Logitech Harmony 525 Remote

In an attempt to get rid of 6 different remotes scattered around the house I decided to get hold of the Logitech Harmony 525 Remote. I've been reading a few mixed reviews of it, but so far I'm pretty impressed. The software that follow the remote worked perfectly on my Laptop running Vista Business, and installation was really easy. The remote is programmable via USB and the accompanying software, that access the Harmony web site, makes it very easy to program the remote as their database contains details for just about everything. All my devices were available at least. The only thing that didn't work "out-of-the-box" was volume control on my amplifier, so I might have to learn the new remote some of the old ones tricks. The software also guides you through the "Activities" setup. Activities are basically a pre-set set of steps needed to do a task. One Activity might be to watch a DVD, where the remote turns on the TV, the amplifier and the DVD player with the press of one button on the remote. This feature makes it really easy for the kids to watch a movie in our downstairs movie-room, where the projector is mounted to the roof. All in all I found the software pleasant to work with, and I'm sure that if I spend a little more time with it I'll be able to customize the remote to behave exactly like I want it to. I was up and running, with all my 6 devices, in about 10 minutes and that included downloading and flashing the remote ROM version and specifying which devices I wanted it to control. So far I have it managing one TV, two DVD players, one amplifier, one projector and our Playstation II. The remote feels good to use, and the blue-backlighting gives it an exclusive look that I really like. The buttons are responsive, and the in-hand weight is good. I would have liked the LCD screen to be a bit larger, but that would also make the remote itself larger so it's a pretty good compromise as is.

Posted by Christian Mohn aka h0bbel