Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote
by Logitech
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Our Price: $159.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $50.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote
Customer Review: Only remote you'll ever need
Summary: 5 Stars
The Harmony 670 is well worth the money. First of all you install the software which is very user friendly and input the equipment info for your devices. The Harmony is then connected via a usb cable from your pc to the remote. Don't ask me what you'd do if you didn't have a pc. The remote is updated and then you walk through steps on the remote screen to verify if your equipment is working properly. My equipment has alot of custom settings so it took a few times to get it all programmed correctly. Note: If you perform a firmware update at any time then your remote is set back to default settings and you'll have to do it all over again. This was quite frustrating and I had to call the Logitech Help Desk in order to figure out what happened to the remote. Amazingly the Logitech Help Desk was wonderful. You don't have a long wait, they're very knowledgeable and helpful and there aren't any language barriers. I was surprised that with my Harmony attached to the PC and being logged on to my Logitech software profile that Help Desk was able to also do some customization on my remote screen. I was thoroughly impressed! On my initial setup I had a Dish Network dual pvr, an Oppo upconverting dvd player and a Panasonic plasma. A couple of weeks later I added an Onkyo receiver, Wii and Polk speakers so I had to go through the Logitech Harmony software to add new devices and change the operation order of my equipment. It was so easy to configure this remote with all of my personal customized settings. The Logitech Harmony 670 works wonders! If I didn't have this remote I'd be using 5. The actual remote itself is designed like any other pvr remote so you don't have to learn anything knew and the glow feature is good for dark rooms. The remote is very user friendly and fits well in the palm of your hand. And the battery life is also very good. I am so thoroughly impressed with Logitech. It is great being able to consolidate all features into one remote. Believe me, this is so worth the money!Customer Review: Logitech Harmony 670
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this remote. It is easy to set up, intuitively organized and incredibly easy to use. This is actually the second one I purchased. A few years ago after getting into home theater in a big way, I found myself trying to 'train' the universal remote that came with my AV receiver, with only about 75% success - and still dealing with 4 or 5 remotes on the coffee table. I had a sheet on the table for my family to use: to watch TV, set the TV to Video 3, the AV to Digital 1, turn on the cable box, etc. For DVD or VCR, it was all different settings of course. After doing some research, I decided on the 670 for two reasons. First, I've had other Logitech products for my PC and they work great, and the reviews were solid. Second, the 670 was the "top of the line" in the segmenet of their products that used disposable batteries. This was important to me as the research I did suggested that the rechargable units worked great - until the batteries wore out and it was then expensive to replace them and they could also be hard to find. The backlight button is easy to find by feel in the dark, and illuminates the screen perfectly, without overusing the batteries. Batteries last nearly a year and the remote remembers it's commands when they expire (very handy!). So, I settled on the 670 and was delighted to discover that my family can now run the system, switching between TV, DVD, VCR, Radio, CD's, Game controls etc. without incident. The HELP feature is also very slick, as it resynchronizes the remote when needed and keeps things working as designed. All the other remotes are where they belong - in a shoe box in the closet. The 670 is all I need (even for the DirecTV Sattelite DVR). I recently purchased the second one to service another area in our home...the first one is still going strong, 4 years after my original purchase. Finally, the Amazon price and availability was impossible to beat. Great job guys, thanks for the great product and the terrific service.Customer Review: Exactly what I was thinking that I needed!
Summary: 5 Stars
I was researching universal remotes to replace 5 remotes on the coffee table. The problem was that to do anything: watch TV, watch a DVD, listen to music, I had to use at least two remotes and most of the time 3 remotes to get the job done.
Then I came on the Logitech Harmony. After researching those, the harmony 670 seemed to be the best choice: USB/Internet programming, LCD screen, DVR functions, etc. I got from Amazon.com in 3 days.
