Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen
by Logitech
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List Price: Our Price: $169.16 You Save: $30.83 (15%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $125.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote with Color Touch Screen
Customer Review: Terrific Item - it is actually worth the money you will spend.
Summary: 5 Stars
I previously looked at this remote, concluded it was really awesome and decided I didn't want to spend the money to buy it. So, I went with another Harmony remote. However, after a while, I really felt that I had made the wrong decision. Batteries went bad much quicker than I thought, and the buttons were not all that great (they stuck and sometimes didn't work). Disappointed in the other Harmony remotes (though one of them is no longer offered). So I reluctantly bought THIS remote after not buying it in the first place (bad decision). All I can say is WOW! The HARMONY ONE ROCKS!
Pros:
1. Design: The design of this item is great. Ergonomically satisfying, aesthetically pleasing, the design of this item is really nice. Buttons are large and well thought out. The buttons seem to work easily and don't stick.
2. Ease of set-up: Since I previously had purchased a Harmony remote, all I literally had to do was plug the USB cord in and run the web-based software. Extremely easy. I cannot state how easy this would be the first time through, but I had no problems with the software in two previous applications with Harmony remotes.
3. Durability: I have had this for about a month. So far, I am very pleased. All the buttons work with ease. Not sticking or buttons that have to be mashed down.
4. Use with devices: Easy. Press and point the activity button you want to use and it will work, whether it is TV, DVD, Music, etc. You assign an activity button and it works all devices that are necessary for that operation.
5. Codes: there are electronic codes available for almost all electronic devices. I have not encountered any issues with finding my devices (tv, dvd, etc.) on the lists provided. Although I have mostly well-known electronic manufacturers. I would find it hard to believe that anyone would be hard-pressed to locate these codes to get a device to work properly.
6. Touchscreen: Yes, this has a touchscreen for location activities and some other functions. So far, no problems associated with this at all. You can upload pictures if you want as well to play as a screensave though I have not played with that feature.
Neutral:
1. Cost: Yes, Virginia, this is awfully expensive considering its function is for the operation of your entertainment system. I have found the cost expensive but worth it. Consider your price point and be the judge. I considered the cost carefully, and went for it and have been happy.
2. Charger: this item does not use batteries, but rather it uses a charging cradle. You can vary the signal light as well. Unlike my previous Harmony, this cradle fits securely and nicely. This idea seems foolproof and reliable.
Cons:
1. Here's an idea for Logitech: Make a silicon cover for this thing to protect the back of the remote. I am scared to drop this thing and I know that one day it IS inevitable. I have dropper it to the hardwood floor once and nothing happened. but, I sure would feel better that 'my precious' is protected. Why no silicon covers around? This would be a great item for these remotes, because we all know that they will try to drop to the floor despite your best efforts.
2. Cost: Well, yes, this remote is darned expensive. So it is a con! But, I guess good things do cost more.
Overall:
I knew this was expensive. But, I decided that it was better to do something right, and I have not been disappointed by this purchase. This remote rocks and seems to be worth the expense. It works easily every time and is pleasing to the senses.
Highly recommended!
Customer Review: Best remote I've ever owned (but not perfect).
Summary: 4 Stars
The Harmony One is a great remote. I've owned 3 harmony remotes in the past, and this one improves on past models in almost every way; buttons click responsively but not uncomfortably, the layout is intuitive, the charger is simple and effective, and virtually anything with an IR sensor can be operated with enough setup time invested.
However, the remote is most definitely not perfect.
Why? first off the touchscreen. I don't know who it was that decided that now all gadgets needed a touchscreen, but it was a misguided instinct and it's a pain in the butt here. Expect to tap buttons accidentally, tap the wrong button occasionally, and often times miss the button you were trying to hit. a touchscreen means that if you're not looking directly at the remote at all times, there is no way to know if you're about to hit the button you want to hit. the only way to reliably operate the touchscreen functions here is to hold the remote in one hand, look directly at the screen from above, and tap the button section of the touchscreen with your other hand - so effectively, processes that were a simple tap-and-go procedure before are now an excercise in precision and caution. Hardly what I want out of a remote.
Secondly, the harmony software -- despite having improved dramatically over the years -- still has a long way to go before it's a "joy to use" as some have described it. It's basically a UI nightmare: it's completely unresizable, requires copious clicks of "done" and "back" and "next" buttons seemingly at random for even the simplest procedures, and completely disavows all knowledge of hotkeys or shortcuts - any given tap of your keyboard's "enter" key will yield no result whatsoever at any step in any process, and you can't tab between anything but form elements. It's basically like a mediocre late 90's website with a decent coat of paint.
