Review: Logitech Harmony One

I’ve reviewed so many Harmony remotes you’d think I’m biased toward them. Well, OK, I am. The Logitech Harmony One is the best so far and perfect for a multi-component home entertainment system.

Two things set Harmony remotes apart from many of the others I’ve used. First, they’re about the easiest to set up of any advanced remote on the market. Second, once configured, they’re easy to use. And at least with the new One, they look pretty cool.

In many ways, the One is not too different from Harmony’s other top-line remotes including the all touchscreen-based model 1000. The improvements amount to fine-tuning adjustments, not revolutions. The shape of the One is now more curved, making it fit better in the hand so that one-handed operation is easy. The touchscreen isn’t a traditional pressure-sensitive touchscreen. Rather, it uses capacitive technology that responds to slight electrical charges produced by your finger—who would have thought that would come in handy some day? The screen itself appears brighter with better contrast so it’s easy to see in bright or dark rooms. Button layout has also changed to make the most frequently-used buttons more accessible. Buttons also have more unique shapes so you can identify them by feel. They are lit by a motion-sensitive backlight.

Like all other Harmony remotes, you configure this one by hooking it up to a computer via USB, loading an application (from the included disc or by downloading it from Logitech’s Web site). You then follow a series of questions about your electronics and how they’re connected to each other. Then the application adds it all up and loads the configuration to your remote. If this is your first Harmony remote, expect this to take an hour or so. If you’re upgrading from a previous Harmony, then it may only take ten minutes.

Being an activity-based remote, rather than a device-based remote, operation is all focused around the things you use your entertainment system for, not the boxes that do it. For example, to watch a movie, you press the “watch movie” button on the LCD screen. The remote turns on your DVD player, TV, receiver and switches them all to the appropriate inputs. You just press ‘play’.

The system can go out of sync, though I’ve found that to be rarer with this one than previous models. One thing that will cause it to go out of sync is if you do something with one of the original remotes since the One won’t have recorded that action. Just teach your whole family to use the Harmony, then make sure they do.

After using the One for several weeks, I like it even better than the more expensive (and somewhat more impressive-looking) Harmony 1000. The 1000’s larger touchscreen isn’t as intuitive as the hard buttons of the One, and the 1000’s large screen is far too bright for a dark home theater environment.

While there certainly are systems that require more than the Harmony can handle, it doesn’t emit radio frequency signals, making it poorly suited for controlling an audio system from a separate room. It’s not Bluetooth-compatible, making it useless for watching Blu-ray movies from a Playstation 3 (to be fair, only Sony’s own PS3 remote works with the PS3, but I can still gripe about it). The LCD screen can only be configured so far, and some users may find the Web-based setup confusing or tedious. Users with very complex systems will be better off with a custom control system from companies like Crestron, AMX or Savant. For the DIY home theater user who wants to toss all the other remotes away in place for a flashy universal, then the Harmony One may be the one.