Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote Control
by Logitech
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Our Price: $175.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $70.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote Control
Customer Review: Next-generation Harmony remote not much better than the previous generation
Summary: 2 Stars
This is my second Harmony remote, after I started to have problems with my Harmony 680 shortly after the warranty was up (I also reviewed this remote in detail on Amazon).
After trying a second, newer Harmony remote, I think I've decided that I don't like Harmony remotes. They have perhaps the best approach that I know of (with their Activities method) on the software side, but the hardware has left me unimpressed both times.
Since I already had a Harmony 680 and already had the software installed, connecting the 550 to my PC and uploading my configuration was all I needed to do to get things working.
My main complaint about this remote is that the buttons feel very fragile and they are very hard -- the buttons around the directional ring in the middle, in particular. When you push them, it's a hard "click" of hard plastic on hard plastic with very little feedback.
I expect this remote to break after about 1 year just like the Harmony 680 did. It feels like a remote that will break, just because it feels as though the remote gets trauma just by pressing the buttons on it. The tactile feedback is terrible on each of the roughly three different types of buttons that appear on this remote. All of the buttons are too hard to push. If you have big hands, you might be able to operate it with one hand. If you have small or weak hands, you will need two hands to operate it.
I like the look of this remote more than I did the Harmony 680. It feels OK in your hand as long as you don't press any buttons on it :)
It has a nice feature whereby it seems to detect being picked up. When you pick it up after some period of idleness, the remote lights up. Nice.
The display is hard to read in the dark, even though it's backlit. It's black text on a blue background. It might look nice in a photograph, but it is form over function.
There's no obvious way to turn off the bright blue flash that occurs every time you press a button.
Overall, I'm giving it 2 stars. I gave 3 stars to the Harmony 680, and I'm giving one less here because it's a newer generation that hasn't fixed any of the well-voiced concerns with the previous generation. It's no better than the Harmony 680. For controlling a Media Center, it's worse (although, to be fair, the 680 was designed as a Media Center remote, while the 550 makes no such claim).
Customer Review: Not sure it's worth messing with
Summary: 2 Stars
I'd heard a lot about Logitech Harmony remotes, so this was a huge disappointment.
If you just want something to switch your equipment on and off, it's somewhat useful. Maybe. But if you are hoping to set several settings for different activities, plan on spending hours messing around.
The much-vaunted database of settings isn't that useful, because it's incomplete and inaccurate. I have popular Samsung and Panasonic products, that aren't too old or too new (about one year old models). They don't even list all the inputs on my Samsung HDTV (the cable antenna is missing!? - doh!), so of course I can't set up the remote to use them right. And the menu navigation buttons aren't set right, so I have to figure out how to change them. I had to manually add some key features, too.
Accessing anything but the most commonly used remote buttons requires either wading through a long cryptic list of commands that might or might not match what the remote calls them; or customizing the setup so the commands you use most appear at the top.
So you have to carefully study your existing remotes, think about which features you need, make sure they are set up and accessible. Or, keep ALL your old remotes handy for when you need something other than the top 20 basic buttons.
Custom setup isn't easy. Using their site/software for detailed setup is cumbersome. There's no simple way to reorder the commands to get the ones you want at the top - you have to manually delete and reenter 30-80 commands! One solution is to use the Picture and Sound buttons and just put the settings in those lists for an activity. But it's still really cumbersome to re-order if you change it. And the website sometimes decides it knows better than you do what order you meant to put things in.
So, even with popular gear, it's not like the settings are complete, accurate or setup to be easy to use right from the database. This problem would apply to all Logitech Harmony remotes, as they use the same setup software / site.
It's just one more thing you need to spend several hours setting up.
And even then, it's not that great to use. They should have made the remote slightly larger, with bigger buttons that have less space between them.
Not sure it's worth messing with. The universal remote that came with my TV does a lot of this.
Customer Review: Now I'm a believer.
Summary: 5 Stars
Until recently I never understood why anyone would spend more than $20 on a universal remote. I was quite happy with the bare-bones remote I used to control my DirecTV receiver and TV. That is, until my needs began to change.
My setup evolved over time. I installed an A/V receiver with 5.1 surround sound, I purchased a 32" HDTV with multiple inputs, I got an Xbox 360 game console which doubles as a media extender device. I just recently placed an order for another device which will be added to my setup, a new device which I know my old remote doesn't have codes for.
I quickly realized that my old remote wasn't going to cut it. Simply switching from watching TV to watching multimedia files on my Xbox 360 required several steps. I had to switch the TV input to VGA (which requires 4 button presses), change the receiver's audio to its optical input (2 button press), and power on the Xbox 360 (2 button press), then turn off the Directv receiver (2 button press). Reverse those steps to switch from my Xbox 360 to my DirecTV receiver. Not very intuitive when I want to quickly switch between devices.
