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| Logitech Harmony 1000 Advanced Universal Remote | 
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| Brand: Logitech
Category: CE
List Price: $499.99
Buy New: $327.00
You Save: $172.99 (35%)
New (49) Used (1) from $327.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  268 reviews
Color: Silver
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 7.4 x 3.4
Warranty: 1 year warranty
MPN: 966230-0403
Model: 966230-0403
UPC: 097855042224
EAN: 0097855042224
ASIN: B000II6YEA
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great product! February 4, 2007
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
I was somewhat reluctant to try the 1000 because of all the criticisms of the complexity and problems with other reviewers of the last generation of Logitech products. I have a Denon AVR 2807, Sony DVD, CD and VCR. The Denon system is fairly complex with a very intimidating remote, and the different settings for the sound, video inputs and modes made it impossible for anyone but me to turn on the TV for any purpose, and get sound at the same time!
Thus I was hoping for a remote which my wife could pick up, push one button and enjoy the system, yet still allowed me to enjoy the flexibility of the Denon sound environment. The Harmony 1000 delivered! It took an hour or less to collect the information I needed, install the software and test the remote. It worked great right out of the box after programming!!
With the surround sound system, it did program in automatically for "effect" settings, but not any of the other fine tuning sound adjustments...but I can add these as desired fairly simply. The Tv module automatically included settings for adjusting the "wide" settings, and custom sound modes.
The manual is needed to fully understand how to use the remote, and does require looking it up through "help" with the software. I didn't think this was such a big deal....
Overall, if you want a very easy to use remote to control a lot of components without major headaches I definitely reccomend the Harmony 1000. Although you will have to add some commands to mirror all of the choices of a high end surround system, you may also continue to use the original remote as well for this kind of tweaking.
I was very pleasantly surprised with how well this remote works!!!
 Nice Look and Feel, Same Great Features, Same Sluggish Software January 30, 2007
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I have just received my 1st H1000. It is basically as I'd expected from the Harmony line-up. I'm a professional in the sound and video industry and have programmed and setup almost all the Harmony remotes that have been out. The H1000 is pretty much the same to set up as the other remotes. The biggest change that this remote brings is a simpler interface. If any of you are familiar with the H880 or H890 then you know how small some of the buttons are and how this can be difficult for some people to operate. This remote certainly will help in that regard. After selecting an activity such as 'watch DVD' for example; each activity has multiple screens associated with it. Touching the top left corner 'play/pause' icon brings up the main transport control icons on-screen, touching the bottom left small 123 icon brings up the number buttons, touching the bottom right 'star' icon brings up user custom buttons, and the top right 'disc' icon brings up... well nothing yet as I am able to program. It looks promising however. The programming interface is the same as it's been with the other remotes and when you 'customize buttons' the software automatically maps out which of the four corners that button will fall under. There is no way that I've found to custom map what buttons go in each of the four screens. I found a feature under 'devices' that allowed me to input the DVD Disc Names of the DVD's in my Sony 400 Disc Changer. I entered 20 names and updated the remote expecting them to be available under the top right 'disc' icon, but they weren't there! So my biggest complaint like before would have to be the software interface that allows you to program these remotes. It took me over 30 mins. just to upgrade the firmware, (not optional - it makes you do it before proceeding). I had to take the battery out and reset the remote 5 times to get it to finish. I think that Harmony had a great thing going that was new and inventive, cutting edge, before Logitech stepped in an bought them out. Now I'm feeling a little sold out. I still see the creative force driving these products, but it seems that rather than focusing on innovation, Logitech has focused on reaping the rewards of a past innovation. They really do need to update the software and test it more. This is the only draw back. You will have to work with the software to get it right. However once you do you will certainly enjoy this remote. It feels right in the hand, one or two hands. It has a responsive touch screen, and a bright clear display. Some minor issues: The hard button Volume and Channel buttons are hard to see in the dark even with the backlighting of the button, I did get them confused a few times at first. (You just can't read the blue etched 'vol' and 'ch' very well) The speaker volume is a little low even at max volume if you want to hear feedback clicks as you operate the remote. Other than that I really do like the remote. I've given it four stars because compared to what else is out there, Universal Remotes MX3000, Philips Pronto, Crestron, etc.. this really is a little wonder! I just wish the programming software would work like it is suppose too!
