Logitech Harmony 676 Universal Remote Control
by Logitech
|
List Price: Our Price: $119.98 You Save: $80.01 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $48.25 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 676 Universal Remote Control
Customer Review: Best Remote I have ever owned!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned this remote for over a year now, so I have really put it through the test. During this period, I changed TVs, receivers, and DVD players, and each time the online interface tool was simple and flawless in helping step me through the process. I also changed computers, going from a PC to a Mac, and found the software works equally well on both platforms.
Having read some folk's frustrations with the set-up process, I would have to discount these as severely "technonlogy challenged" individuals...the kinds of people who probably had problems figuring out how to turn their electronics on or off with their old remotes...people like my 75 year old mother-in-law who used to call me long-distance to help her figure out how to turn off her sat box and turn on her VCR.
The only issues I have encountered are that sometimes when you press an activity button, such as to watch TV, my Directv sat receiver might not come on. This is usually the first sign that the batteries need replacing. My second issue is that to go from watching TV to watching a DVD, you basically have to power everything off, then power back up with the watch DVD activity button. Since HD TVs take a while to go through a power down, this is a bit of a hassle. But nothing that one can't live with.
On the extremely positive side, aside from the fact that it controls evey device you have and turns them on in the right order and with the right settings to do any activity you want, I love the fact that it is a) backlit (makes it much easier to see and control features when you are watching a movie and have all the lights out!) and b) battery powered (I want my remote to be remote and not always sitting in a charger!). I also like how it asks you questions to see if everything is working properly. If not, it steps you through the process to get everything in sync. I also like the interchangable face plates, although I admit that I have never changed from our red plate since we got the remote...just nice to have the option.
All-in-all, like most Logitech products I have owned, this is a very well designed product with terrific online support and tools. I cannot imagine a better remote for the money.
Customer Review: Very easy set up for my 8 devices at home
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a breeze. It updated its own firmware, and then the cd installed program updated to a newer version. I followed the instructions, and as long as you enter the exact model number as written on the back of the units to be controlled it works great. There is a built in help menu right in the controller itself, for example, it wasn't turning on the TV with the DVD and the A/V receiver. I pressed help and it asked if the TV was on. When I said no, it turned on the TV. From that moment on it never failed to turn on the TV.
I also like the changeable faceplates. I use red for the living room and blue for the bedroom. This allows you to have a couple in the house and easily distinguish them.
Logitech has the best tech support I ever spoke too. Free, and very knowledgeable. The guy spent ten minutes before I bought the remote explaining how with Logitech, 99 percent of the time, learning is not required (although it can do it fine). I just entered the model numbers of the units, and it asked how the wires were situated in the back of the A/V, and WHAM, it figured the rest out and it works great now. I push on button and the vcr is playing. I press another and the DVD is going. I push another and everything turns off. It even tunes the TV to channel 3 or 4 when the vcr mode is selected.
Very easy to setup and use, and the wife loves it!
BY THE WAY: I saw a review written around the same time as mine that you need to power down everything when switching between different activities. This is not true in my case. If I am in TV mode and hit DVD, it simply turns on the DVD and selects the correct video input automatically. If I were to then hit VCR, the DVD will turn off, the VCR turns on, and the TV automatically goes to channel 3 without turning off (what my VCR to TV input is) . If you find yourself having to power down everything between different activities, you most likely have a timing issue with the device delay (time between sending each device the correct command in a multi device sequence) Either goto the help menu right in the control or call logitech TECHNICAL assistance. You can get it right and it will save the life of that expensive TV.
Customer Review: Pretty good overall, but has probs with my TV
Summary: 4 Stars
I've owned this remote for a couple of months now. its really quite useful, especially the 'Activity' buttons. A boon for parents and non-tech savvy folks, so they don't have to juggle around a whole bunch of remotes to do something simple like watching TV with the speakers on.
Pros:
----
1. Very good features
2. ability to program and save configuration online
3. Very fast and very helpful technical support
4. Seems like the codes for almost every device ever made are available for online configuration! including some devices(like a DVD player) that I bought overseas, in Asia.
5. Ability to control all devices that most people ever have
Cons:
-----
1. My panasonic TV has problems. Most times, it won't switch 'On' or 'Off' when using the activity buttons. Going through the 'Help' button fixes the problem maybe 70% of the time, but for the remaining 30% i go through the 'Is the TV off' questions 10-15 times, and it still doesn't work, so i have to use the TV remote. Really bothersome. My TV has a toggle button for power, so not sure why this happens. all the other devices work perfectly.
