Hardware Review: Logitech Harmony 550 Universal Remote

I’m starting to wonder if I can go a full week without spending ridiculous amounts of money on new toys. This weekend we finally switched over to DirecTV, the new receiver is cool and everything but I have my Series 2 TiVo and I need to control the DTV box through the TiVo. At the same time I want to be able to easily control the DTV box’s standalone functions along with my TV and my new up-converting DVD player all without picking up 10 different remotes to pull it all off.

I knew there was only 1 product that could help, 1 device that could seamlessly control all of my entertainment gizmos with just a few buttons and that device is the Logitech Harmony Remote. I’ve actually been looking at these remotes for a while but I just couldn’t justify the price tag. I mean these things can cost up to $400.00 and it’s just a remote! That’s all it is, a remote control… Or is it?

This weekend I bought myself the Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote. This is the cheaper model, it only retails for a mere $130.00 USD, I actually had Best Buy price match it to a price I found on Amazon.com for 79.99 shipped, but still.

I’ve only had a few hours to really sit down and play with the thing so this review will contain primarily my initial thoughts of the remote. I guess the Harmony 550 can only be described as “Complicated, yet simple.” I say that because at first the remote seems overwhelming. I mean this remote can literally control everything and it shows, lots of buttons and things going on. At the same time, as I’ve said I have only had a chance to play with the remote for a few hours and I’m already quickly getting used to all of the functions due to the highly intuitive menus on its LCD.

The remote is a snap to configure. You have to have a computer to get everything going and it’s helpful if the computer is near the devices you want to set up. In my case I had my notebook in my bedroom and I was able to test everything as I was programming the remote. I could definitely see running back and forth with the remote in the initial setup process being a pain as you will likely need to go back into the software to customize everything in more detail. The configuration software is very easy to use and every single detail really is highly customizable. You can control which button does what for which device or you can use a quick and easy wizard to walk you through the setup of your ‘activities’.

The activities feature is basically the primary focus of the remote. You can select like ‘Watch a DVD’ and it will switch your TV to the right input, turn on your DVD player, it can even automatically press play or open the tray for you all with a single button. In my case, I needed the configuration to be slightly more advanced when it came to my TiVo and the DirecTV receiver working together. I wanted the ability to have certain buttons such as the info button pop up information on the DTV box, but the other buttons control the TiVo, I had a feeling that the Harmony remote would be the only one that could pull off something like that and I was right.

The remote comes with everything you need to get started. It came with two sets of name brand batteries, USB cable and software and a quickstart guide. I didn’t have to buy anything extra to get the remote going or anything like that.

The remote itself as you see in the pictures is pretty good size, but its super slim. It has a real nice feel to it, the build quality is good… It doesn’t feel cheap at all, In fact it reminds me of a cell phone in terms of weight and quality. It’s nice.

The backing is has a rubberized texture making for a nice grip which is good, you don’t want to drop this thing on a hard floor or something. Although the remote feels sturdy enough to where you probably could get away with dropping it without sustaining significant damage. The LCD screen and the backlight on the keys are also very cool looking. The LCD could be higher resolution as it often uses more than one line for some of the options that should fit on a single line. But I guess for a LCD screen on a remote control what can you expect? I suppose the higher end Harmony remotes with the color LCD’s might have higher resolution LCDs.

The LCD screen is going to be one of the key features to this remote and you will find yourself looking at it fairly often to control the proprietary buttons to say your PVR or TV. For example, my LCD TV doesn’t have a Sleep function in the menu system but the remote for the TV has a dedicated ‘Sleep’ button. The harmony remote doesn’t have a dedicated sleep button so it actually shows up as a soft key on the LCD screen. Very cool.

Another function that this remote has is a Help button. You can press help when something unexpected happens or if you get lost and the remote will actually try to resolve the problem for you. An example of this is when my TV and DVD player were not turning on in sync. I pressed help and it asked if the TV was on, I said no and it turned it on for me and asked if the problem was resolved. From then on I haven’t had the syncing problem again.

I could honestly go on about all of the cool little features I have found and have yet to find on the Logitech Harmony 550 but if you’re seeking more information or technical specs I would take a look at the remote’s product page on the Logitech website.

If you’re looking for a remote that can control EVERYTHING and can control everything very easily… In harmony if you will. Or if you’re looking for a somewhat affordable remote control that can perform said harmonical goodness, then I would highly recommend the Logitech Harmony 550 Advanced Universal Remote control.