Very good device, some "assembly" required April 4, 2007
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
This is my second Harmony (having owned the H688 previously), so I am already familiar with Logitech's (quite improvable) web programming system. It also is my third universal remote, so I have some experience in this regard (not all of them pleasant).
First of all, the H1000 is a solid device, and it has a lot of nice touches that show that it's engineers have put their knowledge to good use. For example, the device self-activates as soon as you pick it up or move it about.
The device itself looks really, really nice with it's rounded edges, brushed aluminum finish, and perfectly-placed real-button controls (if you are right-handed, which I am). It fits the palm of my hand nicely, combining just the right thickness and heft, placing the buttons naturally under my right thumb. The H1000 combines a color active-matrix LCD with is touch-sensitive (for programmable virtual buttons), and an array of real buttons along the right edge. Using the remote comes natural, with your thumb seeking out the buttons, and using the left index finger for the virtual buttons.
The Harmony works by assigning 'activities' that know which devices are required, turning them on, and unneeded devices off when switching to an activity. It remembers which devices are on/off from the current activity. For example, when I switch from 'Listen to music' to 'Watch DVD', the Harmoniy gives the commands to
- stop playing in iTunes to my Mac mini
- turn on the DVD player
- switch to 'DVD in' on the Amplifier
- turn on the TV, and switch to SCART2
To use this functionality you have to set up the remote first, and this is the step that most people find frustrating. Logitech provides a web interface which works, but is far from user-friendly. The database of supported devices is surprisingly large and complete, and if you can't find your device, the remote can 'learn' the relevant commands from your original remote (provided you still have it). Unfortunately, programming the remote is cumbersome, and involves many program-upload-test cycles that take a *lot* of time. Once set up, the remote works well. Provided, of course, you thought of the many times where you need more than the basic functionality, and have programmed it.
The biggets problem many people may face with the remote (and this may be the reason for so many drastically diverging ratings) is that your enjoyment greatly depends on your ability to find a good button layout for your specific needs. Thus, you can either end up with the perfect remote, or a borderline usable device. Few people, however, are prepared to invest the time required to get the Harmony to a level that is really good. In this regard I would like to see Logitech to provide templates for more intelligent layout design.
A nice surprise to me was the H1000's ability to re-use most of my H688's programming, cutting down my time to program it a lot. Also, contrary to many reports, the software can be used on a Mac - at least on an (older) PPC-based one. One strange choice was that Logitech chose to implement the USB adapter as a network connector (instead of a peripheral), which can cause problems. I did not encounter any crashing bugs during my set-up phase.
As with most touchscreen-based remotes (this is my second remote of that kind, the other one being the venerable Sony Commander), it has the problem that you have to actually look down onto the remote while using it, and then glance back at the TV to see if the command was successfully received. Most people are used to 'feel' their way around a remote and can find the correct button blindly. While this was a big problem on my previous touch-screen remote, Logitech has added the most important buttons next to the touch screen, enabling similar behaviour (provided that you set up the remote that way). If your set-up is smart in that regard, you can use the Harmony blind for most of your needs.
An annoying quirk (which I hope I can resolve soon) is that when you place the remote into the provided loading cradle (*nice*), it (falsely) assumes that you are done with all your activities, and commands all devices to power down.
Also, the H1000 appears somewhat sluggishly in responding to some commands. While this is less of an issue when giving a 'play' command to the DVD player, it makes volume control somewhat more difficult than it needs to be.
Other than that, I can wholeheartedly recommend this device to people, but must caution them that they should only invest in this device if they are prepared to invest the time required to fine-tune it. And the *will* take a few hous.
