Quite Possibly the Greatest Addition to my Living Room

Author's Rating:

Pros: Easy to program, durable feel, rechargeable, replaced 7 remotes, completely backlit

Cons: two unsolved programming issues, only 90 days of telephone support

The Bottom Line: 
This remote will declutter your living room and simplify your entertainment system

Author's Review
I recently bought a new 47" LED HDTV, and, of course, to go with that, a new blu-ray disc player.  These new "toys" made my remote selection on the coffee table tally up to 7 remotes.  Seven!  My coffee table went from a nice looking area with a lamp, two remotes, and my latest reading material, to a cluttered mess with all that, plus 5 more remotes.  I'd lose control.  To add insult to injury, my new TV did not "play well" with my FIOS TV remote, which meant I was constantly switching back and forth between the TV remote and the FIOS remote.  Ah, the dilemmas of a middle class modern world. 

I get it, my problem was a small one, but the solution became increasingly obvious.  If I wanted to reclaim my coffee table, I needed a multi-function remote.  I needed one remote that could control all of my devices, with ease, and send those other 7 remotes off packing to storage.

After reading online reviews, the answer became obvious.  The Logitech Harmony brand of all-in-one remotes left the competition standing in the dust.  Among those, the Logitech Harmony One seemed to have all of my bases covered and get some of the best reviews.

The cost was not cheap.  Buying from a seller on Amazon, I dropped $170 on this beast. Has it been worth it?  Yes.  I am more and more grateful that I bought this remote each time I use it, and each time I dust my living room. 

The remote arrived packaged neatly, all be it, a bit excessively.  Included was the Harmony One remote, a USB cable, a power cord, a charging station/dock, a dust cloth, a rechargeable battery, a software CD, and documentation. 

The set up could not be easier.  I installed the included software on my computer.  It installed on my system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard with no problems.  For anyone using a Mac system, the fact that this worked flawlessly with a Mac is highly unusual, and huge.  Score one for Logitech.

To set up the remote, once the software is installed, you simply tell the software what devices you own, and it programs all of your remote buttons appropriately for each device.  Logitech has a library of hundreds of devices that it programs the remote from.  Even if your device is not in the database (which is highly unlikely, as Logitech updates their database frequently), the remote can "learn" commands from any IR remote.  The Logitech Harmony One only can control IR devices, not RF devices.  This meant that it could not control my Nintendo Wii, but could control my TV, blu-ray player, DVD/VCR combo, Verizon set top box, and Macbook computer. 

After all of your devices are programmed in the remote, you program "Activities."  Activities are a programmed series of events that has to happen in order to begin doing something with your entertainment system.  This sounds way more complicated than it really is.  Think of all of the things you currently do now to watch a movie.  You turn on your TV.  You turn on your video player.  You make sure the inputs are set appropriately.  Programming an Activity with the Harmony One simply takes all of those steps and automates them by asking you a series of questions about how you do certain tasks with your set up.  The software menu has a variety of Activities to choose from, such as "Watch TV," "Watch a Movie" and "Listen to Music."  These can be re-named as you like.  Some Activities you may have to program more than once and simply rename (for example: I have "Watch a DVD," "Watch a Blu-Ray," and "Watch a VHS," all of which were programed the same way).

The computer transfers the setting over to the remote via the included USB cord.

The remote itself is sleek.  Almost all of the functions on the remote can be operated one-handedly.  Every button on the remote has a clear backlight.  The remote has an accelerometer inside of it and goes from sleeping to springing to life as soon as it's picked up.  The remote includes basic buttons from on any remote (Menu, Guide, Info, Channel up/down, Volume up/down, OK, Fast Forward, Rewind, Play/Pause, etc).  A touch screen adds your programmed options for activities, and button functionality specific to a certain remote (such an buttons for LG's Netcast service, input buttons, etc).  The touch screen is very smoothly implemented and allows you to switch between different device controls and various activities easily.  It also lets you program simple remote options, like date and time, right on the screen. 

The remote has a very solid, well made feel to it, reminiscent of an Apple product.  The keys do not feel as I expected them to.  I expected a soft, rubbery surface.  What I got was a hard plastic concave surface.  Feeling how easy they are to press, what a quick response time I get from them, how well they look backlit, and how durable they feel, this appeared to be a good move on Logitech's part.

The remote seems to have very good IR range, and doesn't even need to pointed right at the device to control it to me.  An IR extender is available to help the remote control devices through doors.  I have no experience with that product.  My IR seems to have excellent range and be quite strong.

While the device is easy to program, at my first shot programming everything, I did not have everything exactly as I wanted it.  It only took me two trips to the computer to get everything functioning, then a few more trips to tweak things exactly to my preferences.

Using the remote in real life is a joy.  Instead of using 3 different remotes, I press "Watch TV" and my set top box and TV spring to life letting me enjoy myself on my one remote. 

After I'm done watching TV, I simply set the remote on it's dock on the coffee table to recharge itself until next time.  The battery life does not appear to be great.  The battery seems to last about 12 hours without being charged.  This has not been an issue for me as I always leave it in it's dock when not in use.

The remote's touchscreen can be programmed to play a photo slideshow when the remote is in the dock.  I have no tried this, but I do think it's a creative idea.

The remote can also make a TV channels "favorites" page.  This page displays icons representing your favorite channels.  Tapping them takes you to that channel.  I have tried this, and it's an easy and fun way to navigate to the channels you love out of the 981 listings, half of which are sports or foreign language channels.

The remote can be set to program up to 15 devices. 

I have had to minor problems I have no been able to solve since getting this remote.  Both are minor.  When I go from my Blu-Ray player to watching TV the input will change to the input my set top box is on, but then switches itself back to the input the blu ray is on.  Simply trying to execute the Activity again fixes the issue.  Also, if I'm in a device menu other than the TV, I cannot control the volume from the remote.  Returning to an Activity menu solves this.  I have not contracted tech support yet (which is included by telephone for 90 days after you register a remote), but do plan on contacting them.  The remote has a 1 year warranty. 

Some things were not programmed exactly to my liking automatically, but were easily changed.  For example, my TV included the Netcast service, but the option to use it was buried 4 layers of touch screen menus deep.  This was easily changed to that Netcast option was on the first menu.

I honestly doubted that the Logitech Harmony One could smoothly control my system, but it met and exceeded my expectations.