I find the ergonomics of the MX-700 to be very intuitive. Everything seems to be in just about the right place. Now that I'm used to the button layout, I rarely have to use the back-light on the remote to find what I want.
There have been justifiable complaints about the the center button on the joystick, and, in fact, the new models (850 and 650) have an improved button in that position now. Should that particular button give you problems, just duplicate it's function on the "ENT" (for "enter") button in the bottom right corner of the remote. I find it useful in some circumstances to use that button rather than the center joystick button. YMMV
