yeah, previously we had a 30 foot cable with a detonator button, there were two problems, one you had to be with in 30 feet of the mine, so when you did set it off, any survivors from the other team knew you were close by.
Second, the cable was a paint, even with the spool, it would get caught in bushes, and setting it up quickly could cramp your style.
The remote increased the effective range for detonation, and makes it so much more cool to game with. I have two of them, so now the battlefield is going to be a whole hell of a lot more deadly.