Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote
by Logitech
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Our Price: $159.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $50.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote
Customer Review: Overall - very good remote for the price - can't live without it, literally!
Summary: 4 Stars
I was replacing a 676 that recently went bad, probably dropped on a hard floor by my kids, that was just over a year old. I was amazed how difficult it was to go back and use the original remotes after using the Harmony. I called support and since the device was 1 yr. 1 month 1 day old, I couldn't get a new one under warranty. They did, however, offer the 670 for $75, which I thought was more than fair.
The 670 is very similar to my old remote, and I do agree that the buttons for playback (DVD) are a little more difficult to use. Overall, that minor inconvenience is acceptable considering how well it controls my equipment:
Samsung LCD HDTV
Samsung DVD Player
Onkyo Stereo
Playstation 2
Wii (will set up everything but the Wii, it uses Blue Tooth, arg)
Dish Network HD Receiver
You will definitely want to change the inter-key delay to 0 as you will have latency when pressing keys on certain tasks (volume up/down, etc.).
One other big tip, most of the issues with the devices not powering on and being set to the proper input can be corrected by making sure the remote is pointed at the equipment. My TV seems to take a long time to power on so I always had issues with the incorrect input being configured. This was easily corrected by resending the command for the proper input for each task after a .5 second delay as the VERY LAST task.
I rarely have issues using this remote and my biggest user is my children ages (7-16). They can flip from playing the Wii to watching a DVD with friends and never have to call out, "DAD".
I turn off the "Glow" feature when a key is pressed as well to save battery life. I simply press the "Glow" button when I need it. Why have the keys glow each time, you only need it when it is dark. I use rechargeable batteries in the remote and also always have a spare set on standby.
A Harmony remote is a must have. If this one breaks, I'll buy another the same day. It just happens to be one of those items that a return on investment is not needed, it just makes life easier.
Customer Review: Great Device but Fragile!
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the second Logitech Harmony remote I have purchased. I have to say that it is by far the best universal remote I have ever owned. The programmable activity buttons make operating the myriad devices which compose my entertainment center, simple for even my 8 year old daughter. Want to watch TV? Press the Watch TV button. Want to watch a DVD/Blu-Ray? Press the watch a movie button. Want to watch the movies stored on our RAID 5 NAS through the TVIX box? Press more activities and then watch a movie. Awesome. The best part is the Help button. My wife loves to listen to the radio, but does so manually via the receiver. So when you go to watch TV, the receiver is misconfigured because the remote thinks it is still on Video 1 input. No problem. Just hit help and it walks you through the steps to rectify the situation. My in-laws can even do it!
Now, the down side, and it is huge! These things are INCREDIBLY FRAGILE! The reason I purchased a second one is that the first one died outside of the warranty period. The culprit: falls from the coffee table, couch arm, etc, onto the hardwood floors. The first unit began to rattle after the first fall, but it still worked. I then noticed that the USB port on the front was gone...hence the rattle. It had broken the solder and was rattling around inside the unit. About a month later, the unit stopped working completely.
So, when I purchased my new 63" Plasma from Amazon, I also purchased a replacement Harmony remote. This was in July 2009. It is now December and guess what, my 8 year-old daughter accidentally knocked it off the couch arm and it dropped about 2 feet to the floor. The device still functions, but the LCD screen no longer works. Of course that makes the wonderful functions I described earlier, useless.
So, I highly recommend this remote for folks with A) no kids, B) no animals, C) no klutzes and D) carpeted floors. If you don't fall in these categories, then you may want to either pass on these remotes or get a nice long extended warranty, because this is one time you will actually be able to use it.
Customer Review: Bad Support, poor performance over time
Summary: 1 Stars
I've owned this remote about 1.5 years. The first month or so, it was just ok. Takes some learning to program it to do exactly what is desired. But with some interactive testing and minor adjustments, it actually became quite handy and useful. I enjoyed it greatly for about 15 months.
About 3 months ago, I decided to make another update to add one minor function. The update took several reboots of the software, and wouldn't reboot the remote the first three times. After the fourth reboot effort, it worked, but the customizable activity buttons were reset to factory defaults. Communications with Logitech resulted in an email saying that they knew about the issue, engineers were working to restore it, and I should watch the software mainpage for an indicator it was fixed. They indicated the status of my complaint was resolved!