Logitech 1000 February 1, 2007
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
just received this remote via overnight on mon jan 29th. i ordered direct from logitech and received a 20% discount off the total price. i had called logitech to ask them to notify me when it was in stock about a month ago, but maybe you can still get this bonus.
regarding the remote, i have mixed feelings. i have it hooked up to a samsung lns4095d lcd, directv hr20 hd dvr, an onkyo tx 804 receiver, ps3, xbox 360 and lutron lighting system. the onkyo receiver also has an ipod dock connected. first the good: as usual, the PC programming on the remote is much easier than programming macros on other similar remotes. i had to use IR learning to make the remote work with my ipod dock and customized the buttons, and this worked flawlessly. the activity buttons (e.g. watch tv, watch dvd) function very well, usually powering on and off all components and setting them to the correct inputs (BTW, i am using this without the RF extender). by adjusting the delay between signals, you can correct any problems with the the component's reception. samsung tvs take a long time to power on, but i had no difficulty in getting mine to change to the correct input by increasing the signal delay time. in the event one of the components did not receive a signal, you can press a help button which will walk you through and correct any problems with power or input. you can save up to 24 favorite channels and add logos. plus, this is a hell of a lot cheaper than a crestron or AMX system, and you program it all yourself, if you only want to control a simple one room home theater setup. my wife was still somewhat upset about the price, but after using the remote for an hour or so, she was thrilled at not having to ask for help watching tv anymore.
the not so good: the onscreen and hard buttons work well, but you often have to change through more than one screen to find the button you need, particularly with a component with many settings (e.g. receiver). as another reviewer noted, the blue lights on the vol and channel buttons are indistinguishable in the dark. when i tried to customize the buttons on my dvr component, the lcd screen stopped displaying any of the buttons (play, pause, rew, ff, pause, menu, guide, info, exit) necessary to contorl the dvr functions. the hard buttons still functioned normally, but i had to remove and add the component via PC setup to fix this problem, and it persisted even after several tries. so now i have the basic contorols for my dvr on screen, but could not program the skip forward or skip backward commands, one of my favorite features of the dvr, to the arrow hard buttons. I contacted logitech support via e mail and an awaiting a response.
overall, i am pleased with this product, and although it seems expensive, it straddles the line between a total home automation product and more simple universal remotes. however, it takes some knowledge of how components function to program the remote correctly. i took me at least two hours of tweaking to work out most of the kinks.
 I have rarely been so disappointed September 15, 2007
14 out of 17 found this review helpful
The box it comes in is spectacularly embossed with a 3D representation of the remote yet it is illogical and frustrating when asked to perform its purpose in life (to open).... a sign, alas, of things to come.
I have rarely been so disappointed with a purchase, particularly from Logitech; a company I always held in high regard from previous experience. To charge such a high price for a product which is not really usable in any practical sense, and then provide third-rate customer service is unforgivable.
The good points are the overall concept, the cool way it turns on when you pick it up, and the touch-screen interface.
The negatives start with the software which insists on only operating each time after a secure sign-in (god forbid, after all, that some high tech criminal conglomerate will gain illegitimate access to my TV remote settings) and will only work properly in one specific screen resolution.
Once set up the remote has a very narrow field of aim. This is a major issue as you press one button to activate all devices and, to be blunt, if any device is more than 18 inches from another the remote is next to useless.
If your TV (or other device) scrolls through inputs rather than has a button assigned to each do not purchase this remote as it will drive you nuts. It fails to find the correct channel on my Sony LCD TV about 70% of the time.
The help menu is cumbersome. When my Sony TV fails to go to the correct channel I have to answer every time the same 11, yes 11, yes-no questions to fix the issue. Even on the rare occasions it gets everything right you have to answer two questions before you can start using the remote. Surely it could be programmed to learn which are the most likely issues and ask questions relating to them first.
Some devices, for example my cable company's DVR, have important buttons missing from the remote's main screen. For example if I want to erase a recording it needs to be confirmed by pressing a button marked `A' on the original remote... to access this single button on the Harmony requires a complex sequence of 6 button presses.
There is no specific support of surround sound devices so do not purchase this remote expecting to control them. I consider this a major omission as most folks who would spend this much on a remote have probably purchased surround sound.
I emailed customer service (the contact method they prefer) and after 10 days received a response which was clearly automated and did not even attempt to cover my specific issues.
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