We are so glad to replace our old channel master remote! Price was right so we bought three of them - we've worn out two in our lifetime. Out of the box it doesn't light up. I remember reading there is a setting for that but haven't dug out the documentation to fix it. Seems to me the default should be "light up".
My remote worked right out of the box - awesome! but after using it awhile it was not working well, I must have "done something" to clear all the settings. Maybe I pushed the yellow button? Anyway - it shouldn't be so easy to mess it up without warning imho. I basically took out another remote and it works great.
Smallest complaint is that you can't lean on the volume button you have to push it and let it go for each increment. We can live with that.
Definitely worth the price and am very happy.
