Its good but could be much better, doesn't deserve the usual 5/5 ratings.
Summary: Its OK, its usable & does the job but could be much better, it doesn't deserve the 5/5 ratings it usually gets. But those ratings are probably given because most non-Sky satellite boxes are rubbish in one way or another -this is much better than those for most ordinary users (who just want ordinary, local channels, & recording).
I've used Sky & I've used free-to-air satellite (not easy to use). This is better than free-to-air satellite because its got the 'killer' advantage of a proper 7-day EPG (tv guide like Sky's) & you don't need to mess about selecting satellites & sifting through thousands of channels. This & the good picture/sound quality is probably why this unit gets such great reviews (but largely also due to FreeSat itself). There is a downside if you're looking to tune into specific satellites & international channels, though you can enter custom channels. The downside of the custom channel facility is that they can't be added to the normal programme list/guide. Switching between custom channels & Freesat channels is a pain - you have to go into the settings every time & change the set-top box mode between Freesat & custom. Also, in custom mode, you don't get any channel list at all - all you can do is flick through the channels or type the channel number (all the info you get is a brief channel name).
Its not as good as Sky because: the menu system is so slow, it takes so long to start up from standby (about 30 sec), it takes 4 clicks every single time you want to access favourites list (making that pointless), to watch a programme selected in EPG you have to click twice (the first time gives you a list of options for that programme), you can hear the hard disk clicking away (but its NOT loud or annoying), & there are some glitches (when I go to the manually added channels list & then back to Freesat my Favourites List sometimes becomes temporarily empty & sometimes when I set to record, it records the wrong programme)(so its not as reliable as a Sky box). The reason for some of these issues is that the Sky box is a proper embedded device & this is basically a specialised PC (which helps keep it cheaper). Its also got fewer HD channels than Sky &, of course, the lack of premium sports & movie channels, etc. For the £200 price, you could get a used Sky+ box & free channels card (you get the same channels plus many more).
Whats better than Sky is, of course, no subscription, you don't get the 700 utter rubbish channels, & its about half the size. You can also go back in time on some channels (if its connected to the Internet). You get a back arrow in the EPG & that takes you to a list of previous programmes. Selecting one of those takes you to the channel's Internet TV player (like iPlayer) & plays the programme. For some of these Internet players (like iPlayer) you need to register the Humax device & might also need an account (like iPlayer -but its a straight-forward process).
Finally, the remote control is decent (my (curvy) version anyway). But I use a one-for-all, which also works fine (though that has its own issues). It is possible to set the recorder using a mobile phone but I haven't tried it. The help guide, including the Internet one you can access through the box, is pretty basic -doesn't tell you much except how to plug it in. Note: by default my box was set to 1080i TV resolution -I had to change it manually to the better 1080p resolution.
A warning: although its pretty easy to use and set up, when I first connected I was stumped for a while in getting it to scan for channels. If you haven't used it before, you won't know that when you select the channel scan you'll be taken to a page of more info rather than starting the scan. On that page there is one blue highlighted sentence, and that is actually a button you need to click to start the scan. But its not obvious -so when you see this page it looks like the channel scan failed (well, it did to me because I wasnt expecting this pointless page).
Verified purchase: YesCondition: New