Logitech Harmony 676 Universal Remote Control
by Logitech
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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 |
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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 676 Universal Remote Control
Customer Review: Awesome Remote! Terrible Web Setup!!!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I'd so much love to give this remote a 5 star rating, but...
The remote itself is awesome. Easy to use, simple, very flexible. However, the setup is the worst I've seen for any device remote or otherwize. It's only done via a web site that uses an intermediate communication drive to talk to the remote. While I don't mind the idea of a web base setup, their's is just terrible. It's slow, tedious and makes changes a thing I try very very hard to avoid.
I'm a power user type. The type that buys gadgets like this. I wish their web site had a power user mode where I'd just get the basic information on a single screen where I can change anything anywhere in any way I want. But instead I have to walk through pages and pages of "wizards" that slow the process down to a pathetic crawl. Plus, not all of the info on the web page is correct. Granted that can be changed with a simple report to their customer service, but if I could make changes the way I want, then most of the problems could be over-come by simply changing the programming of the remote, oh boy another visit to the web page for a 10 minutes one button change, joy joy.
Sorry, I can't recommend the product for anyone of any ability in electronics. Until the change the web site, or do the right thing by making an internet enabled stand-alone application for programming this device, it gets a thumbs down.
Customer Review: Piece of Junk
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought this product thinking that it would simplify the use of my home theater system. I had different remotes for all of the devices & it was getting so confusing that my wife finally decided that she would not use the system unless I was present.
Consequently, I bought this Harmony 676 remote. It ended up being perhaps the worst investment I had ever made. I encountered problems from the outset because I couldn't sync the remote with the computer program. When the sync was finally accomplished, the system only worked sporadically. I had to upgrade the remote almost on a daily basis. I finally contacted Logitech support to help me remedy all of the problems. Guess what, they happen to outsource their support work to some foreign country & communication was a big issue. Needless to say, they were of very little help & the experience was extremely frustrating. Tech support was able to hook up all of the devices, but somehow was unable to comprehend that I needed sound to fully enjoy the system. At that point, I got conveniently disconnected from support...through no action of my own. I finally decided to just start from the beginning by removing all devices & reinstalling them all over again. It worked but the fix only lasted one day. The following day none of the devices responded to the remote. I ended up returning the device for a refund. My wife now happily uses all 4 remotes.
Customer Review: The best of the bunch
Summary: 5 Stars
many others have covered what's so great about this remote.
i agree. i've dealt with all sorts of universal remotes, from the sonys to advanced crestron systems, and for the money, this is the best you can do.
once you get it setup, it works. initial setup is fast. then you can tweak it as much as you want. i set this up for my brother-in-law and sister. my brother-in-law gets frustrated with remotes easily, and the only way he could find to not get this one to work was to fail to actually point it at the IR receiver in the wall. you can't fault harmony for that... ;) my sister has had zero problems.
while playing with it for a few days, I found myself thinking: "this is good, but I wish it could do this." only to find out from the website that you CAN do that!
I'm now buying one for myself, and I also convinced my cousin to get one, and get the 676 over the more expensive color screen 880.
as for why this is the best Harmony so far? button layout is just the most logical and easiest to deal with, it's not overdesigned, and it is at a good price point. they all setup the same way (so features are common among all of them). this one is just a great design, good in your hand, and the TRANSPORT buttons are in a good place and easy to understand, important in today's TiVo and DVD centric world.
Customer Review: Your Last Remote Control
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the last several years I have purchased four high-end so-called universal remotes. All of them sort of worked but not really. There was always some function that was not supported that I would have to drag out the original remotes. I found one two years ago that I was able to teach how to control the mish-mash of components in my entertainment system. It took weeks to program everything into it and to get every function covered. Then I discovered that it had an huge appetite for batteries (At lease once a month I had to replace the six AA batteries it took to keep it running.) My brother-in-law put me on the track of the Harmony 676 when I was grousing about having to reprogram my remote to control my new TV set. Harmony's web site had all my components listed and it took one setting at the computer to setup the perfect remote control. I've now lived with it for eight months and still love it. It's so easy to use that even I can get our system to do what ever I want it to. (I used to have to ask my husband to set it up to do anything other than watch TV.) Battery life? By the time the low battery display comes up I've forgotten the last time I changed them. The $199 list price is steep but worth every penny for the ease of use and to throw the six remotes it takes to control my entertainment system in a drawer and forget about them.Customer Review: Have not tried the remote because Amazon's Bait and Switch tactics won't let me have it.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have not actually tried this remote...I want to, and I hear great things about it, but Amazon refuses to honor it's own pricing on this item. They have listed it for $59.99 for about one day every month or so over the past 6 months. They then send out an email claiming they have it back ordered and give you a ridiculously long wait time (hoping you cancel). If you opt to wait (as I and MANY others have during each of these "sales"), they will just cancel your order in a couple of months, claiming that they cannot get them in from any distributor (although they still list it for sale by another company at twice the price and every month sell it themselves for $59.99 for one day). This is typical and blatant bait and switch, telling their customers they simply cannot get the item in stock...ever again, but yet continue to sell it at the same price advertised to you for short periods of time once a month to increase traffic to their website. This has happened to me with several products over the years from Amazon and I am finally outraged enough to call them out on it. I am not the only one this has happened to, I have done my research and they have done this to MANY, MANY people on this one product alone...over and over again. Hopefully someone will be able to read this and I can save you the hassle before they delete it.