Not ever owning a higher end remote I totally agree there are so many different versions it is so time consuming to see what one has over the other.
The touch screen sounds nice on the higher end Harmony remotes but I can already see it getting broke in my house. Reading some of the reviews on Amazon don't paint a pretty picture if something goes wrong with it.
Is the tech support really as bad as it is portrayed?
I don't know about their tech support as I've never had to use it (I've never had problems configuring my remotes).
I have owned three Harmony models. Two were in the lower end (about $50 each). One finally died after about 3 years of use (gave an error code which translated into "I am dead"). The second low end unit is still in commission, although the little USB connector broke after I dropped it so I cannot update the remote. It feel from a decent height onto hardwood flooring so I cannot complain too much. But it otherwise works fine.
The third is a Harmony One (one of their high end models with a color touch screen). This is actually my second One. The first broke after it was pushed off a coffee table and fell about 14 inches onto a thick plush carpet. The LCD touch screen cracked rendering the device worthless. Luckily, I had gone against character and bought a very robust add-on warranty that covered this damage. The One is still working but I am hyper-vigilant about keeping it away from the kids. If I hadn't gotten a free replacement, I wouldn't have gotten another as the device is simply too fragile (I was so pissed when it broke that I rolled an egg off the same table to see if it would break - it didn't).
My take away: the touch screens are neat but are usually not necessary. And if they break, the remote may very well become totally nonfunctional. I love the Harmony concept and will continue using their lower end models. From what I can tell, one of the main differences between a lot of their models isn't basic capabilities but rather button placement. That is, there are a lot of models with almost identical functionality but which have radically different button placement. This can make a huge difference in the user's experience. My dad just made the mistake of getting a Harmony that has all of the fast forward/rewind/play/pause buttons at the very bottom. He is a huge TIVO user so these buttons should really be in the middle of the remote (where you're thumb naturally rests). Of course, there is a model with the exact same functionality in the same price range but he wasn't familiar with the huge variation in Harmony's line.
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