Nice customer service philosophy - we know about your problem, it can't be fixed today, we're working on it - up to you to keep checking and hopefully it will be fixed some day - EQUALS RESOLVED??!?!?!?
30 days later, I saw a note on the software that activity button could be customized. Not realizing this was just a standard note to all users, and not an indication the software was repaired, I updated again. Not only did it not repair the previous problem, it removed several functions from some of the other activities. Some devices could now be controlled by the remote with two exceptions - power on and power off. Gee, that's helpful.
Waited another 6 weeks, tried today to update one more time, in hopes software had been re-engineered. Even bigger mistake. Now the remote doesn't work at all... just displays a message to connect it to the computer and update the settings. Pretty maddening - do exactly as instructed, update your remote, only to have it not work and display the message to perform the action that created the problem in the first place.
Bottom line - if you think its ok to spend $60-$100 on a remote that works for about a year, and you're ok with crummy customer support - this is the remote for you!
Customer Review: Simplifies my life and makes room on my end table
Summary: 4 Stars
I am very pleased with this purchase. I've had it for 5 days now and it works with my setup (HDTV, STB/DVR, DVD player) just fine. The web interface could use some improvement but the default logitech programming handled 90 percent of my needs. I had to add some custom buttons for Live TV, On Demand, tuner swap, and skipping one day forward and back through the on screen guide. That was fairly straightforward and now I have all the functionality I had with my 3 separate remotes. This remote would have earned 5 stars if there was a little bit more flexibility when customizing. For example, I would like to program the picture button to go right to the TV's video setup menu. Right now, it just displays the main TV setup menu. I don't want to overstate this weakness, it's not that big of a deal but it would be a nice enhancement. And its true of the whole harmony line. On the positive side, I really like the activity based approach. The remote becomes a hybrid providing at one time the buttons to control all your devices needed for any activity. For example, for the activity watch DVR, it turns on the TV and switches it to the appropriate input so you are ready to go. The volume, mute and aspect work the TV functions. All the other buttons work the STB/DVR. If I have to make specific adjustments to video or audio settings, I just press picture or sound and the central keypad now works the menu system for the TV instead of controlling the DVR. Press picture or sound again, it reverts back. Press, watch DVD, and it turns on the TV and DVD player, switches to the correct input on the TV and provides button control to both the TV and DVD player. With this remote, my wife and kids and easily control the setup without my help and now there is one remote on the end table instead of 3.
Previous review was right that the labels are a tad small but with my reading glasses and backlit buttons, I can see just fine. After a few weeks, I'm sure I won't even have to look. I will have the layout memorized.
I am sufficiently satisfied to buy a second for our family room
Customer Review: One Remote To Rule Them All!
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this remote for a few weeks and it has had some pretty frequent use by the all the different family members, with very little complaint. It was easy to set up after the rather lengthy wait while the software updated itself. Once that was all up to date though I had no issues with the actual remote programing. I will say that you should think through how you use all of your devices carefully so that you get the "Activities" set up the way you want the first time. But, if something is not the way you wanted it you can easily reconfigure that that Activity. Once it was all set I found that all the buttons were where I would expect them to be for each device that I control. As for the buttons on the LCD I need to spend some time rearranging some of them so the ones I use the most are at the the top of the list. Like my JVC receiver VCR2 button is 3 pages down on the LCD. I select that source a lot so I will be moving it up to the top once I figure out how. I have had other "all in One" remotes with macro keys and learn functions that I had to program one key at a time. While I still have one of those that works just fine it has been sent to the deep dark storage bin by this one. I no longer fear buying a new piece of electronic equipment becuse of the hour or so I will spend reprograming my universal remote. Now it will be a matter of booting up the laptop and answering a few questions then sending the info. to the remote. This is a little spendy but I hate having 6 different remotes batteling for space on the end table and now I have found one to rule them all. Sorry I just had to say that. 2 1/2 years later "July 2010" with heavy use by a family of 5, 3 of which are under 13 this remote is showing signs of wear. The big thing is the USB port fell out. The remote still works but I will never be able to program it again. And it has trouble controlling my Roku box now. The same buttons work just fine for other devices but the Roku doesn't like them now, Hmmmm. Will probably replace it with another 670 when it finally dies.