9.5

Logitech Harmony One
Advanced Universal Remote

Universal remote controls are quite a popular item in the entertainment market due to the fact that almost every piece of electronic equipment has a remote control. Even though there is a variety of universal remotes that support a wide range of entertainment devices, none come as close as the Harmony One from Logitech which is as true as they can come to being a true universal remote control. Boasting over 5,000 brands and a plethora of products (over 225,000), this device is an amazing piece of equipment due to its high compatibility. 

Overview

	Simplify your home entertainment. One-touch access to your entertainment: Enjoy easy, one-touch access to the home-entertainment activities you love. Want to watch a DVD? One simple press of the touch screen and the Harmony One remote does the rest. Replaces up to 15 remotes: Reduce the clutter and complexity of your living room.
	Exceptionally user-friendly design. Full-color touch screen: Gives you easy, one-touch access to any entertainment activity—such as watching a DVD, watching TV, listening to music, and more. Sculpted, back lighted buttons in logical zones: Allow you to find the right channel—even in the dark. Ergonomic design: Fits comfortably in your hand. Rechargeable design: Eliminates the worry about replacing batteries.
	Sophisticated setup help, long-term solution. Guided online setup: Helps you when you need it. You don’t have to be an expert. Helpful online setup software. Live customer support team. World’s largest A/V control database: Be confident your Harmony remote can control virtually any home-entertainment device you have today or buy tomorrow. Online database supports more than 225,000 devices from more than 5,000 brands – and the list grows larger every day.

The installation of the Harmony One is a painless experience and once the unit is fully charged, you need to connect the device to your PC in order to download the drivers needed to power your entertainment devices. Once the installation software was successfully installed on our computer, we were then able to connect the Harmony One to our PC through the supplied USB cable. It should be noted that this device also works on the Mac for increased cross-compatibility.

Once connected to your PC or Mac, the device then automatically connects to Harmony One website where you can download updates for the unit and configure your various entertainment devices. We configured the Harmony One for three devices which included out 42" LG Plasma TV, XBox 360 and a Sharp stereo player that was over ten years old and to our surprise, the Harmony actually supported this device. #:You can control up to 15 different remote controls.

The online installation assists in installing the correct configurations for your devices and once installed, we were ready to test the device. It should be noted that if you do not like the configurations selected by the installation process, these can be tweaked in order to give you true control over the unit itself.

My favourite aspect of the Harmony One is the touch screen LCD display which easily allows to swap between entertainment devices through the touch of a button. Whether it was for TV, DVD, Gaming or music, this was quite easily achieved. The device has also been ergonomically designed and fits well in the palm of your hand with a comfortable button layout.

The best aspect of the device is that if multiple devices are connected to your entertainment system (for example your surround sound system), the unit will know to increase the volume on this device whether your watching TV or a DVD. For instance, on our system, our LG TV was used to control the sound and even when you are on DVD or Gaming, it will allow you to adjust the volume without any fiddling whatsoever. The device does all the swapping.

The Harmony One comes with a cradle which charges the unit and when the unit is picked up, it automatically turns on due to a sensor in the unit. The layout of both the LCD menu and the buttons on the remote control is relatively easy to use, although those a little technology impaired may have some difficulty in navigating.

My only grip with the Logitech Harmony One is the shiny jet black colour which they used on the device. As the unit is highly polished, finger prints and marks can easily be seen. Logitech have included a cloth to clean the device which is good news.

In conclusion, the Logitech Harmony One is an impressive universal remote which is in its true sense, is a real universal remote control. The installation process and navigation of the unit for those with some technological knowledge should have no problems, however those struggling with this medium will take some time in familiarising themselves with the unit.

Brilliant!