Perhaps I’m dating myself, but the television in my house when I was young required the viewer to get up and change channels manually. Although it wasn’t very convenient, there were only two channels, and the satisfying ker-chunk of the switch almost made it worth it. We’ve come a long way since then, and now the ubiquitous remote control seems like it’s just part of normal life. But just because something has become normal, doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

Harmony remotes have been improving on the standard universal remote control for over a decade, and Logitech purchased the founding company back in 2004. There have been quite a few iterations on the Harmony remote, and the Logitech Harmony Elite is the current top of the line model from Logitech, incorporating the Elite remote, the Harmony Hub, and the Harmony app, into one complete solution for not only remote control, but also home automation.

My previous remote - the Logitech Harmony One

I’ve been a Harmony user for over ten years now, starting with a Harmony 880, then the Harmony One, and now the Harmony Elite. The latest model improves on its predecessors in several ways, but keeps the original brilliance of the Harmony series with a single, easy to set up, and powerful solution to replace the myriad of remotes for all of the devices in your home.

Logitech Harmony Products
Product Harmony 350 Harmony 650 Harmony 950 Harmony Companion Harmony Elite
Maxium Devices 8 8 15 8 15
Display None Color Color Touch None Color Multi-Touch
Control Type IR IR IR IR/RF/Bluetooth/IP IR/RF/Bluetooth/IP
Batteries 2 AA 2 AA Rechargable CR2302 Rechargable
Comes with Hub No No No Yes Yes
Channel Favorites 5 23 50 50 50
Price $35 $50 $200 $150 $300

Logitech created the Harmony Hub a few years back, and was their first play into the game of home automation. The Harmony Hub is the key to the Harmony Elite’s ease of use, and powerful integration with the home. Whereas the remote allows control over IR only, the Hub gets connected to the home network, allowing it to control devices through IP, and it also supports Bluetooth control. This widely expands to capabilities of the remote, from just controlling A/V equipment, to now allowing control of smart home devices like the Nest thermostat, Phillips Hue, Lutron lighting, Sonos, and more. Adding the capabilities of IP control also make the experience no longer require line of sight, and the control is more reliable than IR alone.

But the key to the overall ease of use with Harmony continues to be its unique activity-based control. For those that haven’t used it, I’ll give a quick overview of the concept.

Activities

The original genius with Harmony, especially compared to other Universal remote controls, was that Harmony groups devices into activities. The typical setup would be one remote per device, so if you want to watch a movie, you may need a remote to power on the television and choose the correct input, a remote for the A/V Receiver to select the input and control the audio, and a third remote for the disc player. Then, if you wanted to watch television, you’d turn off the disc player, switch the inputs on the TV and Receiver, and then pick up the cable box remote to change channels. This is somewhat of a worst-case scenario of course. Perhaps the television remote will also control the DVD player or cable box in some manner, but regardless this is how most people operate an entertainment setup. Even the best universal remote control is always some sort of compromise, since inevitably there will be some function you need to perform on a device that will require you to dig out the remote for it.

Harmony dispenses with this silliness. By grouping devices into activities, the remote will perform every function required automatically, and it will then control the correct devices for that activity. For instance, when you decide you want to watch a movie, you can select the activity titled “Watch a Movie” on the remote. It will then power on the correct equipment, select the correct inputs, and automatically switch the remote functions to support the activity. Play/Pause and the like will be mapped to the disc player, and volume control will be for the A/V Receiver. You can customize each activity to suit your individual tastes, and every single button can be mapped to other functions if you need to change any of the functions. Then, when you want to watch television instead, pressing “Watch TV” will power off the disc player, power on the cable box, select the correct inputs, and remap the remote buttons as required.

For any of those rare times where you need to control some obscure feature of your equipment, Harmony also has a Devices mode, where you can pick a single device and get full control of it and all of its features.

The combination of activities and devices make the cumbersome process of controlling several devices into a simple, seamless task. The Harmony Elite builds on this already powerful control that Harmony has always had, but the underlying philosophies are the same.

The Logitech Harmony Elite Remote
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  • Solandri - Sunday, February 19, 2017 - link

    The Harmony Companion uses a single CR2302 battery, not AAs.
    https://support.myharmony.com/en-no/harmony-remote...
  • Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - link

    Thanks, I had gotten the 2xAA on the Amazon specs. I'll update it.
  • philehidiot - Monday, February 20, 2017 - link

    I'm pretty sure my smartphone with an IR blaster and appropriate app would be almost as good without the cost.
  • Brett Howse - Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - link

    I'm pretty sure it's not, but you can just buy the hub and get some of the experience. I wrote about this in the article though. Smartphones are not good remotes.
  • pjcamp - Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - link

    "Perhaps I’m dating myself, but the television in my house when I was young required the viewer to get up and change channels manually. "

    Was it black and white? Mine was a giant monochrome console with lots of fascinating glassy objects inside.
  • pruprup - Monday, March 6, 2017 - link

    I have the Harmony Companion, Would it work if I buy just the remote?
    Do you have different versions of the Hub?
  • SRALPH - Friday, March 2, 2018 - link

    I recently picked up this remote to replace an old Harmony 900. All my settings basically migrated over smoothly (cool) but I ran into one weird issue with the remote. I was trying to customize some of the programmable buttons like DVR and the four colored ones and after saving and syncing with the Hub my number pad grid on the touchscreen transformed into an empty grid. Searched online and Logitech's response was to reset to the default settings...so I lose my customized buttons in order to get the number pad back. Any one else have a similar experience? Otherwise I really like the new form factor after killing a Harmony 1000 and two Harmony 900's.
  • Wvan - Thursday, April 12, 2018 - link

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  • Selim Reza - Monday, October 22, 2018 - link

    Great tutorial! It's true that, when you add a device, it asks for the manufacturer, and the model number, and the software shows you in animated images examples of where to find the model number.

    By the way, I'm sharing an important message to all:
    CatLight is a notification app for developers. It shows the current status of continuous delivery, tasks, and bugs in the project and informs when attention is needed.

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