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User reviews for the Harmony 680 / H680 from Logitech.
Ratings
Reviews
MSRP (USD)
Average: 4.80/5.00 Median: 5.00/5.00
5
$199
The Harmony H680 remote control features simple Internet-based programming via USB, Smart State control for easy system automatation, full backlighting and a redesigned button layout ideal for Media Center PC users!
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 5 made on Thursday January 26, 2006 at 12:05 PM.
Strengths:
My wife loves it. Good range, power Flexible Fully configurable Great layout (easy to navigate once you learn it) Nice backlighting My Wife Loves It (Help Button)
Weaknesses:
Hard to convince wife that $100+ worth a remote Web setup could be difficult for some
Review:
Well, I had a small mountain of remotes, none of which could control more than the device it was born to rule. I'd been eying up the Harmony line of remotes for sometime, but it wasn't until I found a sexy deal on the 680 that I pounced, plastic in hand, and ordered one right quick.
Setting it up was easy for me, and as helpful as I think it could be. It controls my TV, DVD player, Receiver, and my HTPC with a quiet gentle ease. The one touch function for flipping between devices is as sweet as pecan pie covered in sugar and smothered in maple syrup. Movie you say? BAM! What honey? You don't want to watch Big Trouble In Little China? BAM! Back to TV for some Oxygen or We action. Nobody even broke a sweat before that sticky situation was resolved!
Controls said devices from around 20' ( ~3 meters) away, which is as far as I can get really. It doesn't even have a direct line of sight to my HTPC I/R receiver. Good for controlling the tunes from the dining room durring a hot game of dominos.
You can modify the delay between controls in case you have some device that can't take commands in rapid sequence. You can change which buttons control the backlight, as well as the duration of the light. It's a groovy blue light which equally lights the keys, btw.
My Wife was pretty indifferent when I explained the remote to her. She thought there was a catch (which there was.. more on that in a bit) I guess, but agreed that it was a nice addition to our A/V setup. So I get the remote and she takes one look at it and asked how much it costed. I knew I was in trouble. "Well, it was $105 shipped, but it's supposed to be $200 and I couldn't pass up the deal." This didn't help too much as she figured a remote shouldn't cost more than maybe $50. She asked if "it also cleaned the house too, because it better for $100". I asked her if the Roomba was remote controlled (it is), but she wasn't amused.
Well, fast forward a couple days. The remote is all setup and runnin' like a dream, but my wife has a TERRIBLE HABIT of shoving the remote whever on the couch. Anytime she moves, gets up, coughs, whatever, buttons get hit. All sorts of crazy stuff would happen, and this happened while I was at work. Well, without any prompting from me, she hits this Help button. It starts asking questions, which is pretty cool to her so she starts answering them. Suddenly everything is working great again! That was it, and suddenly $105 was money worth spent for her. How many stars is that worth, huh? And if she would manage to sabatoge my setup somehow, playing question and answer games with our new little friend the Logitech Harmony 680? Why, I just hook it up and redownload the settings! Oh, and yes, she drops it on the floor all the time... it's like a heart attack a day for me, but it's holding up remarkably well... no signs of anything wrong at all, and never rattles with it's dropped like a baby from the arms of an uncaring uncle.
Other things I dig about this foxy little number are the different finger grooves on the bottom. You cradle your thumb in one and you have the numbers at your fingertips. Slide your thumb forward into the next groove and the central buttons and d-pad are perfectly aligned. Great balance to it also because of battery placement towards the heel of the remote.
In short, my wife loves it. That means I can love it to, and the three of us can live together in harmony unti the end of days!
The reviewer has used this remote control for 6-12 months.
Review 4 made on Tuesday October 18, 2005 at 6:51 PM.
Strengths:
Activity buttons, knows what is already on or off, large library of discrete codes.
Weaknesses:
Buttons are too small and not distinguishable in the dark. Hard to find the button you want without looking. Even the back light button is difficult to find. PRogramming via computer is a bit tricky. Too many pages on LCD screen for functions that my DVD palyer doesn'r even do. Uses batteries fairly quickly.
Review:
I really like the activity buttons. With one press I can go from TV to DVD and the remote knows what was already on or off. Unbelievable discrete code library, it had my InFocus 7200 projector, my Lexicon DC1 and even my Panasonic remote controlled air conditioner! Had to contact customer support to set Tivo for code 1. But even then their Support was very fast in replying. Their top notch support is one very compelling reason to buy this remote.
The Bad: 1. The LCD screen lists pages and pages of functions my DVD player doesn't even do, some don't even make sense. I still haven't gone online and reprogrammed to get rid of them. 2. Programming can be a bit confusing. You have to get to the right screen, some are under the device while others are under the activity, it is confusing but I eventually get it right. 3. My biggest complaint, and the reason I am considering a different remote is that the buttons are too small and they all have basically the same shape and feel. It is really difficult to operate this remote by feel alone. Even the back light button is in a positon that is not obvious to find. I can operate my Tivo remote by feel alone. (It isn't even back lit). Logitech should study that remote and come up with a new model that allows the user to operate it by feel instead of hunting for the back light button. Too often I have hit the DVD stop button by mistake when what I wanted was the rewind button which is right below it. (Maybe I can progranm the stop button so it does nothing.)
