SmartHomeUSA.com Home Automation

[RemoteShoppe]

Rating 4 out of 5 stars. Subtract a point if you are upgrading from another Harmony remote

The rating on the Logitech Harmony 880 remote may be a bit jaded because it was not my first experience with the Harmony technology. (click here for Remote Shoppe's review of the Harmony 688) In short, I would say if this is your first Harmony remote you will be ecstatic and therefore 4 out of 5 stars is certainly reasonable. However, if you have been waiting for the 880 as an upgrade to a previous Harmony model or as the ultimate combination of power and ease-of-use I regret to say you may be left still wanting more… resulting in a lower 3 star rating.

Pros
Harmony's online set-up is one of the quickest and easiest in the industry. The remote is not only easy to set-up but also easy to use. It has a color screen, Favorite Channel buttons with customizable icons, automatic backlight with motion sensor, high-tech design, Rechargeable LiIon battery, and excellent Logitech support

Cons
Low resolution screen, no TV Listing capability as originally advertised or as seen in other Logitech Harmony remotes, no macro capability or XML editing, some buttons are tiny and difficult to read, charging cradle is touchy, no native FireFox support for online programming

The Logitech Harmony 880 is a state-of-the art remote packed into a high-tech housing that would excite most gadget lovers. This is the first Harmony remote launched since Logitech took over the Canadian company, Intrigue Technology, and I was impressed to see the larger, full-color screen packed into the same compact “peanut” shaped design. In fact, in a side-by-side comparison there appears to be no difference at all in the overall size of the 880 vs. the 688. However, like the 688, some of the buttons on the 880 are packed into the layout so tightly that they do not lend themselves well to the true “hunt & peck” user. The Mute, Previous Channel and other buttons located just under the LCD screen were the most bothersome for me and my fat sausage-fingers although I will admit this has become a bit easier with extended use.

To set-up the 880 you just log into the Logitech Harmony Member Site and answer some basic questions for each of your devices. Who is the manufacturer of your TV? What is the model number? Then, when your code is located you may move on to the next device. In the rare circumstance where you may stump the database or, even more likely, when there are multiple codes possible for your device, the software will ask you to take a few additional steps by pressing a few buttons from the device’s original remote. Once my television, home theater receiver, satellite receiver, DVD player and lighting controller were all appropriately programmed I continued to set-up the “Activities.” These are the secret ingredients to Harmony’s special sauce. In the 880 model these Activities are listed along with color icons on the LCD screen. I was a bit disappointed in the low resolution of the screen (I’d compare it to a 3-year old color cell phone screen) but it is still cooler than a monochrome display. In order to compensate for the screen resolution and make the Activities more readable I decided to use a large theme layout which shows 4 activities per screen down a single column as opposed to eight activities in 4 rows x 2 columns. The problem with this was that the default ordered list pushed my most used activity “Watch TV” to the second page! Fortunately, Logitech upgraded their programming software to allow you to re-order these activities with a little extra work but if you have a complex set-up you may find that you have much more then just four activities and must scroll through several pages.

Once the “Watch TV” Activity is configured you have the option to add up to 16 favorite channels along with color icons that would be accessed by pressing the “Media” button on the 880. A trick to get even more then the 16 favorites is to add several different activities, each with different favorite menus. i.e. Watch Sports, Watch HDTV, Watch Kid Shows, etc. Obviously you can see how these may quickly accumulate and 4 activities per page may just not be enough.

Another set-up feature unique to the Logitech Harmony 880 is the “Slideshow.” The 880 will display a slideshow of up to eight uploaded photos while it sits idle on the charging cradle. This is a love it or hate it feature. Some love it because it calls attention to your cool new remote and a few slides of the kids can go a long way improving the 880’s WAF (wife-acceptance-factor). However, if you are using the 880 in your bedroom and the charging cradle rests anyplace other then inside a closed closet you may find that the ambient glow of the slide show is more disruptive then the average nightlight. Fortunately, Logitech now allows you to disable this slideshow thanks to yet another upgrade prompted by user feedback. You gotta give credit to any tech company in this day and age that actually listens to and responds to customer feedback. While we’re on the subject, since the 880 was first introduced Logitech has also released a new charging cradle with a more secure connection, and they’ve announced an even more advanced 890 with RF capability.
All of this information may be found in various posts in the Logitech Harmony section of RemoteShoppe.com.

Now, if Logitech would only add full FireFox support to their web browser I would be even happier. I made the switch to Mozilla’s FireFox from Internet Explorer quite some time ago and haven’t looked back until I logged onto the Harmony Member Site. The first page you see is an error message warning of a “Possible Browser Conflict.” It does seem that if you ignore the message and click through the programming still works fine except that I had to save all updates locally to my machine first before installing to the remote. This was not a major issue since it is the method I prefer but it is an extra step that does take a bit longer and may even confuse some newcomers. Obviously the easy fix is to just use IE but full FireFox support would be a much nicer alternative.

In all I would say the Logitech Harmony 880 is an excellent remote and well worth the price for most users. The 880 is especially nice if you like to have the newest bells and whistles (full color screen & rechargeable battery) in a package that is still quick and easy to set-up and so straightforward that anyone in the family (yes, even the babysitter) can use. However, if you’ve already invested ~$100 or more in a Harmony 659, 676, 680 or 688 then I’m not sure I could convince you that this is a worthy upgrade. The capabilities are more or less the same, the color screen is not nearly as nice as it could be and some people actually prefer NOT to have a rechargeable battery to worry about. Perhaps you’d be happier with the new Logitech Harmony 890 with RF capability. ;-) Enjoy!

Don't forget all of the Logitech Harmony remotes including the 880 and 890 are available
right here at SmartHome USA.