A truly universal remote

Finally a universal remote that will actually mimic all of the operations of another remote for under $100!

Physically this remote has a sleek design and a quality feel to it. All of the buttons are clearly backlit and easy to see. Once the remote is programmed (either via the web through Logitech's software or through learning directly from the original remote) it will perfectly mimic the remote it was programmed to replace.

The best thing about this remote is that you can program "Activities". Activities are multiple functions organized into the press of a single button. For example: If in order to watch TV you have to turn on your TV and set it to Input 1, then turn on a satellite or cable box and set it to TV or Video, then you have to turn on your surround sound system and set it to TV you can program ALL of these actions into a SINGLE activity named "Watch TV". And best of all the Logitech software has a wizard that will guide you through all of this.

Now, to be perfectly honest setting up all of this even with the software wizard could be confusing if you barely know how to turn on a TV to begin with. But if you're even slightly tech savy you'll catch on to the logic flow pretty quickly.

So far the only remote I've had trouble getting the Harmony to mimic is the remote for my Dish Network VIP-622 HD DVR. The settings that the software downloaded from Logitech just simply didn't work so I had to use my original remote to teach the Harmony how to mimic it. This was a little time consuming but when I was finished the Harmony had learned its lessons very well.

In my entertainment system I have the following: JVC HD television, Sony 5.1 surround sound, XBox 360, XBox HD DVD player, Dish Network HD DVR satellite box and a Microsoft Zune MP3 player. My Harmony remote will operate ALL of these devices. And I have the following activities programmed into the remote: Watch TV, Play XBox 360, Watch DVD, Listen to Radio, Listen to Digital Music. All of these activities require different devices to be on/off and set to various outputs/inputs and it's all controlled with one remote and a single button. And in the event something doesn't set up like it should (happens rarely) all you have to do is press the Help button and the remote diagnoses the problem and fixes it with a little input from the user.

Those are some of the remotes good points but it has a few bad ones too. The numeric keys are smaller than a tic-tac and a little hard to press for those of us whose fingers are larger than a child's. The LCD screen could stand to be a little larger. The software attempts to be user friendly to but it definitely helps to have at least some experience with computers.

I would highly recommend this remote for anyone that owns an XBox 360 and has more than two remotes laying on the coffee table. There are also other Harmony remotes for those who don't need the XBox capabilities.