And finally -- possibly the biggest drawback of all -- is the harmony platform's inherent imperfections. The Remote depends on sending out information to all of your components that are active in a given activity. So when you turn on an activity like "watch TV," it turns on your TV, sets it to HDMI 1, turns on your speakers, turns them to optical audio 1, and so forth. All of this works great, until something goes wrong. if your TV and speakers turned on, but for some reason you have picture but no sound, suddenly you're in limbo; hit the help button, and a strange onscreen tutorial asks questions about things you may or may not understand if you're less than technically savvy (my dad does not understand, for instance, that his speakers need to be set to optical audio 1; he only understands that he does not hear the TV). It's for this reason that I can't really recommend the harmony to people who really need it. This is not a remote for your dad or your mother in law; what it's doing behind the scenes feels too much like voodoo to anyone not intimately familiar with how a home theater works.
All of that being said, If you are technically savvy and just want a remote that will control EVERYTHING, I definitely do recommend this remote. for each of its failings, it makes up in overall fit, finish and quality. Setting it up is not difficult, it's just more time consuming than it needs to be. Being able to create custom screens of whatever buttons you want is a godsend, and as I said before the hard buttons are fantastic (button quality was a huge drawback with previous models in my opinion). The remote is comfortable in-hand and well constructed, and the IR output is strong, allowing for a good 30 degree operation angle from whatever you're trying to control. I like it and would buy another one tomorrow - Just be aware of the limitations.
Customer Review: Back down to 2-stars: touch screen - worst idea ever
Summary: 2 Stars
Update: After using it for almost 1 year I thought I would get used to the touch screen Wrong. I still think it's the worst idea ever for a remote control. In a dark movie room I push buttons based on feel, but can't do that with the touch screen. Instead I am always accidentally brushing the display with my hand or fingure and messing something up that ruins the movie experience. Downgrade to 2-stars.
I absolutely hate the touch screen. I didn't think it would be that bad (obviously) when I bought it, but after using it for a while I have come to despise it. This is possibly the worst idea in a hand held remote control ever. Every time I reach for the remote I hit that stupid touch screen and screw something up. I have adjusted it's sensitivity to it's lowest level and it still will react to the slightest brush. Why in the world did they use capacitive instead of resistive is beyond me. I guess because it's all the rage because of the iPhone? Plus you don't have as many selections on the touch screen as you do with the non-touch screen (i.e. 880) so you have to scroll through more screens.
Enough about how much I hate the touch screen. I also hate the "piano black" finish. This is another trend that needs to go away like yesterday. It constantly looks bad because of finger prints. They give you a little cleaning cloth but it seems to smear more than clean. Plus, guess what if you get too close to the screen? Also you have to try to get in between the buttons; I guess it gives you something to do during commercials.
Speaking of buttons; why did Logitech switch the position of the skip and fast forward buttons from its other remotes??? This one just infuriates me. When I'm watching a recorded show on my Dish DVR and I want to skip over a commercial and I end up fast forwarding. Or when I want to slowly rewind something I missed in a movie and I accidentally skip to the beginning of the chapter. Do people get paid to make these decisions?
Needless to say, I have gone back to using my old Harmony 880.
Now onto the subject of their rebate. I purchased this because they were offering a 20% rebate if you bought 2 or more Logitech products from Amazon.com (Thanks Amazon for posting the rebate link RIGHT UNDER the item making me think it was eligible). This is the ONLY reason I purchased this remote. Well I just got off the phone with Logitech after they denied my rebate, and they told me that the sku I provided them was not eligible because it was part of another promotion. So I bought this thinking I was going to get $38 back and guess what...I paid almost full retail for a remote I hate. And the best part is, since I had to remove the UPC for the rebate I didn't get I can no longer return it.
Logitech customer no more.
Update: The above review was written after a very frustrating mail-in rebate experience. I usually try to avoid them for this reason. However, after many calls to Logitech about why my rebate claim was denied, the fault seems to lay more on Amazon.com's shoulders. The bottom line is that they should never have posted the rebate link with this remote with the PS3 adaptor. When those 2 items were combined it voided the rebate.
Back to the remote; I still hate the touch screen design. It makes one-handed use next to impossible if you need to use the soft keys, and I still accidentally hit the display too often. I still don't like the piano black finish. But now that I am becoming more familiar with the remote I can appreciate how powerful it is. Also, when used with the PS3 adaptor, it can now control everything in my room except my ceiling fan (RF).
Ergonomic flaws aside, it's a powerful remote.
Customer Review: Human intelligence combined with technology intelligence
Summary: 5 Stars
The Harmony One is a really great product with great customer support, including customizing software for those who need to solve a unique problem. For the first 60 days, they provide real people who speak English and who know their product. Their unlimited email support is also good, albeit slow. I have used both.
Why is a truly universal remote so difficult? With thousands of home theater products each with its unique functional trade-offs, we are all controlling a complex system. Many of us own a half-dozen remotes with unique commands and language. All of these are expected to function as a user friendly system. But there is no system engineer to make them work together. Manufacturers of equipment do not provide documentation about what their commands actually do, and what codes are supported. Many codes are not even present on the remotes that come with the equipment.
