Logitech Harmony 880 Review

Sex appeal come to your home theater with the new Logitech Harmony 880 remote control. It comes with a beautiful color display and looks like a million bucks.

Summary

No matter how many times I think I’ve found the cure to my out-of-control remotes, I always end up disappointed. Much as I’d like to get one clicker to handle everything, I’ve never quite been able to whittle down my infrared fiddlesticks to a single magic wand. So it was with some degree of skepticism that I tackled the Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote from Logitech.

Design and Features

 

The first thing you notice about the Harmony 880 is not the appealing 64K color screen (that’s the second thing) but the large charging dock that comes with it—the one that connects to an AC outlet. Since color touchscreens use a lot of power compared with monochrome displays that can last months on a single set of AAA cells, you need an outlet nearby to re-energize the device. Logitech rates the battery life of this lithium-ion rechargeable at one week. I knocked out one of three bars in an afternoon.

           

Harmony remote controls borrow from an impressive database of codes stored at Harmonyremote.com. Like other remotes in the Harmony lineup, the 880 operates up to 15 devices and 255 commands. Its Help button troubleshoots common problems, and prompts you through fixes when necessary. The remote has a backlight to illuminate buttons in a dimly lit room. Customizable buttons are available for each activity. For codes not known by the huge Harmony library, you can teach codes to the Harmony from the original by holding the two head to head. The device is compatible with Windows 98SE and later PCs and Mac OS X 10.2 and later.

           

Fifty-three buttons are included on the 8.1 x 2.3 x 1.3-inch device, with eight on-screen activity buttons for macros, or sequential commands. One smart extra is an aspect ratio button that appears on each video activity to let you quickly switch between 4:3 and 16:9 according to program material–without navigating menus.

 

Image Courtesy of Logitech

Conclusion

 

Remote control is hardly a perfect science. Combine the functions of thousands of remotes speaking various languages into strings of commands operating at different speeds, and you’ve got a constantly evolving database of complicated codes and communication.  The only universal remotes I’ve seen that worked flawlessly are expensive touchscreen-based remotes requiring hours and hours of painstaking programming. Custom installation pros can charge $2,000 or more for the service.

           

At $249, the Harmony 880 offers a good alternative. It offers easy setup, distinguishing features and a patient toll-free customer support team as backup. The more complicated your system, the more important the latter will be, but I found the tech support friendly and helpful each time I called.  

           

On the down side, I don’t like having to plug my remote into an outlet. It’s not convenient and just adds another unwelcome wire to the living room.

           

I appreciate how much work has gone into the Harmony process. I have my work cut out for me to tweak the custom buttons to my satisfaction, but Harmony has the tools I need to make it happen. The Logitech Harmony 880 is a leap ahead of many other universal remotes on the market.

 

Pros:

 

-          Beautiful color display

-          Works as advertised

-          Compatible with tons of products

-          Attractive design

 

Cons:

 

-          Requires a docking station that plugs into the wall for charging

-          Takes time to program

Performance

 

           

My first command was Watch TV. In theory, the TV would go on and switch to input 2. Instead, the TV went on, the cable box went off and the input didn’t change from its last setting on input 3. I used the help button on the remote, which prompted me to turn on the cable box and switch inputs on the TV with the Hitachi remote. The 880 help wizard asked if that solved the problem. It did, but three remotes were required which defeated the purpose of a universal remote.

           

When I switched to Watch TiVo, TiVo turned off from its on state and there was no TiVo button to bring up the menu of programs I had stored.

           

Next I hit Listen to Radio 2