OTHER TECH

The Short Form

Price: $12.99 / universalremote.com / 914-835-4484

Snapshot

This inexpensive, toy-like remote is handy for a surprising number of applications.

Plus

•Incredibly simple to program and use •Low price makes it great for "high-risk" environments or situations •Controls most TVs and cable and satellite boxes •So tiny you can take it anywhere

Minus

•Controls only two devices •Controls only power, volume, and channel

Key Features

•Tiny size •Controls TV and cable/satellite set-top boxes •Power, channel and volume up/down, and mute keys •Quick programming •2.6 x 1.1 x 0.5 in

Then I remembered the R2-Mini that URC had left me when I reviewed a trio of its remotes back in September. The Mini seemed the perfect solution to my crisis. I mean, if I was going to be staying with my wife through Prison Break, The Unit, and Lost on a recliner about a foot too short for me, having a decent remote was the bare minimum of creature comforts. I tasked one of the in-laws with bringing it stat.

Once it arrived, I breezed through the programming procedures, hoping it would control the off-brand hospital TV. After several presses of the CH+ button, the TV turned off. I pressed the TV button and it turned back on. Channels changed up and down, as did volume. Oh, sweet Jesus, we were in business!

The Mini stood by my side through the rest of our hospital stay. And when my wife was discharged before our daughter was able to come home, I simply reprogrammed the Mini to operate the waiting-room TV. You can just imagine how impressed all the other waiting-roomers were, as I deftly and covertly changed channels from across the room, forcing them to watch my programming!

BOTTOM LINE Offering only the most basic commands - power, channel, and volume - the Mini is by no means a full-control solution. But there are times when you just need a good, reliable, bare-bones controller, and that's when you'll want the Mini. Here are a few possibilities: That spare bedroom where you've lost or broken the remote. A hotel/motel where the remote can't be found or isn't working. Sports bars when you can't get the bartender's attention to change the game to your team. When you don't want the kids handling your $1,000 touchpanel. When your relatives can't figure out your $1,000 touchpanel.

In line with my own hospital experience, URC's national sales manager, Debra Sharker, said that some hospitals are looking to buy the Mini for sterile wards where everything a patient uses must be thrown out. There, the low-cost Mini is the perfect solution.

As for me, I've learned the value of this unassuming little remote out in the real world. My advice: Make it like your American Express card, and don't leave home without one.

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