Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen by Logitech
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Digital camera reviews of Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen
Digital camera Review: A "Wow" for a remote...
Summary: 4 Stars
PROS:
-Touch screen display
-Custom channel favorites (with channel logo)
-Truly a universal remote* (see my CONS comments)
-Great "help" feature
-Rechargeable base
CONS:
-Does not control bluetooth items (i.e., PS3 or Wii)
-Need some patience with custom logo setup
OTHER THOUGHTS:
This remote definitely has its "aw" factor with the touchscreen buttons and custom logo options. The setup is relatively easy - just read the instructions and the screen prompts thoroughly before proceeding (go figure). Logitech did an excellent job with the "Help" features on this device. For instance, when I use the "Watch TV" command, a series of signals are sent to both my TV and cable box DVR (a macro for all you tech junkies). Initially, I was "out of sync" with my cable box, but upon answering some general questions from the "Help" feature within the remote, I was back "in-sync" and able to control both my TV and cable box. For those not as technology inclined, you might feel a little intimidated with this remote. Just take extra time to read the instructions and answer the questions from the Logitech's software. If all else fails, Logitech provides a special help line for you to call in within the first 30 days.
Digital camera Review: A Babysitter, Mother-in-Law, and Wife Friendly Remote
Summary: 5 Stars
We all know how to operate our own entertainment center, but what happens when you have to explain it to your babysitter, mother-in-law, or your wife? Before this remote, I had a Sony RM-AV3000. It was a decent remote, except that it took hours to set up the macros, and the instructions that I had to leave for the babysitter were longer than the instructions for my kid!
This remote took 15 minutes to set up 6 different components (including lighting) on Windows Vista. Long lasting battery, great feel, a little pricey but anything to make it easier on me. After all, a happy wife is a happy husband. A happy mother-in-law...is a happy? Well, I wouldn't go that far!
Digital camera Review: A GREAT TOY, a good remote
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a very cool toy to add to the collection and it is a fantatic way to replace all those various other devices not to mentiuon never having to worry about batteries ever again. The flaw in the product is the speed at which it works - when turing on the system for the first timme each day, there is a 15-20 second thought process the remote goes thru and it can be a bit annoying to wait for the remote to catch up with the TV/stereo/other devices and be able to do whatever it is you would like to. I love the remote and am very happy with my purchase, I just cannot give it the highest rating do to this issue.Digital camera Review: A Great Must have
Summary: 5 Stars
So while i am not a person who wants to spend a lot of money on a remote, i bit the bullet after all my "universal remotes" for all my other devices failed to pair everything i own.
So i got this remote and while the price still chokes me up, i must say my viewing experience has pleasurably increased. It was easy to pair everything. I plan on buying some IR wall adapters so i can set all my lighting up too. This remote does alot.
Only thing that i cant pair is my ps3 but that is not logitech's fault, i blame sony fully on that one... maybe someday soon i will get the add on for that also
Digital camera Review: A Long Time Spent To Not Solve a Nonexistent Problem
Summary: 1 Stars
I'm giving the Harmony One one star because it failed to improve my home theater and I spent a whole frusterating day figuring that out. Other people with different setups might very well love the Harmony One. The remote costs as much as Blu-Ray player, so everyone should have super high expectations. Good universal remotes can be had for 1/5 the price.
My main setup is a DirecTV HD DVR, an Onkyo receiver, a Samsung HDTV and a Toshiba DVD recorder, all of which less are than a year old. I also have a PlayStation, an old VCR, a camcorder and a TV/DVD in the other room that the remote was supposed to control. I never got that far.
An online wizard programs the remote, which sounds good. In my case the wizard immediately asked nonsensical questions. For example, it asked me to choose an input mode for the DVD recorder from a list the recorder doesn't support, in an activity where the signal doesn't even pass through the recorder. The wizard doesn't have any knowledge of how the system is connected or what the components can do necessarily, it only knows the codings for the remotes.
This wouldn't be a problem if it were possible to bypass the wizard and simply set the remote up to do what it should do. Instead it's required to get through the first part - wrong answers and all - and try to correct the problems in the main page.
I was encouraged by the main page in the software. I spent hours setting up activities and mapping buttons (the defaults were nowhere close to right). The software design requires a lot of navigation back and forth, and clearly isn't intended for advanced users. To me the point of buying an expensive remote was to do everything the other remotes could do in a better, more efficient and more consistent way. This turned out to be a very time consuming process in the Logitech software.
After downloading the data to the remote the real problems surfaced. Activities didn't turn the components on. No problem, there's a Help button. The Help button asks a lengthy series of questions, tries different combinations, and after a few minutes of pressing remote buttons the components turned on to watch TV.
Clicked the button to turn everything off. Nothing happened. Repeat the long, tedious Help process - only this time it asks questions for all the components that weren't involved in the first place. Frusterating.
If this were a 1-shot process, where Help just corrected the settings for use next time, it wouldn't be a big deal. That isn't the case with my components. Despite my best efforts something regularly went wrong, requiring the Help button to step through the procedure.
The activities always try to set inputs on components, even if the inputs never change. That can cause flashing that wouldn't appear otherwise. In the case of my Onkyo receiver the Harmony remote repeatedly sends the input command which causes the relay to click over and over. In my setup the change is unnecessary in the first place, and tripping the relay repeatedly each time I turn on the TV is needless wear and tear.
At this point I'd spent over 6 hours programming and debugging the remote. I'm an engineer and programmer by profession.
I wrote up a detailed email to Logitech support from inside the program. When I clicked "Send" the page said "You were logged out" or something like that, and offered no way to go Back to copy my message. My long, detailed email to Logitech was gone.
At that point I realized that even if I could get the remote to operate my setup efficiently - and that would involve probably hours on the phone with Logitech - the benefit just isn't there. The Harmony One is fancier than the DirecTV remote, with better materials and button feel, but it's a little bigger, heavier, the DVR functions are too low and the touch screen can't be used reliably with one hand.
As part of my day trying to set up the Harmony One I discovered that I could fix all of the startup irritations in the setup by changing the input assignments on the Onkyo and by adjusting some of the cryptic HDMI-CEC settings on the components. I should've taken a closer look at what my components provide before solving a problem that didn't exist.
"Activities" is a nice idea, but it's really just an abstraction of the buttons on the existing remotes. For a complete home theater it takes a lot of work to set them up, and in my experience the result is fragile. I've since returned the Harmony One and am content with my original set of remotes.