I bought a little Tech 21 Mongoose midi controller as I wanted a small footprint (not much fits in the back of a Vette). It's built like a tank and is excellent quality in all respects. However, to keep it small, the way you change banks is by stomping two side by side buttons at once. In the studio I'm typically barefoot, so that's awkward. On a gig, I'm a rather excitable creature, so that's just trouble waiting to happen. So, I decided to bite the bullet and just ordered the remote. I hope I did the right thing.
Having read stuff about lockups, etc. on this section of the forum, I'm more than a little nervous about reliability. From what I've gathered, there are two things that can help avoid that. One is making sure the cable is a) good quality and b) tied down for stability. The other is that apparently running the remote and rig manager at the same time is a Bad Idea. That's fine as I wouldn't be running RM on a gig anyway.
The remote will probably land mid week, and I'm getting together with some guys (shopping for a new band) next weekend, so that'll be a low pressure test drive. Still, given the fact that the remote is so expensive compared to normal midi controllers, I'm not sure if I made a wise decision or not.
Would love to hear from you guys on how reliable this thing's been for you on gigs. Probably should have asked that before purchase. First pillage, then burn. Order is important. Oh, well.