Big improvement over other Harmony remotes - you'll never look back!

"Stupid universal remotes. They'll never understand me", I'd grumble disdainfully as I ripped open a new 20-pack of AA batteries. "They just don't get it. MY setup is different!"

That's true. My home theater setup is different, in the same way as everyone else's in 2006. We have DVD, PVR, receivers, game consoles, computer media centers, all working together, but each with its own special functions, requiring its own special remote. You hate juggling five different remotes but what can you do? Is there a universal remote out there that can really do EVERYTHING you need?

Yes. Logitech's Harmony Remotes are light years beyond what other universal remotes are capable of, because they balance ease-of-use and automation with unlimited fine-tuning capabilities. This is accomplished with two unique features:

1) Harmony remotes have USB connections, a slick Windows interface, and a huge online database of existing devices. You plug in your remote, assign devices from the database (you can add your own in the unlikely event it doesn't show up), and either accept the automatic button layout or redefine it right on your screen.

2) Activity Mode. This clever feature makes it easy to juggle all your devices with one remote. You can define an activity, say "Watch a DVD", and with the press of one button your remote will have everything up and running, and the remote configured to control whatever functions you need, across ALL your devices, without switching back and forth.

All Harmony remotes share these features. In fact, there isn't a great deal of functional difference between most Harmony remotes, because any button can easily do whatever you need. That said, the buttons are labeled and laid out to optimize the different remotes for certain users. Also, the more expensive remotes have color screens and can control more devices.

The Harmony 550, which I am reviewing here, is an all-purpose remote especially good for users with DVRs like TiVo. It handles 12 devices, which I think is plenty. It's also one of the cheaper Harmony remotes, but one of the newest, and definitely one of the best.

Let's take a closer look.

Packaging
The remote comes packed in one of those horrible plastic bubble cases, the kind you need the Jaws Of Life to pry open. Included with the remote is a clear and concise manual (no surprise; Logitech goodies always have decent manuals), an installation CD, a USB cable, and four AAA batteries.

Aesthetics, Ergonomics & Build Quality
This remote looks incredibly cool. One of the reasons I held off on buying a Harmony was how uuuuuugly they were! This one's different - it's sleek and modern, with a shiny black and gunmetal front accented by a cool blue LCD screen. This remote is one of Harmony's cheapest, but it looks like their most expensive.

It's a joy to hold as well. I have small hands and I hate big clunky remotes that I can't use comfortably. No problem here. The buttons directly under your thumb are the ones used most often: volume, channel, menu and arrow keys. Just north of that is a few more menu buttons, then playback control (pause, rewind, etc.) then the neat-o context sensitive blue screen, which is surrounded by its own buttons whose purpose changes depending on what's on the screen. I consider this a last resort; I don't want or need to look at a little screen to use my remote 99.9% of the time. But it's nice to have the option. At the bottom you'll find the number keys. Hard to get to, but that's just fine, because most of us hardly use those buttons.

The back is a nice, rubberized matte black finish. This, along with the shape created by the battery compartment, makes the remote feel snug and comfy in your hand.

The buttons themselves are a mix between the usual rubber kind and a hard plastic kind. Some of the rubber buttons, mainly the PVR menu ones, are a little weird to press down - you might not get a good "press" unless you hit them at just the right angle. The hard plastic buttons give a resounding CLICK, which I like. Some reviews state that these plastic buttons feel cheap; I disagree. All the buttons, and the remote itself, feel very solid and well-built.

Setup
I give the software a resounding bleh, because it's a slow and klunky memory hog. But it beats the hell out of punching in those annoying codes, or hitting "volume down" 73 million times like on other all-in-ones. And ultimately, it works as it's supposed to.

Installing the software was a breeze, as was hooking up the remote with the supplied USB cable. After that, you'll need to select your devices from drop-down menus, and the remote will be auto-programmed accordingly. The online database should have your device already, but if not, you can add it yourself so the next user benefits.

That gets you close, but of course the Harmony can't perfectly mimic the layout of all your original remotes, so it needs to guess at the layout you'd want, and which functions should be left off. For example, the default programming for my DVR leaves off the menu function that lets me view my recorded shows. The function is still available from the list in the software, it just hasn't been assigned to any particular button on the remote.

No problem! Now you tweak. You can directly assign ANY function, from any device, to any button on the remote. You do this using a handy on-screen diagram; just select a button, and choose it's function from the drop-down menu. In the highly unlikely event that you [i]run out of buttons[/i], you can use the LCD screen to scroll through any remaining functions. But again, I consider this a last resort and a very unlikely scenario. This thing has a lot of regular buttons to use up first.

Next, you'll probably need to go into the setup options and play with the Delay Settings. By default, the Harmony remote is rather sluggish, with very slow button-response time. You can fix that with Delay Settings, but you might need to play around a bit to get it just right.

Ta-da! It was a bit of a hassle, but you now have a remote that will perfectly emulate your devices, and you can switch between them at will. You could stop here, but then you'd miss the joy of Activity Mode!

After configuring the remote for your devices, you can add Activities. These are basically macros that turn on whatever devices are needed, select the right input to the receiver, put the TV in the right mode, adjust other picture and sound settings, etc. So with one button press, you're ready to go. The remote then remains in this "activity mode" unless you manually put it in the "device mode" you're used to on other remotes. And again, if needed, you can tweak each activity. For example, in the "Watch DVD" activity, you might need to access your TV menu functions periodically. No problem, just add those functions to some spare buttons on the remote.

If it sounds complicated, well, it kind of is. But you'll get the hang of it and once you're all done with setup, you will wonder why on earth you put up with all those other remotes. This one's worth the pricetag.

Using The Remote
As mentioned above, the remote is a joy to hold and use; it fits nicely in the hand. Once you've gotten all your buttons just how you like them and tweaked your delay settings to fix the default lag, this remote works like second nature. The remote has built-in troubleshooting; if a device does not turn on or something does not work correctly, the LCD screen will walk you through a series of steps until the problem is fixed.

There's not much else to say about the Logitech Harmony. It's the first universal remote I've ever used that let me keep all the others in a draw, permanently. Highly recommended!