Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen by Logitech
|
List Price: Our Price: $169.11 You Save: $30.88 (15%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $129.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen
Digital camera Review: A gift from the heavens
Summary: 5 Stars
Where has this remote been all my life?! I am quite tech savvy, but since my husband setup his entertainment center long before he knew me, I was constantly having to call him at work to ask how to do different things to make the tv work the way I needed it to. This remote solves that problem. Trust me: It's awesome and you won't regret this purchase. I've already gotten friends on the bandwagon and they have since bought their own and love the remote, as well. :)Digital camera Review: A great (though not quite perfect) marriage of form and function
Summary: 4 Stars
After researching all of the harmony remote options for quite a while, this gem appeared on the market. Finally we get a reasonably priced, good looking, fully customizable multi-device remote control.
We use this remote to control the following devices: Panasonic Viera Plasma TV, Samsung DVD player, Yamaha RX-V660 receiver (2 separate zones), Xbox 360, PS3/Blu-ray, and Wii
I was primarily waiting for a new harmony model with this particular shape as I had held the 550 (more square) and 880/890 and liked the shape of the 890 best since I was used to using a DVR remote provided by the cable company that was shaped similarly. What I wasn't expecting was the added touch screen capability. At first I was stoked about this surprising addition to the sub-$500 harmony lineup. But, after using it, I feel it is little more than a cool and impressive piece of technology. The drawbacks are that it is incredibly difficult to use one handed and impossible to use without looking. As a result, I wish they had just used the original side button style of the old models. The color screen is fairly impressive though and it easy to read.
I love the form of this remote as I mentioned earlier that it is basically just like my old DVR remote so the buttons and everything were laid out perfectly. I surmise that even if my old remote weren't like this one, I would still like the positioning of all of the buttons as they seem to be intuitive to the fingers and well placed with the only exception being the very bottom row. Other features of note where form are concerned is that even though the front is highly polished piano black (which doesn't seem to be excessively fingerprint-hungry as I first feared), the back has a neat rubberized coating which you may find yourself fondling uncomfortably often.
I was disappointed to find that there weren't any programmable 'soft' keys as in the older models, forcing you to use touch screen commands for any of the buttons the remote doesn't happen to include (I found this to be particularly true of DVR-specific functions like calling up the list of recordings, and the A, B, and C selection buttons).
I have read the reviews of people who have had numerous problems but honestly I haven't experienced any of them. The only trouble I have had is when operating the PS3 blu-ray function, some of the buttons weren't mapped right initially (with the NYKO adapter) but I feel pretty certain it's something I can fix through the software though I have been too lazy to try because I can use the touch-screen functions instead. Also, it seems like I have to aim more precisely at the adapter than with other devices which I'm guessing could be related to the short-burst format of the NYKO adapter and could most likely be resolved by purchasing the newly released Logitech version (albeit at a much higher price tag).
I have found the software Logitech provides for the programming to be somewhat cumbersome and less-than-simple to navigate and use and it seems to take a long time to transmit the information to the remote (about the same as saving a really large file (>100MB) to a flash drive or external hard drive). Maybe the file is large, but it just seems like it takes an abnormally long time to wait for it to save and restart itself. I am using a USB 2.0 port - maybe the software only takes advantage of the 1.2 speed standard. Expect to spend at least an hour or so for the initial setup, longer if you are software-challenged or if you want to do extreme levels of customization (as opposed to using the fairly efficient and generally acceptable default settings). Also expect to return to the computer 2 or 3 more times for minor tweaking after testing the remote with all of the activities and devices and getting used to its capabilities. I just brought my laptop into the living room and kept it there for a few days while making all the adjustments. Once we got past the initial setup phase, I've only had to make programming changes when we've added or swapped devices into the system. And I know that this has been covered by numerous other reviews but to reiterate, you can only control one harmony remote with each logitech account. As a person familiar with software development and end-user experience, I am completely confused by this "oversight". I guess Logitech incorrectly and unfortunately "assumed" that no one could afford more than one of their remotes so they wouldn't need to control more than one with a particular account. What?!
