May 7th, 2007
Logitech Harmony 1000i Universal Remote Reviewed
By Martin Regtien
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
Quote:
The universal gripe about remote controls is that there are too many of them in the average household and they are too complicated to use. We want one device to control all the others.
Is that a pipe dream? Hardly. Universal controls have been around for quite some time with Logitech one of the key players in this field. Now they’ve brought out the ultimate control device: the Harmony 1000i Universal Remote. Capable of subduing every household and entertainment device within 10 yards! But how did I fare in subduing the Harmony? Well, that’s an entirely different story…
So it turns out to be a mixed bag but read the full story here.
Lewie says:
A universal remote control? Yeah, I’ve heard that before. I’ve gotten used to the fact that I’ll need three or four controllers laying around. What I’d like to have is a beeper on all of them, like on my cordless phone, so I can find them when I need them.
May 8th, 2007 at 4:22 am
MissingFrame says:
What kills the universal part of Logitech remotes is their software. I could spend a page of text explaining why it doesn’t work well. Basically they hide the most powerful features behind a neophyte menu system that is painful to navigate.
You really can have this one remote replace all your other remotes, but you’ll spend weeks fighting their software in order to do it.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:09 am
Jim Frost says:
I have three of their remotes. I concur with “missing frame” that the software is painful to work with; it wasn’t when it first came out, but they tried to make it friendly and managed to make it really hard to work with whenever you want to make a simple change.
But once programmed (and face it, even with the time you spend programming the Harmony it’s still less work for better results than anything else I’ve ever seen) the Harmony remotes are really great.
This new one, though … it’s big, and maybe that’s ok. But it doesn’t have hard buttons for a number of common features (like, say, “play”). I could see using this for a media room used primarily for movies and music but not for a living room.
May 8th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
OffBeatMammal says:
Sadly after my last exposure to the Logitech programing model - stupid web interface, slow, painful and inefficient I’m not inclined to waste another buck on these people until they come up with a decent local solution (or at least make a decent Ajax interface so I can drag’n'drop and not wait ages for each page refresh assuming I can find my way around)
My 880 remote was also pretty sloppy… the paint started coming off and the battery charging cradle was very position sensitive
May 9th, 2007 at 9:49 am