Boxes I've owned:
Fortec Merc II
Fortec Lifetime Classic NA
Coolsat 5000
Captiveworks 600
Pansat 3500sd
newly aquired Viewsat Ultra
Ranking of each in my use for my needs and some reasons
1. Pansat 3500sd: decent blind scan, SD card for music, channel list editing etc
2. Fortec Merc II: nice box to learn on for me, best blind scan I have used
3. Coolsat 5000: Another first one that I learned on, blind scan ok, but fast
4. Fortec Lifetime Classic NA: only because I barely used it to learn it, but it was nice
5. Captivworks 600: Blind scan was funky and didn't work right at first. Remote was spastic and box felt kind of cheap
I can't rank the ultra yet as I haven't played much with it. I am waiting to get my testing setup running so I don't mess with my main motorized setup. I am curious to see how the ultra handles the motor.
Also, I am thinking of getting the new coolsat 7000 pvr model in the future.