Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote (Silver)
by Logitech
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List Price: Our Price: $236.99 You Save: $263.00 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Buy Used: from $142.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote (Silver)
Customer Review: I tried to help - but.
Summary: 1 Stars
The following may be of interest if you are considering buying this remote
From me to Harmony Technical Support 11/26/2007 02:22 PM
I got this remote today. I bought it based on my excellent experience with your wireless trackman products. Right now I'm inclined to return the remote immediately because the programming software is so limited. Comments on the web indicate that you plan to release some 'real' software soon. When is this release planned and can I get an advance copy of the new software? Or even better is there some way that I can program the unit without using this dummies interface? On the positive side the hardware looks good. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
From Harmony Technical Support to me 11/26/2007 02:22 PM
This is an autoresponse message. We have received your support request and will be responding soon.
From Harmony Technical Support to me 12/5/2007 11:54 AM
Thank you for your recent inquiry about your Harmony Remote
We apologize for the delay getting back to you. At this time our support center has been experiencing an unprecedented amount of calls and emails due to the amount of new customers. This by no means makes your Email unimportant to us. Our agents are working as fast and efficiently as they can to respond to all the support requests that we receive.
I'm sorry to hear your dissatisfaction with the Harmony Software. Our engineers are always working on releasing new software to better improve the customer experience. Unfortunately there is no advance copy of the Software that we can send you. Any changes you require you will have to do through our web based interface. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We appreciate any input and suggestions from our customer's. If there is anything you would like to see changed then please do not hesitate to let us know. We can forward the issue over to the appropriate department. It would take some time to evaluate the feasibility of such changes; as such, we appreciate your patience while we work to improve the customer experience at Harmony......
From me to Harmony Technical Support 12/5/2007 12:19 PM
Thanks for the response. I ended up returning the remote and getting another brand. I suggest that you consider making your interfaces open so that 3rd parties can develop better programming tools.
From Harmony Technical Support to me 12/5/2007 12:26 AM
Your recent incident update was from an email address not associated with your account. In an effort to maintain the security of your information, we cannot update your incident using this email address....
Well anyway I tried to help.
Customer Review: I have rarely been so disappointed
Summary: 1 Stars
The box it comes in is spectacularly embossed with a 3D representation of the remote yet it is illogical and frustrating when asked to perform its purpose in life (to open).... a sign, alas, of things to come.
I have rarely been so disappointed with a purchase, particularly from Logitech; a company I always held in high regard from previous experience. To charge such a high price for a product which is not really usable in any practical sense, and then provide third-rate customer service is unforgivable.
The good points are the overall concept, the cool way it turns on when you pick it up, and the touch-screen interface.
The negatives start with the software which insists on only operating each time after a secure sign-in (god forbid, after all, that some high tech criminal conglomerate will gain illegitimate access to my TV remote settings) and will only work properly in one specific screen resolution.
Once set up the remote has a very narrow field of aim. This is a major issue as you press one button to activate all devices and, to be blunt, if any device is more than 18 inches from another the remote is next to useless.
If your TV (or other device) scrolls through inputs rather than has a button assigned to each do not purchase this remote as it will drive you nuts. It fails to find the correct channel on my Sony LCD TV about 70% of the time.
The help menu is cumbersome. When my Sony TV fails to go to the correct channel I have to answer every time the same 11, yes 11, yes-no questions to fix the issue. Even on the rare occasions it gets everything right you have to answer two questions before you can start using the remote. Surely it could be programmed to learn which are the most likely issues and ask questions relating to them first.
Some devices, for example my cable company's DVR, have important buttons missing from the remote's main screen. For example if I want to erase a recording it needs to be confirmed by pressing a button marked `A' on the original remote... to access this single button on the Harmony requires a complex sequence of 6 button presses.
There is no specific support of surround sound devices so do not purchase this remote expecting to control them. I consider this a major omission as most folks who would spend this much on a remote have probably purchased surround sound.
I emailed customer service (the contact method they prefer) and after 10 days received a response which was clearly automated and did not even attempt to cover my specific issues.
Customer Review: It works! Really! HA!
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay let's break it down.
People have had problems with this remote.
I haven't.
It is great! It took me the 30 minutes to set up the remote. The directions RECOMMEND 30 minutes. It was e-z. The software connected to the Logitech site was easy to use. The software KNOWS all of the possible ways a product can be used. It KNEW that my TV had several inputs. It KNEW that my sound processor had lots of ways to listen to sound. GREAT!
My wife can't understand all of the ways to turn on the plasma, sound processor, and Blu-ray and cable box. She would rather watch any other TV than use the 'good equipment' when I'm not around. Well those days are gone! Press 1 button. Everything comes on that needs to come on! The settings for all off the equipment are correct too!
I posted this so that it's clear to those wondering if this will work. IT DOES! :) I should have gotten this a long time ago.
Edit 2/25/2008:
There are a couple of other themes I see running through the negative reviews. Let me try and clear them up so you aren't turned off from this remote.
1) Complaints that the "remote power runs out when you try and program it".