I bit the bullet and purchased the Logitech Harmony 550 remote control. I must say I was blown away by how easy the setup process was. No thumbing through the instruction manual for device codes and inputing a series of complicated button commands to input those codes. Simply install the included Logitech Harmony software, plug the remote into my PC's USB port, and follow the easy on-screen guide.
It took about 10 minutes to setup my remote. I took an extra 20 or so minutes to tweak the remote's buttons and settings to my liking. Now I can't imagine how I managed without it.
Want to watch TV, simply press the "watch TV" button and the remote automatically powers on all the relevant devices and switches the input settings on all devices accordingly. What took 10 button presses now takes 1!
What I really appreciate most is the access to Logitech's database of remote control devices which is kept up to date. So right now and even 10 years from now my Logitech Harmony will be able to support just about any device I throw at it.
So why would anyone pay more than $20 for a universal remote? Because when you have a complex A/V setup you need a remote that can handle it! I'm happy to say that the Logitech Harmony 550 is worth every penny.
Customer Review: Logitec 550 Two Thumbs up!
Summary: 4 Stars
I was really excited to get the new remote control because I own a Plasma TV with several inputs, a VCR, DVD player, and a receiver with several inputs. My receiver remote could actually control all of the devices and corresponding inputs, however I was tired of selecting the "source" button, then choosing "TV", then Receiver, then the input for sound for TV etc. which is why I purchased this model.
I purchased this particular unit, because I liked the design and the button configuration is fairly easy to use. There is even a glow button (which can be configuredto stay on anywhere from 15seconds to 1 minute) which makes it really easy to see all the buttons in the dark (all of them)!
It took me a good hour and a half to configure all my devices and have it learn some of the buttons that were not pre-programed, but I was surprised at how well it did import most everything. The cool thing was, the program that comes with the remote uploads all your settings to a webserver, so if something happens, all you need to do is re-synch your remote and everythings all configued within minutes (so I only had to do the initial setup once).
My only beef with this remote is the buttons for the numbers are kind of small, but doesn't bother me too much actually.
I mostly love this thing! All I have to do is press the button "Watch DVD" and then point it in the direction of the devices and it configures everything. I even configured the device to always select a specific channel when watching TV which was pretty cool.
The feel of the remote is neat. It does take 4 batteries, but so far I've had the remote about one month and haven't had to change the first set of batteries that come with the device (there is a second set that they say put in immediately, but I figured, might as well use the rest of the battery life and it's still going). It doesn't look like it sucks too much life out of the duracells it comes with anyway.
I have used the big brother model (the 880) when we were house sitting for a neighbor and I like this one tons better because of the good job logitec did on the button configurations, and this was much cheaper.
If money wasn't an issue, I'd probably get the "Harmony One", however that was $250 which was out of my price range.
The 550--Highly recommend
Customer Review: New software works on Mac
Summary: 4 Stars
Some of the reviews here say that this software doesn't work on a Mac. Those were probably written before the release of 7.5.0. This version works with the mac, although I did notice a flaw that eventually went away: You have to register with Logitech in order to set up the remote and sometimes the fields where you input your information would not become "active," and I could not get the software to accept any keystrokes. After fiddling around and pressing every link in sight, the problem worked itself out and I was able to continue.
As far as how the remote works, I like it. It has replaced all my remote controls except the DVD remote for the PlayStation 3 (which is bluetooth so that is to be expected).
The set up is done with the software via a usb cable. That is very convenient. It does take time, and it takes a little back and forth between the software and testing out the remote to make sure everything is the way you like it. But once you're done, that's it. You will have a remote that does everything the way you like it. Pretty much everything is customizable so if you're a tweek head, you should be satisfied with how this remote will allow you to put everything the way you want it. The only down side is that if you're more of a casual user and not big on computers, it might be a little frustrating to get the remote the way you want it.
One observation: This remote is intended to be used in "activities" mode, rather than in "device" mode. What this means is that if you select a "device" such as TV and you use a receiver/amp to control the volume, since you're in "device" mode, there is no way to have the volume control "punch through" to the receiver/amp. You will have to switch back and forth between TV and Receiver/Amp to control channel changing and volume control. Not very convenient. BUT, if you use the remote the way it was intended in "activities" mode, this is not an issue and the remote works the way you would expect (the volume "punches through"). You just have to set up the remote this way and that is what takes the most time. Logitech should have included a little more printed literature on this and a few other issues.
Overall, this is a great remote that could still use a little more polish on the software end, and some printed literature on how to use the remote would have been helpful.