Should I Get This Remote?

[Jack Hammer]

Logitech Harmony 880 remote, $155 (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-880-Remote-Control/dp/B00093IIRA/sr=1-1/qid=1170454224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8798051-1359339?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)at Amazon before $30 rebate ($125 end price). I've been thinking about a good universal remote, and I've seen good reviews of this one. Should I jump now for the price or wait for a better model at a good price?

Thanks

Jack

[Rowdy S13]

I have that romote and think it was a good deal at 250 when I bought it new. Thats a great price IMO Id get it, and I think Im gonna tell my buddy whos building his fist HT to jump on it as well.

Sean

[astrodon]

I concur, $125 for the Harmony 880 is a fantastic buy! I too own this remote and was happy to get it for $200. It's an excellent universal remote.

[Jack Hammer]

How does it compare to the URC300 for $60? (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00067R5Y6/ref=pd_cp_e_title/102-8798051-1359339)

Or the MX-600 w/base station for $117 (http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Remote-Control-MX-600-10-Device/dp/B0001NNLI4/sr=1-1/qid=1170522927/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8798051-1359339?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)?

I want to buy something this week. I'm having difficulty deciding between an IR and an RF remote.

Thanks

Jack

[nm2285]

My dad uses a Harmony remote and I use a URC200. They're both excellent remotes. The main difference comes in the programming. The Logitech is computer based and transmits the data to the remote over a cable. It's super easy and their database is huge. The URC is the typical 3 digit preprogrammed codes or IR learning. If you are an advanced user, I'd say the URC300 at $60 is a better deal. If people who aren't familiar with your system or beginner users will be using it, get the Harmony. It's so user-friendly it's not even funny. My mom has never understood our setup until we got a Harmony remote.

[abboudc]

Logitech Harmony 880 remote, $155 (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-880-Remote-Control/dp/B00093IIRA/sr=1-1/qid=1170454224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8798051-1359339?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)at Amazon before $30 rebate ($125 end price). I've been thinking about a good universal remote, and I've seen good reviews of this one. Should I jump now for the price or wait for a better model at a good price?

Thanks

Jack

That's a nice deal on an awesome remote. If you're looking for RF, look at the Harmony 890.

[AndrewLyles]

Logitech Harmony 880 remote, $155 (http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-880-Remote-Control/dp/B00093IIRA/sr=1-1/qid=1170454224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8798051-1359339?ie=UTF8&s=electronics)at Amazon before $30 rebate ($125 end price). I've been thinking about a good universal remote, and I've seen good reviews of this one. Should I jump now for the price or wait for a better model at a good price?

Thanks

Jack

Yes...that's all I need to say...yes.

[Jack Hammer]

That's a nice deal on an awesome remote. If you're looking for RF, look at the Harmony 890.
I really would like to have RF, but the 890 is $240 - a $100 more just so I can have rf? I really don't want to spend that much.

Most of what I've seen tends to agree with what NN2285 said about the remotes. The Harmony's are super easy to use and program compared to the other ones. Both are excellent remotes.

What about the MX-600? Any experience?

Jack

[MDS]

What about the MX-600? Any experience?

The MX-600 is the same as the MX-500 but with the RF capability and I have had an MX-500. I now have an MX-350 (which is RF capable) and I like it slightly better. The big gripe about the MX-500/600 was the center 'select' button was built-in to the cursor pad and sometimes it was hard to press that without actually getting a left/right/up/down instead and the 'guide' and 'info' buttons were shared with the dvd 'prev track' and 'next track' buttons which meant you couldn't be in 'cable' mode and use the prev/next track buttons for on-demand and still retain the guide and info buttons. They fixed that with the newer versions which have an actual button in the center of the cursor pad for select/enter and dedicated guide and info buttons.

Universal Remote has a whole bunch of new remotes that are nearly identical now so it's harder to tell the difference without actually reading the manual for each of them. For example, the URC-200 mentioned above is similar to the MX-350 but the RF emitters are not assignable, which is only an issue if you have multiple components that respond to the same set of IR commands. The URC-200 is cheaper so if you don't need things like assignable RF emitters, save the money and get the URC-200 or one of the new R-20/30 remotes that look identical to me.