Take the following example of hidden codes and properties. My Samsung TV allows for a commands to set any of six inputs, such as HDMI1, but if you select the input that is currently active, it toggles back to TV, instead of doing nothing. None of these codes are present on their original remote but Logitech has them in their data base. Logitech has invested millions in engineering.
Logitech's remotes are trying to solve an impossible problem: automating the chaos of the market. They did as good a job as possible but ultimately, each user must do his own system design because every home system is unique. The Harmony One is simply a very powerful tool to create a system that functions seamlessly. But YOU have to become the system engineer of your system. Basic functionality, albeit with some bugs, is trivial to achieve with the Harmony One because Logitech did a great job of adding intelligence to their hardware and software. But the last 10% of functionality takes real work. This is not a criticism of their design. The big problem is that the home theater equipment cannot tell the remote what it is doing. The remote tells the equipment what to do but it cannot know if the equipment did what was intended.
The effort to make a nice system is significant but it is a one time investment. It would have been nice if Logitech provided a programmer's reference manual. They could have done that but probably did not want to scare the average user. Logitech maintains an active user forum with inputs from very smart people but finding critical information also takes work. The information is not sorted or indexed.
Unlike the 500 series, the Harmony One has a good mechanical design and good layout. The basic functionality is the same for all their remotes. They made some good trade-offs in the Harmony ONe. To have clear visibility in the dark, they use a big screen and backlights on buttons. But because that would kill ordinary batteries they used rechargeable batteries. To avoid loosing all your work and to avoid complex button learning, they use a software system that keeps a permanent copy of your configuration on their servers. This allows for a trivial cloning to another remote, and you do not loose everything if the batteries goes dead.
Some people are disappointed because they expected the remote to be like buying a car, get in and drive. In this case the automobile manufacturer did the system design. For a simple home theater, the Harmony One is like a car. For a complex system, it more like designing a kitchen for a chef.
My comments are to intended set expectations. Many of the negative comments are the result of unrealistic expectations. Within the constraints of expectations, the Harmony One is probably the best choice in the market.
Customer Review: Not Exactly a Miracle Universal Remote
Summary: 3 Stars
Like many readers, I did much research on the Harmony One remote before biting the bullet and laying down some serious dough. Store clerks virtual and online were in love with it as are many owners as you can see here. I initially loved this remote in that it replaced 3 remotes. However, over the past several weeks; I've grown a lot less in love.
Here are my thoughts on why I'm giving only 3 stars:
- My work has me supporting various software applications, so I'm accustomed to clunky navigation. The enclosed software to configure the remote is alright; not great. However, once you get used to the navigation, it works fine. It would be nice if it worked more like a web page, where you could configure your remote but also "go back" or "go home" before having the application accept the configuration.
HINT: It's really helpful to have your PC near your TV when configuring your remote; unlike me where my office is upstairs from the TV room. There was a lot of climbing up/downstairs when setting up the remote.
-Battery power isn't long enough in my opinion. I don't like leaving the battery cradle out in the open so hide it behind the TV. However, battery power lasts about a week before you have to recharge it. I would think with this device, the battery should last much longer. The instruction guide has suggestions on how to improve battery life but it isn't so practicle. For example, you can shorten the lighted display time to the minimum; however, using the remote often requires that you are looking at the touch screen.
-Activity behavior sometime changes without any reason. With multiple remotes, I have always had trouble switching between the DVD and HDTV player. The volume is way off and/or the TV is stuck on HDMI3 instead of going back to HDMI1. The Harmony One is great in this respect since since you can configure your remote to take specific actions when changing activities. For example, you can decide that when you turn off the DVD player, the cable box turns on and the TV should go to HDMI1. There are many options making it very flexible.
However, I have found in several instances that my TV gets muted when changing between activities. I have to physically get the old remote and hit the unmute button. Sometimes, the actions that I have configured don't work. For example, the TV doesn't turn off completely. You can use the "help" button on the remot; but to fix it permanently, I have to reconnect the remote to the PC and have it be reupdated by the software program. This is ANNOYING.
-I like that you can download network/cable tv logos onto the remote. This is a great feature. You get 4 pages of 6 logos (or favorites). I would have liked 2 or 3 more pages of favorites. This is really nice for guests using your TV but not familiar with the channels.
-I like that the Harmony One knows your favorite channels that were set up via the cable box saved previoiusly.
-While the touch screen is nice and slick looking; it's REALLY easy to accidentally touch it while using the remote. Something about the sensitivity makes you have to pay close attention when using the remote...you have to look at it to make sure your hitting the right button on the touch screen. You shouldn't have to pay so much close attention to the remote when using it in my opinion. It should have a more tactile feel like when using an iPod or a SmartPhone.
Bottom line is that the Harmoney One does in fact reduce the number of remotes in your TV room; so I would recommend it with a little bit of reservation.