Logitech Harmony or other Universal Remote?

dkg999

Syndil wrote: »

I got curious and looked up URC... Do they make any remotes that aren't huge and/or hideous?

The MX-900 that I have is about the same size as any of the Logitech remotes I was looking at. It's heavier and better built, but not overly large.

Syndil

I did finally find a page listing all their remotes.

http://www.universalremote.com/products/residential/remotes/mx-890

The MX-1200 and MX-890 don't look too bad and run off of a Li-ion battery--much lighter and thinner than the 900. But holy crap... Best price I could find for the MX-1200 is just over $400 for the remote only, and the 890 isn't available yet apparently. What can these do that a Logitech (or Monster) can't?

dkg999

The bad thing about the URC remotes with the internal rechargable batteries is that those batteries are expensive to replace, and from comments I read on other forums aren't user/consumer replaceable. The MX-900 uses AAA batteries and I have a couple of sets of rechargable AAA's that I was using with my B&K remote (also a URC remote), so I am set.

Syndil

My Monster uses a Li-ion battery, and it is cheap/easy to replace. Costs about $9 and is accessible through a pretty standard battery cover on the back. I prefer that to having a heavier and thicker remote.

I don't know, I'm sure the URC stuff is decent, but I just can't find any justification (at least not one that satisfies me) for the price difference between a URC and a Harmony or my Monster. I think they probably just rely on their business model to carry their high prices, being exclusively sold and installed by professionals. Most people that are buying them aren't really shopping around; they're just paying a pro a lump sum to get it done, not really caring about the itemized expenses of the project. But you don't always get what you pay for IMO, especially with stuff that follows this business model. But if you're going to buy it and install it yourself anyway, as far as I can tell, a Harmony or a Monster gets you much more for your money. YMMV.

pearsall001

apc wrote: »

Excellent, but does it allow one button setup for events such as 'watch a movie' or 'listen to radio'? That's a big driver for me as some members of my family are tech-challenged and cannot figure out how to setup for a movie. If I'm not home, it's an issue.

No it doesn't but trust me my wife is extremely tech-challenged also. She wouldn't try to operate anything without me being there. In about 5 minutes I showed her the new GE remote & how easy it is to operate. She got in in no time. She even thanked me for making it so simple. Again, the best $15.00 bucks I ever spent.

wkjeffers

I love my HArmony 890 with RF. One mistake some people warned me about was to throw the disc away that comes with them and download the software directly from the logitech website. It has worked flawlessly for me for many years.

MADGSF

@dkg999 thank you for that information! I will see if I can find a local dealer as helpful as yours.

@Syndil the biggest reason I favor the URC is I think you can upload HEX signal codes to the remote and use as needed. You probably already know this but here is an example for others. Say I want a discreet on and off code for my Panasonic blue ray player but my blue ray remote does not have that capability so the Harmony database does not include those commands for that product. However there are other Panasonic products that do have the discreet codes which will work with my player and those codes are available on the web as HEX files. If my understanding of the URC is correct I think you can upload the HEX file that is a discreet code to the remote and use for an activity.

If I am wrong about the URC in this regard I would probably take it off my list.

Syndil

I had a Sony RM-AX1400 that basically ran off of XML files full of hex codes that I could edit manually. That was indeed useful at times. So far, I've not found anything missing from my Monster. But yeah, if I didn't have discreet codes for on and off, I'd definitely want those added.