I've been looking for a universal remote for a few years and purchased a few but they were always lacking something. The Phillips Pronto was not tactile enough, "universal" remotes either weren't or you needed to spend hours trying out remote codes for your 10 year old VCR or your three day old TV.That ended with the Harmony Remote. After entering the model numbers of my devices (RCA TV (no, not 3 days old), Sony receiver, Mitsubushi VCR (yes, >10 years old), Sony DirecTivo, Sony DVD Note: spend a little time writing all of this down before you start Logitech even provides a workbook in the documentation), I hooked up the remote to the USB port on my computer and it worked. It wasn't perfect (user error), but that was quickly fixed.
The true test was having someone who has never operated our equipment before come over and give it a test run and it worked out great.
Things I would note: if you turn on something manually, turn it off manually. It's not perfect, but what is?
It has now been three years and I am still in love with this remote. So much so that I have since bought two other Logitech Universal remotes!!!
I love that fact that even as update my equipment at home the remote easily adapts to any changes I make.
This product is one that is clearly designed to last and easily adapt with my changing entertainment system.
I must say that this universal remote is truly amazing!!!! I have had it now for about 6 months and I am still very impressed.
I have 8 different components all different brands. This remote has been able to control them all. (Two of the units are multifunction units)
Pros:
*my non-techno savvy boy-friend actually understands how to use this remote to run our entire home theater system.
* pressing one button turns on everything I need for a given activity. It also switches the TV and receiver to the proper outputs
* It even controls my tower fan and my media center computer
* I no longer need 7 remotes
* I can use it to preform fairly complex functions that before I could only do with the original remote from the component.
* The battery life has been excellent
Cons:
*the Harmony database had incorrect codes for my Toshiba HDD/DVD recorder. (However I was able to 'teach' the remote the correct commands.
*buttons are way too small
Buy Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Now
I've had this remote for about 2 weeks now and really appreciate the ease that it provides for working all of my electronic pieces. I have a cable box, satellite dish, TIVO, DVD player, Stereo, Satellite radio and CD jukebox. The internet setup was nice and easy, but when things get a little complicated or you have little issues like component inputs not changing correctly or timely, you turn to Logitech support. The support was the best I have experienced for any electronic item that I have ever purchased. The Rep literally spent 45 minutes on the phone with me fine tuning every aspect of the remote. It now works perfectly for every piece. I only have 2 knocks.1. Reviewers are right in saying that the activity buttons are too small.
2. The sensitivity and speed of the infrared commands are not as quick as the remote that I replaced. (Sony RM-VL1000)
I'd buy this remote again and I'm very interested in checking out the Logitech 880 which I hear is very sweet.
Read Best Reviews of Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Here
Like most A/V enthusiasts, I have many devices to control.A/V Equiptment:
TV
DVD
VCR
LaserDisc (yes they still exist!)
TiVo
HP MP3 Jukebox
Cablebox
Xbox
The Harmony remote setup program makes it very easy to program the device. I got home and had it setup in about 20 minutes. It took me longer to find and write down all the model numbers from the various components than it did to program the remote. After entering your devices, the wizard asks you some simple question about how you watch DVDs etc to program the Activities buttons. Once you answer those quests, voila you are done.
Buttons are well placed around the center of the remote. The LCD it easily readable, the backlit display does not stay on long, I imagine that the battery will not drain too quickly.
The only negative comment I would have is regarding the wizard, why do I need to type the model number. There should be a drop down in my numble opinion.
I highly recommend this to any A/V enthusiast.
Want Logitech Harmony H-688 Universal Remote Control (Silver) Discount?
I have two of these remotes which I purchased about a year ago and for the most part have been happy with them.My initial impression was very positive. The layout is pretty good and the backlighting is very bright. Most buttons are in logical locations and using the remote with one hand is fairly easy.
I do have a minor issue with the function selector buttons at the top because they are unreadable in the dark (the backlighting doesn't shine through those buttons) and not very easy to read even in the light. Once you memorize which ones do what (or which colors do what) it's no big deal, but you'll still be turning on lights and squinting to find the ones you don't use very often.
The other buttons are pretty easy to find, especially when you hit the backlight button (which is in a convenient location near the middle of the remote). I'd like it better if there was some tactile difference among the buttons in the big ring though since they're so tiny and difficult to tell apart by touch. The same with the playback control buttons, they all feel the same in the dark so finding Play versus Pause usually means turning on the backlight for me.
The web setup isn't too difficult initially, but changing things once you've gone through their setup wizard is a bit of a pain. Not horrible, but not easy either -it took me a while to figure out how to remove my old amplifier from the setup and use my new one instead. Should you ever need to replace your remote (see below :) then it's easy to just plug another one in and download the configuration from the website.
Battery life has been pretty decent, even with rechargable NiMHs, but the remote gives little warning of low batteries. The backlight stays bright and there's no indication that the batteries are getting low except that my devices start having trouble receiving commands. So every couple of months I find myself getting frustrated that my devices aren't responding well and then eventually thinking maybe it's the batteries (which it usually is). Once I replace them everything is happy again.
The reason I only give the remote a 3 is that several buttons on both of my H688 remotes have either stopped working entirely or require a lot of pressure to engage. This is terrible, especially in a modern and expensive remote -even my cheap remotes don't usually have key failures unless I drop them in a soda or something. I took one apart to see if it was just dust or something and found that Logitech uses little metal dome buttons on the circuit board. I suspect that this type of button oxidizes over time and loses conductivity. Cheaper remotes use a simple and relatively large conductive pad that presses down on plated contacts on the circuit board. Logitech's buttons give you that nice clicky feel when you push them, but I'd trade the clicky feel for quiet, squishy, but reliabile cheap buttons any day. Remotes costing this much just shouldn't become unusuable after only a year or so worth of use.
No comments:
Post a Comment