2. All devices need to be on or off, before using activity buttons. For e.g. I have to first press 'Watch Movie',then put the DVD in, after the player has turned on. if i put in the DVD first, then the activity button will switch the player off, while turning everything else on. 'Help' button fixes this right away, but would be good if there was a way to get a 'status' before sending the signals. i guess its something not completely in Harmony's control, but would be a really cool feature if it could be done.
3. Individual devices are not pre-programmed with most common functions: This is the only reason why I have it 4 stars. When i use the 'Device' button and go to say, DVD, i would expect stuff like the '>>' button to be set to 'Next Chapter'(though the 'CH up/down' buttons do get set). there are some other buttons like this that don't get pre-configured, and that's annoying. I don't want to have to spend time doing all this online.
All in all, this is a great remote, and i'm really happy with my purchase.
Customer Review: A little confusing, but very good
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm a computer geek for a living, and I was impressed with the programming interface for this remote. But I did not notice that the silver ring around the round "OK" button was actually a 4-direction switch that is by default assigned the "Direction Up", Direction Down, Direction Right and Direction Left commands used to navigate through menus. Most of the other remotes in this series have more obvious buttons around the OK button labelled with arrows. I spent a lot of time programming other buttons to handle the direction commands. It's great that it's possible to do that, but I wondered whether this model is being phased out because of the strange direction button design. I don't see the model in most stores.
Anyway, I only discovered the use of the silver ring via email contact with the Logitech customer support staff. It took them several days to get back, but it did answer my confusion. It would help if they would add a button diagram somewhere. So now I've been able to program just about everything. I've got a complicated setup, with 5 activities: watch normal (analog) TV, watch the digital set-top box TV, watch Replay DVR, play DVD movies, and listen to CDs. I attached 3 of the activities to 3 of the 4 activity buttons. The 4th activity button is actually not programmable... it displays more activities in the remote's display.
After a lot of fiddling, I've got the thing set up so my wife can figure it out. Most stuff is just one activity button press to turn on and configure everything, and one power button press to turn it all off. It used to require 2 or 3 remotes to to control each activity, in specific order. Some of those remotes were supposedly "universal", but I couldn't get any of them to handle everything. So the Harmony 676 is great. THe only thing it can't control power on is our Motorola set-top digital box (from Time Warner cable), but I decided to just leave that on all the time. I'm now very happy with the remote, and recommend it, with the sole proviso that people uncomfortable with a computer could have a very hard time with it. Of course, they can just get their grandkids to program it for them.
Customer Review: The best remote I have ever had
Summary: 4 Stars
I have had this for 5 days now. The reason I got it was because we have our tv, sat reciver/pvr, and combo vcr/dvd player all hooked up as one. I could not find a remote that controled all of them. For the pvr/reciver I wanted to have all the function, not just on and off, as the pvr remote gave me. I had the Kameleon 8 in one touch remote from Radio Shack and liked it (tho it was a big large and did not fit my small hand, and with the vib thing, well with 3 dogs, it was going on ALL THE TIME and I had to replace batteries every 2 weeks!) So I tried this one, it did everything I wanted it to..including using the vcr OR dvd on the combo player (the other one would only do the vcr)..Tho there is a small problem with that sometimes it puts the dvd player on rather then then vcr, but I use the help button and fix that no problem.) AS to the buttons, well my hands are the same size they were when I was in the 5th grade (I am now 50...5ft tall and size 5 1/2 shoe if that gives an idea of hand size.) so I do not even notice small buttons. And they are the same size and type as on my dvd/vcr remote and my pvr remote so use to them. But tho this remote does everything I wanted it to, I did not expect the extras. It is a pain to go thought the guide on the pvr to see what I want to watch, even tho I have differnt guides for differnt types of shows...it is still at least 20 per guide. I put my fav 16 on here and then my top 40 on the other all guide. It is easy to see what I want to watch..tho often I find there is only 5 min's to something, but that is no big deal.
I have it set for 4 days so every 4 days I have to go online with it hooked up, update (takes about 5 min's or less for dsl) and then sometimes push 'help' on the remote to get it to 'set'. It all takes between 5 and 12 min's from start to end. Not a problem. (took a few times to 'get' it tho.) I got confused on the web site so called their 800 # 2 or 3 times and the talke me though it, no problem. (tho at times as to accents tI was not sure the help site was in the usa...but as long as I could understand them and they knew what they were talking about, no problem.)