Logitech Harmony 880 Review

[Murd0ck]

If your like me you have a lot of audio and video compents. In having all of these nice toys what comes with it... Remotes.. If your married you know what a pain it can be to deal with all these remotes and the "wife" factor.

So I was on a mission to one buy a new toy and help with the wife factor.

After looking at different remotes and different functions I found the harmony 880. The MSRP is $249 but doing some googling I was able to find it for $159 plus using google check-out I saved another $10 plus free shipping from JR Computer World.

I know the price tag seems a bit high and I was at first worried about it. I mean $150 for a freakin remote! LOL

Well the product arrived on the day it was suppose to. Once the family went to sleep I was able to mess with it.

Wow is all I can say. Setup took about 40 minutes. Which might seem like a lot but I have rather a unique system and wanted to make sure all the macros were set up perfectly.

Let me tell you that the setup was very easy. I have setup many unviersal remotes and this was so nice. Setup is done via your computer. All you have to do is log into harmony website and it runs you through a bunch of questions. Mainly all the end user needs to no is what model number they have of each equipment. Not a problem here.

Once you enter all that information it is time to make the macros. Which was a breeze with thier software.

Now when I want to watch tv from the direcTV I press 1 button. My tv changes to the correct input, as well as my reciever. Then if you want to watch a dvd you press another button and the setup again goes to the correct settings.

Now I have meedio setup and again setting it up was a little trial and error but again its a unique setup so I figured it would be tough. It was a lot easier than even I could have hoped for!

Logitech has gone to great lengths to make thier remotes work with just about every piece of hardware out their (they are constantly updating their database). They even had the info for my Helios x-3000HD (I figured I would have had to teach the remote those settings).

Thier color display is nice I mean its not HD quality or anything but its a remote and it does the job. You are able to select a few icons and rename all your macros so it displays the name on the remote making the wife factor even better. In my case I have 3 setups Labeled DirecTV, Meedio, Helios. Soon I will add a Music Macro.

Another nice feature is that you can setup 16 favorite channels to jump to when watching tv. Again I have mine setup to DirecTV and setup some of the families favorites. The cool thing about this feature is it allows you to put an image attached to that channel. Very Cool..

Batteries? Who needs batteries.. LOL With the 880 it has actually a decent looking docking station and charges it. The nice thing about this is one you dont go through batteries and two most of the time you no where your remote is!

I am sure there are many that already have this remote or some of the newer ones. But those price tags where a bit higher than I wanted to spend.

There are a lot more features that I havent messed with. And look forward to messing with.

There are only a few drawbacks for myself. One is that it will not control the PS3 since it is bluetooth. The other drawback might be is that everytime you adjust your setting on the computer is that you have to update your remote via the usb cable.

For using the 880 I went from 5 remotes to 1 and zero batteries. Also on my JVC remote to switch from one input to another I had to toggle through them to get the correct one. With the 880 it jumps right to it. This alone was a huge time factor.

I would rate this a 9 out of 10. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to elimante all their remotes and um make the wife/girlfriend much happier which should make you happier in the end.

Murd0ck

[PS3 News]

Nice review HMM! I have added it to our Reviews section too! +100 credits

[out4it]

Harmony's are nice and IMO worth the $. It controlls everything. I have a 659(for like 2 yrs) and just added the 360 remote a few months back. Love the macro feature. I hit XBox 360 and it turns everything on,sets the correct input,etc.etc. Does the same for all my other AV equipment. If you are lazy or just don't like switching things...these remotes are for you!!!

[yotengotaco2005]

does it have a button for picture to picture, surf button or i-Link? just curious :??

[out4it]

Yeah. What you do is plug it in to usb on pc and it goes to the site. You add whatever devices you want. They have all the programs for each device's remote on the site. Tell it to add a device,the model number and its added. You then have to go to the setup portion and it walks you right through it. Takes minutes. And whats nice is if you upgrade something,you plug back in go to site,delete that device and add another.

[Murd0ck]

It should also be noted that if by chance logitech doesnt have the device in their database you can always teach the remote those keys/functions. I added some additional keys for my meedio setup and it was very straight forward and oddly for me worked on the first try.. LOL

[Starlight]

So you are now wired or in your case wirelessed for sound Murd0ck.. Nice.

[Murd0ck]

I was doing some research for the next house we build (which is a few years away) on IR Dimmer switches.

This remote is compatiable with the switch. So once I install the switch it will control all the can lights on that circuit. Then I will just have to create a macro for it.

Then once I jump to that macro the dimmer lights will dim down to my personal perference.

Now to just start designing the Media room.

Murd0ck

[out4it]

Yeah I forgot about that. These remotes can control anything that has IR. I use it for my air conditioners and ceiling fan. Its the ultimate in lazy!!!