Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 31-35 of 603
 Well worth the money! December 31, 2006
Marc L. Soloff
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I wish I had bought one for everyone I know. I figured for $100 I'd buy one just to check it out... what a mistake. I should have bought 10! This remote couldn't be easier to set up. If you can spend a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars on a tv, dvd, home theater, etc... then you NEED this remote. I used to have 5 remotes sitting on the coffee table and my wife constantly messing something up or asking what button to hit. Now it's what I call "Monkey Proof." One button turns everything on and sets everything up and she can sit and watch TV. A must have.
 Harmony 550 January 27, 2007
E. Streck (New Jersey)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Despite Logitech's claims that it has a comprehensive online library of codes for many thousands of devices, there was no code for my very common Sony amplifier. I finally got the remote to work reasonably well, but it required four hours of fine-tuning its settings. There is a tech support line, but the wait time was horrendous, and they kept dropping my call.
If you are interested in buying this remote, it would be wise to call or write Logitech first to confirm that they have codes for each of your devices. Also, even when there is a code, it is necessary to reprogram the LCD display to make the most-used commands easily accessible.
I don't regret the purchase, but I would only recommend it to folks who have a lot of patience and fair degree of technical aptitude.
 Solid universal remote. Confusing setup. April 2, 2007
Wilkin Cheung (Fremont, CA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Like many 550 owners, I spent many hours setting up this remote.
Out of the box, 550 comes with an installation CD that gives me a software to program the remote. You can also program the remote via logitech website. Though I found the CD software faster and easier to use. But the process is still a pain. The software can really use some usability improvement.
My home theatre system has these components, I put down how easy/hard to setup:
- TiVo Series 3: Easy to setup.
- Sony HDTV: Easy to setup.
- PlayStation 3: Cannot be setup. Because PS3 uses bluetooth, not infrared.
- Belkin HDMI switch: Easy to setup.
- Samsung AV receiver, DVD, speakers: Absolutely pain. I spent a couple hours just on this component. The reason for the complexity is that, Samsung receiver has a wierd configuration. 550 kept failing to recognize the HDMI input. If you have another brand receiver you probably wont have this problem.
I used 550 mainly to watch TV. My 550 replaces my TiVo Series3 remote. TiVo remote has a much intuitive button placements for watching TV. 550 on the other hand, is not bad after I get used to it.
The 550 is comfortable to hold in my left hand. It is light, and I really like the ergonomics of the remote. It has a better feel than the TiVo remote which I consider an superb ergonomic remote, so 550 is very impressive in this regard.
For 80 bucks, I recommend Harmony 550. It replaces 5 remotes with one. If Logitech can better the setup process, then it deserves 5 stars. At this point, I can only it 4 stars.
Love this remote! April 11, 2007
Camille Gener (Huntington Beach, CA USA)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
PROS:
-Remote has an incredible feel to it. The rubberized no-slip grip on the back is great.
-It was really easy setting programming all of my components through the USB on my computer.
-The activities you can set up are amazing, I no longer have to hit 5 different power buttons to watch TV.
-You can set up your own personalized activities, like using your computer or video game system.
CONS:
-The numbers are a bit small and close together.
-To the buttons corresponding with the screen, I wish I could choose which buttons were assigned to them when you first bring up the menu. (Maybe you can and I haven't figured it out?)
Overall, it's a pretty amazing remote that just needs some minor adjustments.
Highly innovative but not perfect June 17, 2007
C. Longo (New York, NY)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Between my TV, cable box, DVD player, receiver, Apple notebook, and Xbox console I have a small pile of remotes I keep around for the rare occasion I need to use one for a special functions of a particular device. My cable remote has universal remote functionality but in a limited capacity. I needed something better, but the thought of tapping in obscure codes for each device into a standard universal remote really turned me off. Then I discovered the Harmony Remote line of remotes.
The idea seemed great. A database of remotes is kept online at Logitech. All you need to do is tell the included software what devices have and the rest is auto-magic. I was able to tell the software what devices I own, including a TV model which has been on the market for less than four months and it all just worked.
While the basic configuration is probably enough for most people I am the type who needs everything to be perfect. So, after everything was working properly I spent a lot of time refining the settings to my liking. This involved juggling devices and activities, tweaking timings, and configuring the buttons on the display. It took huge chuck of time and it is still a work in progress. The cool part is all the settings are stored on Logitech's servers, so I can tweak my settings from any computer (even work!) and just upload the changes to the device when I am ready. Pretty geeky, but very cool.
The design on the remote itself is nice. It has a slick, cell phone like feel to it. My only complaints are: The channel buttons are too small making them hard to tap blind. The hard-click arrow, volume, and channel buttons lack the rubbery tactile feedback as the rest of the buttons have making them seem out of place on the device. I would have also liked to have had a more prominent play button. It's the same size as every other "VCR" button making it difficult to isolate in the dark.
Harmony Remotes are activity based, not device based like other universal remotes. This means you need to stop thinking of your AV equipment as single devices but as collections of devices used in activities such as "Watch TV" or "Play a Game". This is great for technophobes because they need to just tap one button to turn on the TV, DVD player, and set all the line inputs accordingly. It can be frustrating when the sequence of events of turning on the devices fails because an obstacle was in the way (like the coffee table) leaving some devices off or not set to the correct input. There's a help button to fix these sorts of issues but it's frustrating for anyone who does not need everything over-simplified.
Overall it's a great remote, the proof being all of my individual remotes are currently locked up in a drawer hopefully never to be used again. There are a few nuances that keep this remote from earning a perfect five stars from me, but for the price it really beats any other solution out there.
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