Programming was straight forward (not sure why some have had problems). I entered the model numbers of each component, and the application did the rest. After about 20 minutes of programming I tried it out. I pushed the Watch a Movie button and all my devices came on, Inputs were set and no problem. I pushed the button Watch TV (or DVR) and again the TV and Comcast box and DVR came on, the picture was set, inputs set and AV receiver was set. Next pushed Listen to Music. I have a HP Digital Entertainment Center (an older model) that would never work on any Universal Remote. It worked on this one! Everything worked as programmed.
Next I went back into the application with the remote on the USB cable and fine tuned some of the buttons. Such as Aspect on the TV was brought to the fist page of the LCD screen so I can zoom or justify the TV screen. Oddly the remote software sometimes places in numbers or letters in the LCD's first screen that have no effect on the components. But you need to customize the remote buttons in the software application to remove those and replace them with features you use.
The downside: the buttons are small and their text is small. But after a few days you memorize the positions of most of the buttons.
Anyway, I can place the original remotes in a drawer and just leave the Harmony Remote out. My wife picked it up and was able to one button Watch TV, a movie or listen to music. She says it is worth every penny.
Customer Review: As good as can be expected
Summary: 5 Stars
It is amazing what some reviewers can find to whine about. This remote does as advertised but it has to be set up correctly. To start with you will have to go online and create an account so that after setup your settings will be saved. The software that you must install on your computer will guide you through setup for all activities that you have devices for. Once you have setup your activities you will download them to the remote via a supplied usb cable. If you want to watch TV you press the watch TV button.This will turn on the TV, change the TV to the correct input if you were watching a movie the last time you used it, turn on the satellite receiver if you have one, turn on the AV receiver also changing it to the correct input. If you want to watch a movie and you are currently watching TV, press the watch movie button and it will turn off the satellite receiver,turn on the DVD player, and change the inputs on both the TV and the AV receiver to the proper one. You must however give the remote enough time to send out all the signals to each device. If you get in a hurry and the remote doesn't switch everything correctly,there is a help button on the remote that takes you by the hand and asks you a series of questions that will rectify the problem. The buttons feel solid and have a crisp feel to them when used. The only caveat is if you are recording on the dvr or have backed up the program and are not watching live TV when you press the off button it will not shut the dvr down. That is not the remotes fault just a function of the dvr. When you turn everything back on if the dvr was on the power toggle will turn it off. Just hit help and the problem will be taken care of or you can press device and turn the dvr back on from the dvr onscreen menu.For the price on Amazon this is a great remote. There are better remotes out there if you want to pay the price but this remote performs pretty well for the average setup.Customer Review: HighDef TV / Cable / DVR / Stereo users will love it - great gift item
Summary: 5 Stars
If you were like me you resisted getting a universal remote, much less paying almost $100 to replace your existing remotes which function perfectly (but separately). I was also highly skeptical (based on past experience with "programmable remotes" from the cable co) that one remote could really handle all the complicated functions for each component such as:
- changing the "aspect ratio" on your HDTV
- browsing your cable and DVR listings
- programming your DVR
- and controlling your stereo which provides sound for everything else (including DVD and CD players).
Much to my surprise the Logitech does it all. As other reviewers have noted, the online setup takes about an hour and is a bit more complicated than the cheapo universal remote where you just plug in a 3-digit device code. But the Logitech database is pretty extensive, right down to suggesting the proper model number format for each component manufacturer. And you can then customize the device though I found the default settings were adequate for most options.
Logitech now controls:
- Panasonic 50" HDTV (c. 2006)
- Phillips HD-DVD player (c. 2006)
- Comcast/Motorola DVR (c. 2005)
- Sony Stereo (c.1994!)
Alas my old Pioneer CD and Tape players (c 1988) never had remote capability - but I am loathe to toss them as my wife still loves her cassette mix tapes.
The best part is that I now simply push one button to turn on/off both the TV and Stereo. Or TV/DVD/Stereo. Not sure what I am going to do with the 4 old remotes, but our babysitter is sure going to be happy.
Thanks Mom and Day for a great birthday gift that will keep on giving even if I buy new equipment or change to Sat TV.