As mentioned above, the main difference is using your computer to program the remote vs manually learning commands from the original remotes (or entering pre-programmed setup codes). I personally don't mind manually learning commands as it gives you total control over what goes where and if you need to change something you can do it sitting in front of your equipment rather than connecting it to your computer and going to the Harmony website. I had to change my system on macro the other day and did it in 20 seconds sitting on the couch.

There are other subtle differences too numerous to mention, but one thing that I think is superior to Harmony is the LCD buttons on the URC remotes. For example, the MX-350 has 8 pages of 5 commands (for EACH mode). That's 40 buttons you can label anyway you want on the LCD screen. The MX-500/600 had 2 pages of 10 for a total of only 20. I think you can label certain LCD buttons on the Harmony too but I don't think you have as many or as much flexibility. That is important so you can mix commands from different devices in one mode - I have audio commands like late night and the surround modes in cable and dvd so I don't have to go back to audio mode to use them when watching cable or dvd.

Well enough for now. They are both good remotes but my preference is for the URC remotes.

[abboudc]

I really would like to have RF, but the 890 is $240 - a $100 more just so I can have rf? I really don't want to spend that much.

Most of what I've seen tends to agree with what NN2285 said about the remotes. The Harmony's are super easy to use and program compared to the other ones. Both are excellent remotes.

What about the MX-600? Any experience?

Jack

I don't have any experience with the MX600. I don't like the rubber buttons. I'm not sure what my wife does, but i've gone through 3 or 4 remotes for our TV in the past 5 years -- the channel up/down or volume stops working. I don't know if she presses too hard or what's happening. All of them had rubber buttons like the MX600, harmony 550 or 676.

So i wanted something with non-rubber buttons. I also liked the color backlit LCD and rechargeability.

Is the RF worth an extra $100? I don't think so. But that's for you to decide. $125 for the 880 is a steal, IMO. I paid $220 for mine new, and think it's worth every penny. But there are other, much cheaper remotes out there that will give you the same functionality if you can do without the whistles.

[MACCA350]

I bought the 880 about 3 months ago, I don't use it as I prefer the one that came with the 3805. Maybe I need to play around with it some more.

One problem with the web feature is that it didn't give the option to load just the original codes to mimic the original remotes for your equipment(eg. the 880 LCD had 15 pages of buttons for the 3805 and many of the solid buttons did nothing) It must takes all the codes that other users have loaded and add them to the database, which is a good thing but they should be an option not what gets loaded automatically. I tried to sort it all out but it just took so long and is was not user friendly.

My 2 cents
cheers:)

[808htfan]

I'm also a URC-200 user, got it for $50 at Amazon a while back. Gotta be the best $50 remote out there, though it looks like it's gone up in price. Great flexbility w/ the numerous LCD keys as mentioned, along w/ it's learning and macro capability. I really like it's button layout vs the Harmonys...not as crowded.

A couple things to note: Programming may take a while depending on the number of devices, and also the number of LCD buttons you want to move and/or rename. Also, the URCs that aren't computer programmable don't have discrete codes like the Harmonys do. They can learn them, but you'll need to have them available. I got some 'learned' to mine and it makes things a lot easier.

:)

[MDS]

The hardest part of programming is actually the planning prior to learning the commands.

I write down on a sheet of paper every device and every command from its original remote that I need and then I label the LCD buttons. This is important because you don't necessarily have to duplicate every single button from the original remote; eg my Onkyo receiver remote has dsp+ and dsp- buttons but either one will cycle through all of the dsp modes, hence I only need one LCD button for DSP. That's the kind of thing where it helps to plan before you start.

Once all the LCD buttons have the label corresponding to what function I want there, I go back into programming mode and learn the commands from every remote and its done in a few minutes.

[aspaceintime]

I also bought the URC 200 a while ago from Amazon based on this web site pointing out the sale price. Very happy, it does take time to program, but it is worth the effort. No complaints thus far...

[Jack Hammer]

...I ended up ordering the URC-300 with the rf extender for $114 together. I really like the 880, but a few things turned me away from it. I don't like rechargeble remotes, I wanted rf. The URC300 was only $60, so that made it a good deal. I won't feel bad if I get something else in a few years at that price.

Again, Thanks for all the help

Jack

[808htfan]

If you have Excel, there are a couple of great planners here you can use to help get you started.

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfiles.cgi?kw=urc&ar=1&area=other&db=other&br=programs&dv=userwrittendocumentation

and a detailed review of the URC series http://www.remotecentral.com/urcseries/index.html

:)