The Logitech Harmony Elite Experience: Ultimate Control
by Brett Howse on February 14, 2017 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Accessories
- Logitech
- Remote Control
- IoT
- Smart Home
- Harmony
Final Thoughts
Logitech Harmony sits as the market leader in its category almost by default. Other than a professional systems, the world of universal remote controls is mostly low-end offerings, requiring users to manually enter remote codes, and offering very little customization. Harmony has been bucking this trend for well over ten years now, by offering truly customizable remote controls with the added convenience of one-touch activities. The Logitech Harmony Elite has been out for over a year now, and sits atop the product stack.
Harmony has made great strides in the last several years improving the software side of the house. The new MyHarmony PC software and smartphone app is worlds better than the old software. It is much more intuitive in its operation, especially the PC software which includes nice animated images on-screen to assist with any setup and configuration. The software is still the most cumbersome step, but the end results are easily worth the initial energy spent. Once you have the remote configured the way you like it, it truly becomes a universal remote control, much more so than any of the cheap models that come with a booklet of remote codes.
The remote itself is easily the most well thought out remote every to bear the Harmony name. The shape and materials make it excellent to hold in the hand, with the most used buttons falling easily into reach. The weight balance helps with any sort of fatigue issues, not that a remote is ever something you’d get tired of holding, but it does make it more comfortable to hold. Even the click of the buttons makes it feel like the premium device that it is.
I was at first skeptical about the Harmony Hub, and whether it would offer enough value to be worth the extra cost of the Harmony Elite setup, but once you use it, and see the benefits, it’s clearly a well thought out device. Adding the hub allows the remote to be used without line-of-sight, without the hassle of adding RF to IR adapters on all of your devices. The hub itself is also an IR blaster, and it can control up to two more blasters for remotely located devices. It also gives the Harmony Elite the ability to control devices over the network, which is a preferable, and more reliable, method of communication than IR can ever be, and for the devices like the Roku which support this, it’s a welcome addition.
The Hub also adds in the ability to control smart devices, such as lighting, plugs, thermostats, blinds, and more, as well as allow the system to be controlled by either a smartphone, or even with Amazon’s Alexa. I didn’t go over Alexa in this article, mostly because Alexa isn’t available in Canada so I didn’t have a chance to try it out, but once configured, you can use Alexa to power on your devices just like you would the remote. It’s a smart way to expand the capabilities of the Harmony system.
Logitech really has put all of the pieces together with the Harmony Elite. They’ve combined good software with excellent hardware, which is a feat that is all too often missed in consumer products. It would be pretty easy to say the Harmony Elite is the best remote control around that doesn’t need to be installed by a professional, but if you prefer that, there’s an Elite Pro as well.
The powerful remote control is stymied by less than amazing battery life, but you can still easily get several days of use out of it before it needs to go back in the charging stand. The multi-touch on the display is also a bit of a gimmick, but since you never need to use it, it’s not really a problem you need to deal with.
Really the one major issue with the Harmony Elite is simply the price. At around $300 USD, it’s a pretty steep price to pay for a remote, when every consumer device you buy has its own. The additional functionality of being able to control smart home devices is certainly a benefit, but these have not proliferated into the home like many IoT companies would like.
If you think you might like the Harmony system of activities, but think the Harmony Elite is a bit too much money, Logitech does sell other models, starting at around $35 for the Harmony 350. The capabilities are diminished, but the experience is still similar, with a remote programmed from your computer, and then set up to control devices based on activities. The Harmony 650 adds a color screen, and still comes in at less than $50. If you want to add in the Hub, that starts around $100, and so on. They even offer the Harmony Elite sans hub and smart home control, which is the Harmony 950. There’s a pretty wide range of products here, to fit most budgets. But they all pale compared to the Elite.
The Harmony Elite is a lot more money than even other Harmony models. Is it worth the money? In my experience, yes, it is. The combination of the remote and hub make for a fantastic user experience, especially when tied into the Harmony system of activity based use. The hardware is excellent. It’s expensive, but so are many things that are well made. There are lesser models available, but the Elite is truly a step ahead.
