Logitech - Harmony 550 Review

The Harmony 550 is one of (if not THE) least expensive of the Harmony series of universal remotes by Logitech. But It has almost as much functionality as the most expensive one. Most of the differences are in the extra bells an whistles (like a touch-screen). The 550 will replace all of your remotes to your home theater set-up. Unlike many other universal remotes that require you to enter various codes for each component who's remote you're replacing, and which can become obsolete as new equipment is released, the Harmony gets its remote codes from logitech via a web-like interface when it is connected to your computer. This way, as new equipment is released, the remote codes can be downloaded over your computer, ensuring that this remote will not become obsolete. The Harmony series of remotes basically operate via macros, which, if you've used other programmable remotes, combine multiple operations into the press of one button. Unlike other remotes, these macros are virtually programmed for you by the Harmony web browser-like software. All you do is answer some questions and the software sets every thing up for you. You can also go in and tweak things to your liking, if the default settings aren't doing everything you want. It's all fairly intuitive if you are comfortable surfing the web. Once everything is programmed, you simply press the button next to the activity you want to do, i.e. Watch my TV, or Watch a DVD, etc. The harmony then turns on the proper components and sets any inputs or channels to the ones specified in the set-up. If everything isn't right, there's even a pretty comprehensive and user friendly help system built right into the remote. You do have to keep the remote aimed in the general direction of your components when selecting an activity, but it's still much easier and faster than pushing the appropriate buttons separately on multiple remotes.