Logitech Harmony One gets reviewed

If you thought Logitech was going to rest on the laurels of the Harmony 880, think again. The Harmony One looks to pick up where the 880 left off; it takes everything we love about the 880 and steps it up by replacing the terrible buttons with our favorite raised type, and the LCD screen goes touch screen to boot. PJ from PC Magzine appreciates the new ergonomic layout and touch screen, but misses being able to access the LCD screen without looking down at the remote. The charger base was also revised, but no word on if it is more reliable -- PJ does say that he was seeing about a week of battery life. In the end, the Harmony One is a nice upgrade to the 880, but considering that it's priced almost twice that of the Harmony 550, we're not sure it's doubly good.

[Ken F @ Jan 6th 2008 5:55AM]

Having played with this remote, I just have to say...wow!

Logitech finally did their homework and got it right. They finally designed a remote that was comfortable and easy to use by feel.

The 880 is a piece of garbage compared to this remote.

[daz @ Jan 6th 2008 6:52AM]

I have an older harmony remote that uses the same clumsy way of programming it, the wizard based approach is just frustrating and I never could get it to properly switch between activities without leaving one thing switched on or leaving the amp on the wrong input etc...

[E71 @ Jan 6th 2008 9:41AM]

However, it's got Fugly written all over it.

[ck @ Jan 6th 2008 6:06AM]

I had the 880 and got sick of coming home to find it flat on the charger so I exchanged it for a 785, which is a great remote, and a step up, IMO.

I'm not so keen on touchscreen *anything* for remotes as you need to look at the damn thing to press the keys. Hard buttons are where it's at. The Harmony One would need to have something else pretty compelling going on for me to switch to it.

If they were to, say... add bluetooth so I could control the PS3 and switch the Wii on & off, that would be something. Note to Logitech: What were you thinking?!?

[Widget @ Jan 6th 2008 11:18AM]

+1 Add bluetooth and I would upgrade in a heartbeat...until then I'll stick with my Harmony 688.

[Zack Mahdavi @ Jan 6th 2008 10:08AM]

Yes, I was hoping the next generation of Harmony mice had built in bluetooth to control my PS3, so I was disappointed to hear that the Harmony One doesn't have bluetooth. I'll just have to stick with my Harmony 520 for a bit longer.

[Jake @ Jan 6th 2008 1:06PM]

Should have just called Logitech customer service... they replaced my entire remote, no charge, when I reported that it wasn't charging. Due to some shipping screwups I ended up being sent two. They told me to keep the extra one, "for my troubles." Now THAT's customer service.

[Sam Zebian @ Jan 6th 2008 6:33AM]

I'm fine with my harmony 360... Which my stupid 2 year old cousin lost for me!! She was over with my Aunt and Uncle from Canada over winter break, and she lost it for about two weeks!! I just found it yesterday, relieved I didn't lose $100 over a lost remote. If you get a harmony, make sure you keep it away from little kids under 3

[tirm @ Jan 6th 2008 8:41AM]

Good gadget. I want to buy it for my Sony TV and Xbox 360

[DustoMan @ Jan 6th 2008 9:34AM]

I'm really excited about this remote and can't wait to upgrade to this from my 880. End of January can't come fast enough!

[Speddy @ Jan 6th 2008 9:48AM]

I've the Harmony 1000 and though I was impressed with it at first, eventually reality sunk in: Logitech is hit or miss with device firmware and setup.

You NEED a laptop or PC near your AV equipment. You need to setup most devices. I doubt they ironed out all their bugs (slow boot time, convoluted USB searching scheme, bloated software interface (again PC version supercedes Mac OS X version), no BlueTooth module, you NEED the RF extender (Only NOW do they bundle it with the 1000). Last but not least, more times than I like, on start up I have to Hit HElp, go through "Is your TV on now?". Rather embarrassing to show off AV "den of equity" with a $500 remote that can't remember what $3000 TV you use.

[Braden @ Jan 7th 2008 2:33PM]

http://schmartz.com/product.sc;jsessionid=6834A2A2913EA24F9E7B3E754D376D52.qscweb24?categoryId=1&productId=4

In case that doesn't work - schmartz.com
$50 USB device that allows you to power on/off a PS3 via IR, as well as control it with PS2 IR commands.

[LBalsam @ Mar 6th 2008 7:46AM]

Finally large legible buttons!

Now we can all buy one for our parents so they don't have to call us every time they want to watch a DVD.

I have been waiting for this for a long time. I do not see well and the previous models were unusable for me because I could not read the buttons.