Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Harmony remote for christmas ?s

Hey guys I received a Harmony 550 remote from the GF for christmas and I was wondering if anyone had any experiance with that model.
If there is a much better one for the same price or even up to $75.00 more I would be interested in ya'lls opinions.

Bray, I not only got the 550, but the 659 as well.

I've had a chubby for the 659 for quite some time now, so I opened it first. (Yes, I'm White & Nerdy!!) But frankly, I'm disappointed. The buttons are too small, not laid out "logically", and hard to tell apart by "feel". Also, compared to my A/V Receiver and PVR remotes, I have to go into many sub menus to do simple functions. I don't think I'm keeping either one.

My wife is still very excited at the prospect of only having to push ONE button to watch TV. And that is where it shines. Past that, I'm whipping out the old remotes.

I may have to check into Ray's recommendation of the "Home Theater Master". I think that's the one he's always talking about.......

I've been using the 659 for over a year now and love it. The ability to be able to push just one button for an activity is the greatest thing about it imo. I don't find in necessary very often, if ever, to have to break out any of the original remotes.

Where I work we spec mostly Universal remote brand remotes. Namely the MX900 and matching base station, However We did get a couple Harmony 880's left over from a job and I think they are much easier to use, And alot easier to program. The harmony user interface seems well thought out and the buttons you need to press to do complicated macros seem common sense.

The 659 is promoted as "The Family Remote" is it not? I own the 628(Costco Spec of 659) and I find incredibly easy to use as does my wife, 6yr old and 3 yr old. I have it for the main family room and it has enabled my family to watch or listen to what ever they want with out needing to grab 3 other remotes(or have me in the room). The buttons at the top being color coded are what help my 3 yr old operate it, when he wants to watch a movie he knows to push the blue button and everything turns on for him, the electronic babysitter never worked so well!

Yes there are some short falls but it seems if you need to do more with PVR's and such that maybe the higher end Harmony remotes might be better. My friend has the 688? and he uses it with a digital cable box and PVR and loves it.

I've been using my new Harmony 890 and i really like it. It is not the perfect unit as i would agree, the buttons are kind of slim and not intuitive by touch. The stop/play/pause buttons are not in the standard order like most remotes and they do not have unique shapes to help your fingers locate them without pressing the glow button or memorizing their locations (this will come with time).
Many of the buttons from the other remotes are stored in the 890 but i have to scroll through 11 pages to find specific buttons for the Onkyo receiver. I will need to do some rearranging to get the more used buttons onto the first screen but other than that, the simplicity of having a fast learning, one button push unit has been great. MY wife loves it for that and so will the visiting relatives.
I still have batteries in my other remotes in case i need to jump back for something that is rarely done but easier with them (e.g. setting up convergence fixes on the tv).
Now i'm looking into getting another but smaller remote for our main floor tv (dvdp, preamp/receiver and satellite plus tv to get into one).

Thanks for the replys guys.
So...... Are you guys saying I should crack this package open and get started with it or trade it in for a different model?
I do like the fact that I can program this thing with a Mac and not have to go across town to my friends house (he has a PC).

I've got the 670 coming, so we'll see how that goes.

I've got the 880 and I love it. The recarging station is the biggest upgrade-although I think I had the 860 before (not color, not rechargable, but otherwise the same thing).

One thing is for sure-those are the best remotes on the planet to program for the significant other. And if I'm wrong about that I want to know what I'm missing.

Do you find the web based programming to be limited in how you can configure the remote? I'm looking at buying another MX (probably the 950) but these Harmony's have always interested me. I just don't want to buy one and then be ham-stringed with programming. With the MX line remotes, there is close to an infinite amount of configurations that one can do. You can also set up one button controls for 'activity based' switching. But they are sorta big and cumbersome to hold onto. The Harmony's look smaller, more comfortable.