Just finding this thread now...my two cents...the RA is the best thing I ever bought for my tank...the programming is a big part of the fun, as you can endlessly tweak things to meet your ever changing needs...and you really don't have to "program", the new wizard and the Software generator will write it all for you and you can always "borrow" code that users have posted on the forums...if you can cut and paste, you can program the RA. I bought mine before the RA+ came out, and I will probably upgrade as I have maxed out my memory. Wish the RA+ had been available when I bought, but no biggie...I would definitely get the RA+ because as soon as you get it, you will be programming like crazy to customize the controller....:spin2: