The New Logitech Harmony Touch Remote

[Matt193]

Earlier this week Logitech released the Harmony Touch, the newest addition to their Harmony line of remotes. The Touch features a larger more feature rich touchscreen than the Harmony One in a slightly smaller package with fewer hard buttons. The suggested retail price is $250.



http://www.logitech.com/en-us/remotes/universal-remotes/harmony-touch

It looks interesting, but I'm not sure that I'm crazy about the Bluray/DVR control buttons at the top of the remote. One cool features is that you can program the touchscreen to react to finger swipes to do the same thing as the top set of control buttons. I am contemplating rplacing my old Harmony 550 with the Touch, but I'm going to wait until the masses have a chance to get their hands on it and see how it performs.

 

[treitz3]

Hello, Matt. It looks nice and well thought out. The only thing that I don't like about it right off the bat is the charging station. That's just more clutter for me and one more thing to plug in. I think I'd prefer just switching out the batteries. Like you, I'll wait for some real world reviews.

Tom

 

[Keith_W]

I was interested in this device so I went to Logitech's webpage to learn more. Obviously - if I buy this remote, I want to know if it will control my equipment.

First thing I fail to find - that this remote has a learning feature. Either it can not learn IR codes, or it has this ability and it is buried deep within their knowledge base and I have not yet been able to find it.

Second thing I fail to find - a listing of the equipment it will support. To view compatible devices, the webpage suggested I create an account, which I went ahead and created using a dummy email address. Then, it wanted me to download the Harmony software, which I did. THEN, it will not proceed any further unless I plug in my remote, which I have obviously not yet bought.

In short - I have no way of knowing if this remote will control my devices without first purchasing the remote. Given that my equipment list includes some 10 year old pieces of electronics and boutique brands like Cary and Playback Designs, knowing that this remote will work in the first place is very important to me. This is a very serious shortcoming on Logitech's webpage and it will be enough to prevent me from buying this product.

The webpage is myharmony.com. Go there and let me know if you have more luck than I did.

(post edited) looks as if this remote can learn IR codes. Link.

 

[DonH50]

I have an older Harmony that came highly recommended, but the interface and forced web tie to do anything has left me very displeased and I shan't get another. More often than not I struggle for an hour trying to do something that should be very simple, like setting a turn-on delay. You have to wade through various setup pages and it is not clear when to go on, quit, or maybe just toss the thing in the trash. There are some much better alternatives out there. Apparently Logitech has done Harmony no favors... It is great when it works and I like the layout and ease of use once programmed, but anything beyond the basics is about as fun as wading through Windows menus trying to find a feature you know it has but is buried in some arcane location that makes sense only to a Mountain Dew-fueled programmer at 3 AM... /rant

 

[Matt193]

Hello, Matt. It looks nice and well thought out. The only thing that I don't like about it right off the bat is the charging station. That's just more clutter for me and one more thing to plug in. I think I'd prefer just switching out the batteries. Like you, I'll wait for some real world reviews.

Tom

I agree that the charging station is a bit of a pain. I do like this design better than the style that the One uses. I had a One for a while but ended up returning it because it had horrendous battery life. I could only go about two days on a charge and I also hated how poorly the touchscreen worked. I hope they have worked out both of those issues with this one.

I was interested in this device so I went to Logitech's webpage to learn more. Obviously - if I buy this remote, I want to know if it will control my equipment.

First thing I fail to find - that this remote has a learning feature. Either it can not learn IR codes, or it has this ability and it is buried deep within their knowledge base and I have not yet been able to find it.

Second thing I fail to find - a listing of the equipment it will support. To view compatible devices, the webpage suggested I create an account, which I went ahead and created using a dummy email address. Then, it wanted me to download the Harmony software, which I did. THEN, it will not proceed any further unless I plug in my remote, which I have obviously not yet bought.

In short - I have no way of knowing if this remote will control my devices without first purchasing the remote. Given that my equipment list includes some 10 year old pieces of electronics and boutique brands like Cary and Playback Designs, knowing that this remote will work in the first place is very important to me. This is a very serious shortcoming on Logitech's webpage and it will be enough to prevent me from buying this product.

The webpage is myharmony.com. Go there and let me know if you have more luck than I did.

(post edited) looks as if this remote can learn IR codes. Link.

Keith, since I have a Harmony remote, I can go in and see if your devices are listed. I did find that one of my components was listed but it made me confirm a lot of the key commands before programming was complete. That can be quite the time consuming task.

I have an older Harmony that came highly recommended, but the interface and forced web tie to do anything has left me very displeased and I shan't get another. More often than not I struggle for an hour trying to do something that should be very simple, like setting a turn-on delay. You have to wade through various setup pages and it is not clear when to go on, quit, or maybe just toss the thing in the trash. There are some much better alternatives out there. Apparently Logitech has done Harmony no favors... It is great when it works and I like the layout and ease of use once programmed, but anything beyond the basics is about as fun as wading through Windows menus trying to find a feature you know it has but is buried in some arcane location that makes sense only to a Mountain Dew-fueled programmer at 3 AM... /rant

I and so many others agree that their software needs a major overhaul. There are many aspects of it that are not very user friendly.

What are some other alternatives that you have found?


I also ran across a picture of a Harmony 800 that looks to be geared toward HTPC use with a slide out keyboard. IMHO, this one doesn't look as user friendly with the omission of hard colored (red, green, yellow, blue) buttons as well as easily accessible number buttons. I suppose it would be possible to use the touchscreen to access them, but to me that's a pain in the back. It was supposed to be out this spring but I haven't come across any recent info on it. I am wondering if it has gone back to the drawing board to address some of the concerns that people were having about it.

 

[Keith_W]

Keith, since I have a Harmony remote, I can go in and see if your devices are listed. I did find that one of my components was listed but it made me confirm a lot of the key commands before programming was complete. That can be quite the time consuming task.

Thank you for your kind offer! Could you please see if these devices are on the list:

- Playback Designs MPS-5 SACD player
- Cary SLP-05 preamp

I suspect the rest of my devices will be supported, given they are from big Japanese companies (Yamaha, Fujitsu, Sony, etc).

 

[Matt193]

I had no problem adding the Cary preamp to my devices and it didn't prompt me to verify the IR codes so your fine with that one. Your SACD player is another story. They don't even list Playback Designs on their manufacturers list. That one you'll have to add and program all the buttons yourself which can be a very time consuming task depending on how many buttons your remote has.

 

[Keith_W]

Matt thank you for your help. I am not afraid of programming remotes. My current remote (Marantz RC9500) took me a month to program. It is now 6 years old and starting to act flaky, so I need a new one.

 

[FrantzM]

I had no problem adding the Cary preamp to my devices and it didn't prompt me to verify the IR codes so your fine with that one. Your SACD player is another story. They don't even list Playback Designs on their manufacturers list. That one you'll have to add and program all the buttons yourself which can be a very time consuming task depending on how many buttons your remote has.

You can suggest the Playback Design to Logitech. They are rvery esponsive to customers suggestions ...