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Review NaN of
Price Paid:
$110.00
from www.onecall.com Summary:
Logitech Harmony 659
*DISREGARD STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES AND SIMILAR PRODUCTS USED*
If you hop into a forum these days looking for universal remotes you will undoubtedly stumble across many posts concerning the “Harmony” line of remotes. Recently acquired by Logitech, the Harmony line boasts an easy to use, online interface for programming your remote. The other major departure from the norm as far as universals go is the adaptation of macro buttons on the top of the controller to do things like “Watch TV” or “Watch A Movie” instead of the typical “TV”, “DVR”, “AUDIO” buttons that come standard on even most factory remotes. Many of the Harmony remotes even allow you to download TV listings directly if you happen to not have an on-screen guide available through your cable provider.
Knowing that most budget minded people will look to the least expensive, yet still feature rich controller, I opted to test the Logitech Harmony 659. Esthetically it is a very attractive controller. The dark grey chassis uses two silver ovals to define the upper and lower sections of the remote. Toward the top are your macro buttons along with your media button and selector buttons that control the information displayed on the back-lit LCD screen. When lit, the controller emits a nice, blue luminescence that displays the text fairly well. The middle and lower sections of the controller have the more familiar navigation controls, channel and volume controls, as well as your number buttons and video transport controls (play, pause, record). In total there are a whopping 51 buttons, yet they are laid out in a way that is appealing and makes sense.
On the internet, you can find several very detailed reviews of this remote, so I do not plan for this to be your commonplace description and breakdown. I think everyone that can get their hands on this remote would agree that it is, for the money, ($149.99 or less) a great value.
What I would like to talk about is the process of getting the Harmony 659 working like it should. Logitech would lead you to believe that this is a very easy, trouble free process, but that was unfortunately not my experience.
The installation of the software provided went well enough. When I plugged the remote in, the software picked up after a few plug/unplug attempts with the USB cable. When it did begin communicating, the remote was updated. I was not very happy when the remote gave me an error, but we have not downloaded my system information to the remote yet, so at this point I am still hopeful. I went to the Harmony website, which redirected me to Logitech and their new remote section. I used the “test drive” login I had established earlier. This login and “orientation” walks you through the different devices you want your Harmony to control. This process too, was easy enough, though at times needlessly redundant. Often I felt like the setup was so simplified it was hindering progress. It should be noted that this is the ONLY way to set this remote up. If you find you are the type of person that struggles with navigating web sites, or prefer to punch in remote codes like most universals, you should seriously consider another alternative. Also, there is no way to store your remote configuration on your PC once you have it all figured out. I personally live in a very rural area and am unfortunately limited to dial up software, which leads me to my next complaint: Strengths:
For the record, it takes a little over 1 hour to download a 24 megabyte file using a 56k modem running on a reliable 42k connection. Once my configuration was ready to go, I was prompted to download the 24 megabyte update for the Harmony Software. Now I don’t mind having to download updates, but please, tell me when I start and not halfway through the process. I am required to download the update, uninstall the previous software, install the new software and reconnect to the internet. Once there I was ready to upload my system information. It took me another 20 minutes to figure out that the Harmony software was incompatible with the Mozilla’s Firefox web browser. Once switched to Micro$oft Explorer the software finally opened correctly. At this point, I have been working on this remote issue for about 1.5 hours. It was 9:30 PST on a Thursday evening, and I am MORE than ready to start using my new Über-remote, my login information is input, Enter is pressed, my windows flag is waving in the upper right corner of my browser, the beaded sweat is wiped from my brow, as the digitized version of words slid through the fabric of cyber space stopping only briefly on my monitor to inform me that the Harmony remote web site was down for maintenance and that I needed to try again later. Although I did not look into a mirror to confirm this, I am almost positive I had steam billowing from my ears and fire blazing from my eyes. I decided to take my well earned break and try the remote later that night, I mean after all it is only 9:30. My last attempt that evening was 11:45 p.m. with no luck. While I still had not given up on this remote, I was mentally reminding myself of the return policy of the store of which I had purchased this fine paperweight. Weaknesses:
The next day, I logged in, downloaded, and installed my A/V system information into my remote. It was a good 24 hours before it was done, but complete none the less. I came into this situation expecting my Dish receivers to not work properly, and I was correct. My Dish 522DVR box uses an RF connection which is incompatible with the Harmony659. I was, however, able to get my HD box (Dish 811) to work properly but only by configuring the buttons one at a time. This was not a Harmony remote issue, but rather a Dish STB problem. The macro buttons at the top of the remote did not work properly untill significant tweaking was employed. If I pressed the “Watch TV” button my Amp would shut off every time. I tried using the “Help” button which did not resolve this issue and in the end I had to leave my Amp set to always on. Also, my volume and channel controls had to be fine tuned as they would jump two channels or two volume levels when the button was pressed only once.
After 3 days of working with the Harmony 659 and only having it service 60% of my equipment reliably, it went back to the store. In my opinion the benefits of the online setup are negated by the clumsy software and general difficulty I had with what seemed like easy tasks to perform.
While my personal experience with this remote was frustrating, my opinion is overwhelmingly the minority when it comes to the Harmony line of remote controls. Most opinions of this remote are positive, which lead me to purchase in the first place. Similar Products Used:
Where I had a difficult time setting this remote up, I am sure that there are others who had it work flawlessly out of the package. This remote will be the perfect solution to many casual home theater enthusiasts, especially those that feel computer integration is an important part of their lifestyle. Still, as gadget oriented as I am, I would still rather just punch a few numbers into my new remote and program it the old-fashioned way instead of having to rely on my computer and internet connection to do the job for me. If you spend the time to tweak and adjust this remote, it could very well be the all-in-one you are looking for. I have decided to go a different route. I will let you all know how my experience with the Universal Remote URC200 Automator with the MRF100 RF Expander goes.
Jeff Simon
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