Harmony One Review

The Harmony One is the second Logitech Harmony remote that I’ve owned. The first was the Harmony 880. The Harmony One was purchased to replace the aging and problematic 880, so this review does take a comparative approach between the two models.

The biggest problem I encountered with the 880 was that after some time, it would refuse the charge properly and it gradually got worse. It got to the point where it would not charge at all. This was a widely reported problem with the design of the charging cradle of the 880. Time will only tell if this same issue will plague the One as well because I had no problems charging the 880 initially. I do notice that the cradle design has changed and the remote does seem to sit more deeply into the cradle. Fingers crossed, I won’t encounter the same problem.

Set Up

Setting up the One was very easy especially as I had already previously set up the 880. The great thing with the Harmony remotes is that they are supported by a deep database of device codes and I had no problems entering the model numbers of the devices that I have and have the codes automatically downloaded into the 880 previously using the Harmony Remote application that comes with the remote. With the same software, I had the option to update it with a new remote and all my previously set up commands and activities were transferred over to the new Harmony remote in a matter of minutes.

Without the prior setup, the software does advice that it may take about 30 minutes to set up the remote initially. The Harmony system of using an online device database does help the set up process tremendously as you do not need to go through the laborious process of having the Harmony remote learn the button commands one by one as you would with more basic universal remotes.

However, I do find that the Harmony Remote application is not entirely user friendly especially when you want to fine tune the operations after the initial wizard driven process. The advance settings tend to be hidden all over the application. But overall, it is a fairly painless process of getting the remote up and running and setting up the activities or macros of a series of commands.

Another great thing about the Harmony is that it allows you to create custom channel buttons which is a very nice touch to have your frequently accessed TV channels one touch away with its own custom channel logos. IconHarmony.com is an excellent database of high quality channel logos.

Usage

There are a few key noticeable improvements in the One over the 880. Firstly is the new touch screen. It’s a larger and brighter display with touch support which is a big improvement over the 880 screen. Secondly, the One also has a redesigned button layout with larger buttons that are grouped more logically by function. The feel of the remote is also much better. While the remote is larger than the 880, it sits much better in the hand.

Summary

Overall, the Harmony One works in exactly the same way as the 880 but with an improved cradle design, touch screen and much better button layout. For users who are happy with their 880, there is no compelling reason to upgrade. But for new users, I would recommend this design over the 6xx and 8xx series which sport the same design as the 880 which is not very user friendly.