What universal remote do you use?

[imported_Irse]

What remote do you use to control all of your AV gear? I have a Universal Remote MX900 and I like it but seems like the buttons wear out in about 2 years. I'm on my third one. It has to be very programmable. How is the Logitech Harmony line compared to something like the Universal Remotes? I need something that does macros and is a learning remote.

 

[WilliamM2]

I use a Harmony 520 I bought 7 years ago for $50. Still works like new. I liked it enough I bought a spare one, which it looks like I may never need. Don't think they have been available for a while.

 

[boomhower]

Used a Harmony One for a year or so until my dog destroyed. Now I'm using a Logitech Smart Control. I absolutely love it.

 

[Railgun]

One for about as long as they've been out.

 

[Phanuel]

One for about as long as they've been out.

Same. I'd rather it had 6 hard buttons beside the screen and wasn't touch sensitive but beyond that no complaints.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

Harmony One. Its really good, but its slowly dying from being dropped on hard floors. The thing has held up really well for how badly its been treated by my son and girl. Probably gonna go with the Smart Control when it does kick the bucket.

 

[PowerYoga]

harmony one.

 

[A5]

I have two Harmonys. Couldn't tell you the models, but they both work well for me and the wife.

 

[NutBucket]

Harmony 700 IIRC

 

[purbeast0]

http://www.roomieremote.com/

 

[imported_Irse]

I went to the website to see the Harmonys. Are the higher end ones learning remotes. Didn't read about the learning capabilities on the web site.

 

[Drako]

Harmony One. On my 4th battery now, so that tells you how old it is .

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

I pulled my URC MX900 apart and cleaned the contacts on the 'select' key and now it works better. It was doing the same thing yours does. Reading around on google it seems to be a pretty common issue.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I have had a MX500 and MX800. The 500 wasn't programable by computer and so you had to go through a series of steps to create macros which was a real pain in the you know what, but I really liked it's layout (at the time), so I upgraded to the MX800. This was great for a year or two until URC became real jerks to their customers and stopped allowing us to download updates to the software, and effectively gave us a last update which could no longer connect to pull down newer device codes/settings, essentially requiring us to now learn every button and combination of buttons from the device's remote. I simply can't recommend them anymore to anyone unless you have a sales rep which will give you the real software to update your remote (many will not do this).

I switched to the Harmony 880. I have 2 Harmony 880's and a Harmony One. I wish the One simply had hard buttons on the side of the LCD and not a touch screen like the 880/890's used. My 880's are starting to have problems with the volume buttons (like just about everyone else). I would get 2 more One's, but they are harder to find now (or cost $300+, when they were down to $100-150 retail).

I can't stand the current Harmony Touch, Smart Control, or Ultimate. You should NOT NEED TO LOOK at your remote to use it!!! There are NO NUMBER BUTTONS for changing channels!!! This means you need to flip through your TV stations to get to the one you want, or program macro's for every station that you watch, which is ridiculous, or need to flip back and forth between 2 pages on the LCD to have programmed custom numbers for 0-9 since you can only fit 6 on the LCD screen at once! The Harmony 650 simply can not control enough devices to be useful to me (I have had remotes from cable/satellite that allowed me to control more than 5 devices!!! My setup needs 9 devices, and over 12 activities), and the 4 boxes/items on the LCD is pathetic. It should have a MINIMUM of 6 if not 8, otherwise you have to go through dozens of pages for some types of devices to list all the functions which do not have a dedicated hard button.

 

[alkemyst]

URC MX850, Harmony One, Harmony 750, Harmony 650.

 

[smitbret]

Harmony 700. Wish I had 4 of them.

 

[KentState]

Harmony One.

 

[blackangst1]

Harmony.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Harmony One. I actually have two of them - I bought a new one on closeout at Costco about a year and a half ago - and use the old one as a backup when the newer one is charging.

 

[vshah]

Harmony One

 

[SlitheryDee]

Harmony One.

Had no idea they were this popular.

 

[Midwayman]

URC R50. So much more reliable than any of my harmony remotes ever were.

 

[Muadib]

Harmony One is what I use now. I had a Harmony 880 before that. I don't recall the price, but Costco had the One for a great price.

 

[imported_Irse]

Maybe I'll go the Harmony route. Pretty much given up on URC.

 

[boomhower]

I can't stand the current Harmony Touch, Smart Control, or Ultimate. You should NOT NEED TO LOOK at your remote to use it!!! There are NO NUMBER BUTTONS for changing channels!!! This means you need to flip through your TV stations to get to the one you want, or program macro's for every station that you watch, which is ridiculous, or need to flip back and forth between 2 pages on the LCD to have programmed custom numbers for 0-9 since you can only fit 6 on the LCD screen at once! The Harmony 650 simply can not control enough devices to be useful to me (I have had remotes from cable/satellite that allowed me to control more than 5 devices!!! My setup needs 9 devices, and over 12 activities), and the 4 boxes/items on the LCD is pathetic. It should have a MINIMUM of 6 if not 8, otherwise you have to go through dozens of pages for some types of devices to list all the functions which do not have a dedicated hard button.

Have you actually used the Smart Control? The simple remote covers most usage and you don't need to look at it. On the app 0-9 are all on my screen, not sure what your looking at.