Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote | 
 enlarge
| Brand: Logitech
Category: CE
List Price: $129.99
Buy New: $64.48
You Save: $65.51 (50%)
New (54) Used (4) from $55.43
Rating:  606 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 11.8 x 7.1 x 2
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 966208-0403
Model: 966208-0403
UPC: 840356629193
EAN: 0097855037947
ASIN: B000EUGX70
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | Compatible with TVs, sound systems, and DVD players/recorders from over 3,000 electronics manufacturers | | • | Replace up to 15 remote control devices | | • | Sound and Picture convenience buttons help you change picture aspect ratios and sound modes. | | • | Connect via Windows/Mac PCs to receive updates, configure remote | | • | Interactive LCD screen and backlit keypad |
|
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Access your entire Home Entertainment system with just one button. Everyone from the kids to the babysitter can now enjoy the full home theater experience. Simply select an activity, and your Harmony universal remote will send the right commands so you don't have to juggle remotes or remember a sequence of buttons. There's even a handy Help button to guide you through simple troubleshooting and get you back in control. The Harmony universal remote is the world's only remote with Smart State Technology activity control. Just press one of the Activity buttons, such as Watch TV or Listen to Music, and your Harmony universal remote automatically sets up your entertainment system.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 Great Remote, controls everything including my Roomba! September 4, 2006
slick045
38 out of 38 found this review helpful
Well, my Sima SUR-20 remote finally died after 5 years, so I had to find a replacement. I decided that I wanted a true universal/learning remote that had more than just a touchscreen. I started my search with Harmony because I have heard a lot of good things about them. My criteria included: learning, full macros, configurable, easy to use for less technologically advanced people, good button lay out, and no rechargeable batteries. This pretty much ruled out the 880, 720, and 890. Honestly, I'm not that big a fan of the peanut shape anyhow. So, my real choices became the 520 and 550. Not too much difference, mainly button layout and device limitations. In the end, I like the 550 layout best.
I installed the software fairly easily. I made sure NOT to install the additional software that checks for updates, and I removed the software from the startup menu. Next I collected all the device model numbers. 10 minutes later I had the first iteration of my remote up and running. I spent the next hour tweaking the labels and layout of the buttons in my activities.
The result is that all my devices are setup perfectly (TV, DVD, Home Theater, Cable Box/DVR, Roomba, and my HP Laptop). The 550 does a great job of switching inputs on my TV and Receiver. Actually, I have more functionality with this remote than on the remote that came with my dvr (skip forward)!
I had equal ease of setup with my laptop and roomba. The only real negative is the speed, or lack thereof, of the software. The program is slow and it occasionally freezes for a couple minutes at a time. However, since you only need to use it when you setup a new device, it's not a deal breaker for me.
The remote is intuitive enough for most anyone. The help button easily walks you through any issues you might have when turning on or switching between activities. The activities are easy to configure and I was even able to set it up to leave my DVR on all the time.
All in all, the remote is great. I think that it is important to compare it to other universal remotes before complaining about it. It may not be as quick as entering a couple of codes, but the benefits are extremely worth it!
great upgrade to a great product November 2, 2006
M. Bauer (Colorado)
92 out of 101 found this review helpful
I have owned one of the orginal Harmony remotes for three years, and just upgraded to the new 550.
Other reviewers describe the effectiveness of Harmony's "activities" based set up, and it truly is a great solution for the complicated "many remotes on the coffee table" problem. I'd like to address how easy it was to upgrade from an older model to the 550.
I spent about 45 minutes perfecting my first Harmony using the online programming interface, and found it to be easy to use and comprehensive. When I unpacked my new 550, all I had to do was plug the remote into my computer's USB port, install the updated software (5 minutes), and download all of my existing programming (another 5 minutes). It worked perfectly!
Great new features:
The rubberized plastic back of the 550 makes it much less likely to slip off a table and fall to the floor.
The backlit LCD display is much easier to read.
Slimmer, more appealing styling.
Keys, while a bit small, are indented which provides much better tactile feel and response than the older model.