In summary, if they improved the layout so that you could operate the basic functions (pause, rewind, FF, play) without looking, they'e have a killer remote.
Would I buy this remote agian? Probably not. The activity buttons are great and discrete code library is substantial, but I really really hate the fact that you can't reliably feel your way around with this remote (or any Logitech to date that I'm aware of).
I'm giving features a 3 because of the buttons, otherwise I'd give it a 4, if online programming were bit better and they inproved the buttons I'd give it a 5.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 3 made on Saturday February 26, 2005 at 9:39 PM.
Strengths:
PC Programming, size, hard buttons, lcd screen, price.
Weaknesses:
Buttons are kind of small, some buttons cannot be used modified, pc programming.
Review:
I had the HTM MX500 which after two years of use was ready for replacement. The main problems with that remote are no discrete codes, no activity buttons. I would have had to get the JP1 cable or upgrade to a HTM costing quite a bit more and they still had no activity buttons. The Harmony was 129 with a 25% discount on top of that so I gave it a try. The cost is around what a MX500 would cost with a JP1 cable.
First its smaller, thats good and bad. The buttons are much smaller so its not as easy to find the correct button compaired to the HTM. They are gem style which I liked about the HTM, they still looked new after two years....
The PC programming is a blessing and a curse. If you are fairly good with manual programming that method is probably faster. I found the PC programming a bit difficult, never the less the results were the same in the end.
There are enough hard buttons for almost anything you need to program, although some are not editable (sound, media, pic).
The big advantage I see for my system which is basically TV, DVD or radio. I can switch between any of them with one button push. Discrete codes do the trick. My old remote took a couple of button presses and occasionally since I could not do discrete codes the power toggle would turn something off when I would want it on. Not a big problem for me but the family would get lost in all the button pushing.
The media button is OK, it works with my DVD jukebox but for TV I find it easier to use the on screen guide from the cable company.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 2 made on Wednesday February 23, 2005 at 9:30 PM.
Strengths:
Button layout, glow, features, ease of set up, learning capabilities, display
Weaknesses:
requires patience to properly configure on the web. dont have product in black.
Review:
I got this remote and am already in love with it. Its got a nice display and you can configure which options you want to display on the screen. You can customize every button to a new function. Works with XBMC (www.xboxmediacenter.de). Also works with the XIR (for the xbox).
It has a superb learning feature, where you just point another remote to the back of this remote to teach it a new IR code and accordingly configure a new option.
The harmony database didnt have all the inputs for my TV, but you are able to adjust and add more inputs. If it sets it to the wrong channel, you just need to press a very intuitive Help button which asks you questions step by step to resolve the issue.
The glow is really helpful. You can configure actions to be performed when you switch to another activity or when the activity starts or stops. This is quite hard to understand unless you actually use the remote. With my Xbox, i have it configured to turn it on and then in the same single activity, i have it configured to wait for 10 seconds and then press the Right button to navigate to the right by the time the Xbox has started.
now i just need to get more IR devices to turn my lights on and off so i can configure my lights to turn on when i start the "Watch DVD" activity.
And another awesome feature that i liked was that you can select your favorite channels and then download the TV schedules for those channels for upto 20 days. the greater the time period the longer it will take to update, but i have selected an optimal 7 days and with the USB connection, its a breeze to update the database once a week. So, after i select the Watch TV activity, i press the Media button and it shows the current TV schedule. it will also show the channel names if you want to see that. navigate to the show you want to watch and click OK and it will switch to that channel. you can scroll to the right or left to watch previous or next tv shows.
this works for cable as well as local broadcast channels.
get this, you wont regret it. i just wish they had one in black, but its no big deal.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 1 made on Thursday December 9, 2004 at 4:51 PM.
Strengths:
- Intuitive interface - Great flexibility in online programming - Superior technical support
Weaknesses:
- Initial setup requires patience - Printed manual is weak
Review:
I got this remote as I was building a Home Theater Personal Computer. This remote has specific buttons and built-in programming for Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005; otherwise, it has the same programming abilities as other recent Harmony remotes. When I set the remote up via the USB cable connection to my PC and the dedicated website for Harmony programming, I was amazed at the way the "wizards" stepped me through the process logically and thoroughly. The first activity I tried worked well, but other activities failed. I went back to the website, but found it down. I called tech support, and spoke to the most knowledgeable and helpful technician for any product I have ever dealt with. Wow! The technician stepped me through the ways I would need to customize the remote's activities for my particular applications and home theater equipment. I was truly impressed with the capabilities of the remote and the level of support from the manufacturer. I HIGHLY recommend the Harmony 680 to any HTPC user.
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