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.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
99 Comments
View All Comments
mjeffer - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
I've had a phone or two that had integrated IR blasters. While they work, most of the apps for them were clunky at best and tactile buttons are just so much better when you want to quickly grab the remote and change the channel or volume.SpartanJet - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
I bought the Elite and love it, though if I had to do it again I'd opt for the hub and cheap remote option as I use the iphone app almost 100% of the time. Though if I was an ADroid user (like the remote tablet that came with my TV) I'd have stuck with Elite as the ADroid Harmony app constantly crashes or loses connection with the hub...ADroid being ADroid I guess.mjeffer - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
"Perhaps I’m dating myself, but the television in my house when I was young required the viewer to get up and change channels manually."As a kid, I remember we had a VCR with this fancy new "remote". It was attached to the VCR with a long cord that plugged into the front of it that you had to drag across the room and risk tripping anyone who wanted to walk by.
Makaveli - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
As a current Harmony One user I like the upgrades however the price is a non starter. For an upgrade from a perfectly working remote its just too much. I would consider it at $199.CalifLove00 - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
This is a great product. I will say like most here, the cost the item is high when you think of it as just a remote. That said, this is an item that likely gets used every single day. IF you find it useful, it is likely because it is saving you from having to use multiple remotes EVERY day. When put in perspective, the benefit outweighs the cost. Should it be cheaper - yes, even $200 is fair. BUT, given it proves it's usefulness more than any other competing product (IMHO) at the end of the day, it's worth every penny.ALL that said, I would like to see Logitech offer better batteries. For whatever reason, EVERY single Harmony device I've had has had its battery die extremely early in the product life. While my elite bat has not died out right, it's life has fallen way off, The thing cannot stay off the charger longer than a days use without needing to be recharged.
Houdani - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
I have an Ultimate, and agree that placing the buttons north of the screen was a rubbish decision. In order to counteract their awkward placement, I opted to reprogram the channel up/down buttons to behave as skip forward/back buttons instead. From a usability standpoint I think this is better overall. I would do the same thing with an Elite.As a side benefit, this remapping of the buttons counts as a page up/down when browsing the channel listing.
As for the number buttons; I imagine folks mainly use them to type in their favorite stations. As an alternate, they can simply populate their screen with direct links to all of their favorite stations (including the logo for each station). Works great.
melgross - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
I've got several issues with this review, but I just want to mention an error here.The Harmony does not have a knowledge of state. What it has is a knowledge of whatever setting it has made. There really isn't any feedback to the unit as to real time state. That's why, if you make a manual change to any basic setting also available on the Harmony, it isn't aware of it.
A knowledge of state is when a device is updated as to the state of the devices it's being used with, regardless of whether the device has been used to change those settings. The Harmony has none of that knowledge, and it does lead to problems.
I've tried a number of their devices over the years, and I stopped using all of them after a short period of time. A problem is that the limitations on Harmony devices can exceed its usefulness. Any adjustments to the system often require a manufacturers remote to accomplish. As the remote has no idea of what you're doing, you need to reprogram it for these changes.
When someone sits down and grabs a different remote, which you can't always remove because there is some function or other the Harmony doesn't do properly, or at all, everything is thrown out of wack. The problem is that not every family member is going to understand how these remotes work, and will prefer to grasp the tv control instead. The works with kids, and even my wife.
Another problem comes when you have several ways to do basically the same thing. You need to make multiple set-ups for that which becomes clumsy, particularly since the screen doesn't allow good descriptions of functions. have three different ways to watch a movie? Three ways to watch Tv shows, music? That's a problem.
Yes, it can be done, but most people will find it a hair pulling problem. I'm not happy about it myself.
Makaveli - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
Some good points there.The easiest fix for the wife and kids is to hide those old remotes so everyone is forced to use the harmony. This way no can change state because there are no remotes to do so. My girlfriend is pretty bad with technology and doing this forced her to learn to use the Harmony and now she is fine with it.
melgross - Tuesday, February 14, 2017 - link
Sure, until they go and push a button on an a/v device, and leave it that way.Makaveli - Thursday, February 16, 2017 - link
Time to invest in locked cabinets :)