which will be ineveitably worse. Anything in the Pronto family (CHAD, Pronto, ProntoPro, Marantz RC5000, RC5200 or RC9200, Yamaha RAV2000) will fill his needs perfectly. If he gets a receiver which does not include a member of the Pronto family, I would recommend the Marantz RC5200 -- the extra hard keys really make using it a joy compared to the original Pronto type remotes.
The one downside about all of the remotes in the Pronto family are that they require a considerable amount of programming to achieve the level of operational ease which your friend requires. This is both the blessing and the curse of the Pronto family of remotes. For more information check out Remote Central.