Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #791 in Consumer Electronics
• Model: 966208-0914
• Dimensions: .39" h x .39" w x .39" l, 1.12 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Logitech Harmony 555 remote features a modern, slim design - complementing the sophisticated decor of today's most popular home-theater devices. The Harmony 555 has a stair-step shaped surface on the base of the remote that provide natural grips for fingers, making it easy to hold and physically navigate the remote with a single hand.

Customer Reviews

Faulty remote, hopeless software
Received the item and on first impression it looked very nice. However to configure the handset you have to install supplied software to download your devices. I tried the software on 3 separate pc's, downloaded latest versions, nothing worked. It seems a known bug was stopping the software from accessing the internet when using a wireless connection. It was clearly listed on the forums. I tried customer support who suggested trying everything I had already done. This was an exercise in being wound up. Hopeless software. To add to this the handset would not function at all even after installing new batteries. The only life from it was a quiet high pitch buzzing. I stuffed the whole lot in the packaging and sent back. In my opinion AVOID.

NOT straightforward, could definitely be more user-friendly !
The principle on which this remote is based is attractive: an exhaustive database of remote commander codes, a specific set of codes downloadable to your remote via the internet, and you have virtually a clone of the original remote... right? Not entirely.

The most important shortcoming of this principle is that the Logitech remote canNOT have nearly the same number of buttons as the other dedicated remotes for each applicance, so there is compromise from the word go. I ended up adjusting the required commands on any available button, sometimes quite illogically (for example, TV or DVR power on-off had to be located on the Prev button, because every time you wanted to turn on-off the TV or DVR, you would not want to press the Devices button, and then choose TV or DVR button, and then find the Power button and press it).

What I had to do, to make this reasonably (and only reasonably) easy to use is to teach the remote commands for the STB, DVR and TV all in the same 'Device' area. The alternative was to keep pressing three buttons to execute one function, which I obviously wanted to avoid. So, it is a compromised existence, compounded by the fact that I had to memorise (and make my family memorise !) the relatively convoluted button allocation.

And do not be under any illusions about the difficulty of setting up this remote, unless you are going to be satisfied with basic functionality. And I daresay that if you chose this kind of remote, you are not one to want basic functionality, you want more, and you also expect user-friendliness as a matter of course. You do not get that, be warned !

Also, like another reviewer, the buttons could have better feel or feedback, you press them and you wonder whether you pressed them enough, especially during daytime when the 'glow' isn't as easily seen. I had a Sony RMAV 3000 remote, which was excellent, but I had two of these break down after about a year and a half. The buttons on the Sony remote were, however, superb. You might think this is a flippant point, but a remote is used a lot every day, and this downside does become perceptible.

The buttons are small, period. My fingers arent huge, and I have to look at the remote most times when I operate it. Again, compare with the Sony RMAV... perfectly placed to operate without taking your eyes off the telly. What a shame they couldn't make it more reliable !

But to be fair, the remote does perform the tasks it is meant or programmed to perform. The 'Activities' button I found to be totally useless, and I didnt once use it, what with Smartlink being available on most TVs these days. And I am sure the other reviewers who could set this remote up in 1-3 hours were either much more technically savvy than I am, or much less fussy than I am about what they wanted out of this remote. I took, overall, about 8-10 hours to get this remote to work as I wanted it to. And I still find little things which I don't like about it, and I change them every so often. The actual technology and software is, however, impossible to fault.

I have now concluded that there isn't a perfect universal remote ! But if I didn't mind spending about 120 pounds every two years, I would go for the Sony RMAV remote. But for the cost (and if the Logitech remote doesn't break down after two or so years), this is hard to beat.

To sum up, I am not entirely happy with it, but not unhappy enough to have returned it. Reach your conclusions...

Wield God-like power . . . . .eventually
. . .because you can't rush it. Remote-control overload on the sofa motivated this purchase, and I thought that even if the one-touch control system didn't pan out with all my diverse equipment the unit would still be useful. In practice I think it would be fiddly to use it that way, particularly for kids or technophobes, but luckily there is no need, at least in our case - we now have spookily clever one-button activation of a variety of kit, pretty much as required for any specific use. Wait though; the set-up is slow (balky web connection notwithstanding), and not free from pitfalls - you might find that some of the default set-ups for activities don't work for you and customising is not as easy as it should be. It's funny at first, with equipment activating and turning off seemingly at random, but it gets frustrating. In the end though, if you persevere and are prepared to go back over things and try different options/approaches/sequences (budget about an afternoon's tinkering), the work is worth it - it really is very cool once it's sorted.