Logitech Harmony 880 Advanced Universal Remote Control

This is the first universal remote I have owned and I love it. I had 4 remotes (TV, DVR, CD/DVD, VCR) and it replaced them all. I love the one touch button function to play a movie or watch TV. Great for my wife that doesn't know what remote goes with what and what each device needs to be set at. Also, nice color screen and feels great in your hand. The only reason I didn't get it 5 stars is the fact that you do have to make sure it beeps when you put in in the docking station or it will not charge. The docking station could be a little better, but still not bad. The other reason is the buttons. They all feel the same and are all pretty smooth between one another, so it's real easy to push the wrong button. Over all, I would recommend this to others. It was between this one and the Harmony One, but this has more 1 touch functions compared to the that remote.

Easy to program and easy to use. Outperforms other remotes I have used in the past.

I loved that all I had to do was install the software, put in my device name and model number...and the Harmony did the rest! I heart Harmony!

Why did I wait so long?

I have three different Harmony remotes -- I'm a big fan. This one is the most expensive of the three that I own, and it definitely has some benefits over its less expensive brethren. It's not completely without flaws, thoguh.

First, as I indicated above, I'm a big fan of Harmony Remotes. You can program them to do everything that any of your devices' IR remotes can do. In general, the dedicated buttons on the remote are enough to handle the tasks that you do 90% of the time. Less frequently used functions can be configured to appear on the LCD screen, which displays 8 items at a time, and can scroll. For really seldom-used functions, everything that a device's original remote can do is accessible in "Device" mode.

I have never had any trouble with the website's programming applets. Some folks hate them, but I'm not one of them. There have been occasions where I have had to try a configuration, and go back to tweak it, because it wasn't working exactly the way I wanted it to. I would rather do this on my computer, using the website's huge database of devices and IR codes, than to try to program it manually, the way I used to have to do with older universal remotes.

I also do not have the problems that some other folks complain about where the device state gets out of sync. I always program my devices using what they call "discrete codes", where there's a different command for "On" and "Off", instead fo a single "Toggle Power" command, and different commands for TV input selection. I never have to try to find the discrete code settings, even if they're not provided by the device's original remote, because Logitech's online device database already has all of the discrete codes for all of my devices stored and ready for me to use.

The Harmony 880, in particular, is really nice. I like having the dedicated charger stand, not only becuase I don't have to change the batteries, but because I always know where to find the remote. The charger stand itself is not without its wrinkles. As others have mentioned in their reviews, sometimes the remote gets a little finicky about precise positioning. This has gotten worse in the years since I bought the remote, to the point where I ended up talking to customer service about it. They have inidcated that I will be able to get a replacement cradle which corrects this issue, although the promised call back has been a little delayed in coming.

One other issue with this particular model is that the buttons are fairly smooth and flush to the body of the remote. This can make it a bit of a challenge to find the right button in the dark. The remote does have a motion-sensitive backlight feature, which makes the button-finding problem tolerable - if you pick it up (or sometimes shake it a bit), it lights up.

The button layout itself is fine. Buttons are right where they ought to be, seldom used buttons are smaller and out of the way. This model has all of the buttons that I need for the room where I use it, which includes a DVR.

Overall, this is a solid remote, at the expensive end of the awesome Harmony line. I've recommended Harmony remotes to everyone who's faced remote problems. If it weren't for the problems I've mentioned, I'd give it 5 stars. As it stands, it's just a bit short of perfect.

I purchased this Harmony 880 remote after talking with many of my technophile family members and friends. I wanted something that would work with all my a/v equipment and still be user friendly and easy to use. This remote is AWESOME! This remote takes just a few moments to program online (you have to enter all your equipment make/model numbers), then just follow the prompts, upload the data to the remote and viola! I also purchased the NYKO BluWave remote so I could use my Harmony 880 with my Sony PlayStation 3. Works like a charm.

Special thanks to other reviewers for all the helpful hints on how to set things up, troubleshoot some issues and how to fix them. I encourage everyone to read as many of the reviews as possible, because they include quite a lot of helpful information and fixes.

Bottom line: This Harmony 880 Universal Remote really is Universal. I now have ONE remote which operates EVERYTHING instead of SIX! Color me HAPPY!