Well I just got it, looks like they screwed up and left some things out of people's bags...Including mine
My initial review.
Usability: Well if you discount my initial dissatisfaction, then I would say it is probably one of the more straight forwards controllers on the market, no need to learn another language to learn how to program it. It has tons of options for the user to select for any given situation. 500$ may seem a little pricey, but when you factor in all the stuff that is included in this controller and what all the other controllers are lacking, it turns out to be a pretty good deal.One thing I don't like is the lack of ports for bus cables, I mean, the head unit only has one that plugs into a power strip, then you gotta plug the remaining power port in the SID (FOR ORP,TEMP,PH), then that leaves the other power strip. Not to mention for 500$ you'd expect them to give you more bus lines (essentially telephone cord), IMO its another way for them to get more money.
Ease of Use: Have to wait till tomorrow till I get it fully fired up
Appearance: well initial the sleek design is awesome, and fits perfectly into the whole high-tech imagery, but thats about where the praise ends, my first reaction when pulling this thing out of the box was "My god, McDonald's uses better plastic on their crappy toys in kids meals" Not to say its tarnished in anyway, but it feels like the cheapest, flimsiest plastic I have ever seen. Now, I know the RKE isn't designed with a "combat rating" as in, how well it holds up under abuse, but I can say without a doubt one accidental drop and kiss your investment good buy.
Customer Service: Well it seems to me that digital aquatics has come out with a great product, but their whole operation seems to be full of excuses. This thing came out 6 months later then it was suppose to, and now they forgot to put screws in peoples shipping orders and in some (as in my case) they forgot the temp probe. I mean, no matter how little I pay I expect people to do their damn job, if I have to pay 500$, I expect it to be done right the first time. What really chapped my ass was how they weren't ready to ship all the units out on the first day they were available to all the people who pre-ordered. IMO this is just piss poor management, someone there needed to sit someone down and say" You have this entire month to pack and label only 200 packages...get it done" Now for one person I'd imagine that would take 2-3 days, but I'm just illustrating how they had an entire month from when orders started coming in till the ship date. For me fortunately I was one of the first to order, so I got mine first, but I couldn't help but feel bad for the people who are now waiting.
My overall verdict is still undecided because I have yet to get it fully running, but my initial reaction is, The product's functionality is awesome, just everything else sucks hard