My answer: Did you charge the newly opened remote for EIGHT(8) HOURS like it says in the documentation? If you did....I GUAR-UN-TEE you would not run out of power when you are programming it. My remote has been off the charger for several hours and it has yet to run out of power.
2) "It's too difficult to program"
My answer: The basic programming was a snap for me. I simply told the remote what I had and buttons were set up. IMPORTANT: I had to add some addition functions to the Harmony 1000 which were not set by Logitech during the initial setup. Basically I had to add some Sony Blu-ray buttons. Not difficult.
3) "Logitech is evil and they don't help you if you have a problem".
My answer: Well that's interesting. I did have to call the help line and they helped me very quickly.
Why did I call them? I was using the 'learn button' function on the remote (yes the Harmony 1000 can learn any command from any remote if you point it at the Harmony 1000 while it is in 'learn' mode) I didn't pay attention and I pointed the remote which the Harmony 1000 was learning from towards the top of the remote. The remote which the Harmony is learning fromn must be pointed at the BOTTOM of the remote! I misread the instructions.
ANYway...this remote STILL ROCKS!
Customer Review: Logitech Harmony 1000 Remote
Summary: 4 Stars
At first, my experience with this device wasn't very good since the one I received from Amazon was defective - everything worked except the battery wouldn't charge as a result of something being wrong with the device itself, not the charger nor the battery. Once I got it swapped out at a local electronics store as I didn't have time to deal with returning it to an online vendor, my experience improved. The one benefit I can tell anyone as a result of this part of the experience is that Logitech's support is horrible. They were nice enough on the phone after I waited an hour to speak with someone. Then the problem was misdiagnosed and they said I needed a new battery. I had the thing two days and it took them 3 weeks to send me a new battery, which turned out not to be the problem anyhow. So, I have a spare rechargeable battery now.
Once I was past that issue, I've been fairly happy with the remote. It's replacing a Sony RM-AV3000 which was a decent remote, but a nightmare to program all the macros and now the hard buttons are failing. The real benefit that I've noticed with the Harmony is that my technology challenged parents have no difficulty operating it and that's saying something as I had the Sony programmed with one button to turn the system on and another to turn it off and they couldn't grasp that. Additionally, the programming software is the real selling point. Being able to go through a couple of screens on the computer and having everything downloaded is a dream. It's not quite as easy as I was led to believe, but it was far from difficult. After setting it up the first time, I went back and set up a few custom buttons and having that ability is very nice.
Now for the drawbacks... If you pay full price ($500), it's a little painful for what you get. I paid just under $300 and that was bad enough; however, I realize that compared to a Crestron or some other touch screen remotes, it's a bargain. As far as the use of the remote is concerned, I'm pretty happy with it. The only issues that I've come across are that if you're using it with a DVR, the touch screen may not be as sensitive as you need it to be to fast forward through commercials and resume playing at just the right spot and since the touch screen buttons are large, there aren't many on the screen at one time. So, you need to scroll through pages of buttons to find the exact one that you're looking for if the original remote has a lot of buttons on it. Since I'm not using the obscure buttons that often, this is less of an issue.
Customer Review: It's back in it's box not being used.
Summary: 2 Stars
The tough thing about using these remotes is all the glamour and the glitz of owning one. They look pretty and impressive out of the box. I own the Harmony 1000 and have the Harmony One on it's way. I guess I am hoping that the Harmony One will surpass my expectations of the Harmony 1000, as it ended up just collecting dust and a while ago I put it back in it's box and on my bedroom closet shelf where it is now stored unused. This expensive looking remote, along with a $40 remote still have never been able to set up codes for my audio receiver in the living room or never operated my Westinghouse LCD TV. The ironic thing is that it would operate my Westinghouse air conditioner in the kitchen window. I ended up using the Harmony 1000 to control units in my bedroom setup as I did manually eventually get it to power on and off the Westinghouse TV. I also purchased a Viewsonic LCD TV which the Harmony 1000 would never operate it at all, even as simple as turning the TV on or off. Trying to have a universal remote that claims it will operate all your devices and finding that you still have to pull out all the other remotes to operate specific functions, or just turning devices on and off has been a small disappointment of mine ever since I have been trying to solve the issue at hand. The problem it had that caused me to eventually box it up is the fact that after about a year of use, the battery wouldn't stay charged any longer than just a few days or sometimes it would possibly last a week and then die. I searched for and purchased a replacement battery from an obscure web site and it seemed to improve on retaining a charge but only for about a month and then it's fate was the same as the original battery. Which has lead me to believe that I didn't get a new battery. So, in all I am hoping the Harmony One's fate isn't the same. I hope that in somewhere of Logitech's thinking, they might have thought about the existing battery technology and maybe updated the type of rechargeables that are inside. I am truly hoping the Harmony One will take care of some of the issues the Harmony 1000 couldn't including the longeavity of the battery. As I have read some of the other reviews, the 5 star and the 3, and found some of the same complaints I have experienced using these remotes, Now I am a little leary of my purchase of the Harmony One. But at least it's only half as expensive as the Harmony 1000. If I end up boxing this one back up and storing it as a "dead toy", I will never turn to Logitech again for solutions such as this.