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JeffS - Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - link
We have had a Harmony Elite in our home theater for a year now, and it has been a really fantastic product. My wife was basically afraid of using the system until we got this remote, and now she has no problem using it even when I'm not home. The hard buttons are all intuitive, and the touch screen really makes it work. We don't have a particularly complex system and are probably the perfect target customer for the product, but it is complex enough to require multiple remotes if you don't use the Harmony. There's an Epson projector, an Integra AV receiver, a TiVo Mini, a current-gen Apple TV, and a Blu-ray player. The activities on the touch screen are straightforward- "Watch Apple TV," for example, does everything you'd expect. The IR blasters flood the entire room and are so powerful that even reflected IR from the walls controls components. When you're done, the hard "off" button shuts everything down cleanly so that the projector isn't left idling and using up bulb life.We have a lot of tech gadgets in our house. This one is near the top of the list for reliability and ease of use.
fanofanand - Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - link
I'm trying to imagine how ticked off I would be when my kids misplaced a $300 remote.Ratman6161 - Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - link
So, $300 is way more than I'm willing to spend. But I'm intrigued by the hub part which can be purchased separately ($96 on Amazon). Anyone using just the hub and the app without the actual remote?As to the limitations mentioned for the app, I have an older (from 2013) Android phone that doesn't have cell service and continues (at least for now Its android 4.4.4) to run current apps. So if I use this old phone as my remote, or my tablet for that matter, I'm thinking I wouldn't really need the actual remote.
Anyone actually tried this?
rmack350 - Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - link
I also have a Harmony Companion and feel that the Less is More aspect of it works really well. But the specs listed are wrong.The Companion is an RF remote with a coin battery. The coin is supposed to last a year but mine has lasted longer. No recharging required. You can use it anywhere and don't need to be within line of sight, and the remote is simple. The basic learning curve is really short. Honestly, I just use it for TV/STB, TV/Roku. and TV/BlueRay. It has three function buttons for that and you could assign different functions to them for short and long presses but I just skipped the long presses. I bought the thing to simplify the remotes, after all.
The cool thing here is the hub. It's actually the IR emitter and it just flashes the signal at the entire room. It's pretty much always got line of sight this way and it makes the remote more reliable. The problem with a universal remote is that it has to send a set of codes to each device it's controlling. Very often the user would set the remote down out of line of sight before it was finished. Pushing the signalling to the hub gets rid of that fail point. It's very reliable.
There are very few flaws to the Companion remote, except that the buttons are small and unlit. If it weren't for that the companion would make a great gift for elderly people.
CircuitWizardry - Thursday, February 16, 2017 - link
The lack of a hard number pad is a major fail in my opinion. I much prefer to quickly type in the 3 numbers of a channel I want to go to, than use a guide, or a favorite channel list, where I have to look down at a screen on the remote.In my opinion, they had the physical layout correct with the Harmony 900, and it included a blaster. I own three aging 900's, and the IP control would be a nice addition for several devices, but I'll deal with the occasional issue, in exchange for having the numpad.
The real competitor to Harmony is URC, but they won't allow end users access to their programming software... so my money goes elsewhere.
ceomrman - Thursday, February 16, 2017 - link
This whole thing makes me feel old. I used to love this hyper-complicated stuff. I had a Harmony back in the day, but now I use the stock TV remote only, 100% of the time. I have a very good 2.1 system plugged into a mid-range AVR plugged into a smart TV that has Plex and Netflix and Youtube apps. I press "on" and everything fires up. Two presses later and I'm looking at an app menu or watching TV. No need for a hub, since the line of sight to the TV is never a problem. I can adjust my LED lights with their free app. I do sometimes miss the AVR remote for changing the sub level, so I do have to twirl that little knob a couple times a year. Sometimes we put on the radio, but usually for a party or cleaning or something, when using the input knob is no more PITA than using the remote. Sound modes and stuff are gimmicks. I listen to the sound how it was recorded, or admittedly down-mixed if was encoded only in surround. Why would you want to listen to a club mix in Stadium mode? If the movie should have rumbley bass, it'll have it. I've never had any complaint beyond the occasional crappy over-compressed file quality. When we want TV, pressing the "on" button on the remote automatically preempts the radio. I just can't think of what I'd do with a disc player, or what else I'd like a universal remote to do for me. I suppose it'd be nice to control a Roku, but what I'd really like for that (and for the other SnartTV apps, actually) is QWERTY, which Logitech doesn't help with.Kakureru - Friday, February 17, 2017 - link
Ug, still using that garbage "cloud" based software. I need it to 1' work entirly offline without an harmony account, 2, a way to manipulate the codes directly as the software keeps misinterpreting what actually is learned in.Kakureru - Friday, February 17, 2017 - link
Also, I require ACTUAL macros that control my devices AND the remote itself. The "activities" thing does not do what I want.beyondtool - Saturday, February 18, 2017 - link
I cannot fathom why the battery life is still so abysmal. It's definitely the sore point of my Harmony one, over the years there have been many frustrating hours waiting for the damn thing to charge its special battery. It's enough to go back to multiple remotes, rather than pay $300 for this replacement...stangflyer - Saturday, February 18, 2017 - link
I use my Harmony and hub along with an Echo dot to do everything by voice. Now I can pause, forward, reverse anything from my Tivo,UHD player and Roku Ultra. The only thing I have to do is put the disc in the tray as it automatically opens and closes the tray after 10 seconds.