This may be obvious to anyone who has previously owned a harmony remote but, not having a comparison basis, I specifically like the fact that you can tell the remote how to use the volume control during certain activities whereas with a lot of multi-device remotes, the functions are very separated causing you to have to switch between the devices in order to control them. The harmony uses an activity based system where the remote is programmed to know that during the activity of, say, watching the DVR, the receiver controls the volume, the cable box controls the channel and DVR controls, and other functions and devices such as the TV inputs can be controlled through the touchscreen. You really only have to switch devices if you need to access some obscure function. Also, the activities feature lets you program a particular 'activity' such as Watch TV, Play PS3, Listen to Radio, etc. and when you click that activity on the remote, all of the devices needed power on and switch to the correct channel/mode. The activities and device names are fully customizable through the software though a fairly generous character limit is imposed.
One thing I am also puzzled by is why (and whether or not) the main power button isn't used by default as a power toggle when a particular device is selected. So far, I have only been able to use the touchscreen power toggle function which is kind of a pain because, by default, it's buried about 3 pages deep. Again this is not something I've tried to change but I don't recall being given the option to control it specifically during setup.
We've had this remote for a little over a year and a half (got it when it first came out at Best Buy) and have dropped it (hard, unfortunately) no less than 10 times and thank goodness, nothing has ever gone wrong. I had heard that dropping was a huge problem on previous models. This one seems to pass that test with flying colors.
I would consider the battery life to be average in comparison to other similar rechargeable devices. Obviously if you are a remote caresser, your movement will trigger the motion-sensing backlight more often, thereby draining the batteries faster. We are pretty heavy DVR users and we probably only need to recharge the remote about every 3-4 days though out of habit we put it back on its base almost every night. The battery indicator on the remote itself is very accurate and helpful in knowing just how long you can go before returning it to the base. I believe the longest we've been able to go between charges is 6 days (with normal usage).
Overall I would say Logitech hit a home run with this one (no pun intended).
I'll definitely be adding more remotes like this one to our electronics collection for other rooms with multiple devices and would recommend it to anyone with a similar home entertainment setup.
Digital camera Review: A great Remote
Summary: 5 Stars
I used a Philips Pronto for many years and really liked it but it had to be programed by a tech if I made any changes to my setup. Due to some lightning I was forced to make a change in my home theater components and was unable to use the Pronto on new setup. I did some research on-line and the tech from Geek Squad recommended that I purchase a logitech remote. I decided on the Harmony One and really glad I did. It works great and was a breeze to set up. It operations any function such as "watching TV", "playing a DVD" or just listening to the receiver with one touch on the touch screen. You can control the entire Home Theater with one remote. A huge database of components exist for must items you might have. It almost knows what items you want to control and allows you to do it. Wish I had purchased earlier and is worth the money.Digital camera Review: A great replacement for the poorly supported Harmony 1000
Summary: 4 Stars
First, I must say that I have owned countless "smart" remotes over many years, even the original Cloud 9 remote invented by Steve Wozniak of Apple fame and was used by inputing commands on a hexadecimal keypad! I bought the Harmony 0ne to replace the Harmony 1000 (Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote (Silver)). The Harmony 1000 had many problems, some were related to the design and bad firmware, while others were related to having very few physical buttons and the majority on a overly large touchscreen; even the device update procedure was very quirky and troublesome for a Mac user. The Harmony One on the other hand has been an excellent replacement. Most of the commonly used functionality for each device is on a set of physical buttons. The rest are on a small LCD screen at the top of the slim and stylish remote. There is even functionality to download icons for your favorite channels to be conveniently displayed on that screen, thereby eliminating the need to remember that Science Channel HD is actually channel 194 on our cable system. The only reason that I rated this remote control as a 4 rather than a 5 is that the strength of the remote control IR signal that it transmits is a little on the weak side. In short, I am very pleased with this remote and my wife was able to adapt to it with very little trouble.Digital camera Review: A great solution
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I've wanted a sweet universal remote for some time, but didn't want to shell out $500+ for the touch screen ones that require youo to pay someone to set them up.
This remote has replaced our remotes for TIVO, cable box, DVD player, TV, and VCR. Setup was great with the online service that has tens of thousands of devices.
I love the fact that the remote has a docking station that recharges the batteries - no more dead remote batteries.
The controls are well laid out and logical, and the LCD screen is very nice as well.
I recommend this remote to anyone who wants to cut down on that pile of remotes and make their media watching experience easier.