I am very pleased with this upgrade, and recommend it to anyone would like to easily control a variety of components with an intuitive, easy to use, single remote control. Well worth the investment!
Great remote with a great price tag! October 4, 2006
Brett S. (Connecticut)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
After doing a lot of research, and finally reading slick045's and Justin's review below (the icing on the cake), I decided to go with the 550. I was looking for a simple, cool looking, rectangular remote that could control all of my devices (without breaking the bank). Within an hour, I had the remote working exactly how I wanted (actually, in 10 minutes I had the first iteration of it going). I was suprised that it even had my remote control lights in the online database (3BM, which is not a common brand). I know a lot of people say the software is difficult, but once you spend 15 minutes playing around with it you will figure it out. I am technically savvy but I don't think you need to be with this remote's software...in fact, I was glad it had so much programming flexibility. The only "major" tweak I had to do was remove the delay on the 550 remote for my Scientific Atlanta cable box as there was a noticeable pause when entering channel numbers. I did this by going to "Adjust the delays" for the device and changing the "Inter-Device Delay" from 1000ms to 0ms and walla it was as quick as the original cable remote. I was also impressed how easy it was to set up the activities to do multiple commands at once. Bottom line, definitely a smart buy. As this is my first day with the remote, I will be sure to update if things change, but I really don't think they will. I am a happy customer down from 6 remotes to 1!
Great product - went 5 to 1 controls -- easy to setup ! August 26, 2007
Dan Sherman (Alexandria, VA USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Like other people with several pieces of electronics, I had become frustrated by having to set up and use different control units. Of course, one can sometime get an individual control unit to control more than one piece of equiment (e.g., control your TV off of a DVD control). I had tried to do this when I bought a new Toshiba HD-DVD unit and wanted to set up the DVD controller so that it could control my Sony TV. The problem was, however, that there were about 30 codes you had to choose from listed in the DVD manual to control a Sony TV with no sense which one might work. I mentioned to someone I knew after getting through about half of the list of codes and he suggested I look at getting a Harmony unit.
The Harmony unit is great!! It took about 15 minutes to set up and essentially get all of my common tasks such as playing a DVD, watching a TV show, listening to the radio, watching a video, etc all onto one easy-to-use control. In setting up the control, you link to your computer (and I have a Mac, which offered no problems) and simply enter the model numbers of each piece of equipment you have. You then do through simple menus to set up various tasks such as watching DVDs. The software will ask you some basic questions (i..e, which input on your TV does your DVD unit feed into) and then sets things up so that the one control takes the place of all of the others.
Instead of turning a TV on with one control, then turning your AV unit with another and the DVD player with the third, you simply click one of the activities listed on the screen such as watch a DVD. The appropriate units turn on just as if you had used the three separate controls and the Harmony unit becomes your DVD controller with all of the functions built into it. If you then want to watch a TV show instead, you click the button next to "watch TV" and the DVD player shuts off and the Harmony becomes a TV contoller.
I have found this to be a great product with a lot of nice features, both in terms of hardware and software. Other reviewers have described many of these, but one thing that has impressed me is the "glow" button that lets you light up the various buttons and screen so you can easily use the controller in a dark room. On the software front, it is very easy to make changes in the settings on your controller (e.g., if you switch jacks into which audio sources will feed) -- the inetrfaces are very nicely designed and efficient.
I have never said that a product deserves 6 stars, but this one does. It really helps to clear "control clutter" and makes it a simple task to manuever your way around you home theatre/audio system.
Best Universal for the Price July 13, 2006
Brandon J. Eckhart (Toledo, OH USA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've been using this remote for at least 6 months now and I must say this thing is awesome. Despite what other reviewers would have you believe, the ability to have every button from all your remotes is what I think makes this remote so great. Any "soft button" logitech doesn't include in the initial programing of your device can be learned through the IR port.
Also, my remote never misses a beat when switching between viewing modes. If I go from "watch TV" to "watch DVD", it gets all of the inputs right every time. This may be another issue of knowing how to program it properly.
I just had to give my 2 cents after seeing people giving this bad reviews based on improper use or not reading directions. I would buy this remote again in a heartbeat!
|
|
|
