Gadget User Blog

The Logitech Harmony 525 is the first universal remote from Logitech that I have used and reviewed. I like what I see. It sits quite well in the hand, but the big news for me was the internet based set-up of the device. Maybe I’m a little slow to catch on here, but the concept of not having to reprogram a learning remote everytime something goes wrong or you lose power is something of a revelation!

The remote itself is somewhere in the middle of the range of the Harmony remotes from Logitech. I was looking at the Harmony One but it’s kind of expensive – ranging from AU$180 on the internet to a ridiculous AU$500 at Harvey Norman (where else!?!). The Harmony 525 comes in at AU$77 at the moment at Dick Smith’s. So the internet set up is the secret to the usefulness of this device. From a huge database of over 80,000 AV devices – yes apparently there is that many – you’d be hard set not to find the one that sits on your shelf or entertainment unit.

I was pleased to even find my DSE switch box – that is notoriously odd to program. A bit of tweaking and the Harmony can select the right input number for the correct device. This had been driving me mad for the last few weeks.

It has a rather small LCD black and white screen but a generous number of hardware buttons more that makes up for this. The most useful function is the ‘activity’ switch. This neat feature means you can program particular activities such as watching TV, or watching a DVD and the Harmony will turn on and off the right components of your set up. And it does this quite accurately. If you do happen to get out of sync with some of your devices the remote is smart enough to fix it for you via a ‘help’ button. I don’t know how it works, but is seems to know what to turn on and off if things aren’t working properly.

The internet interface is highly configurable and buttons can be changed to different functions. Once you have the internet settings all done you simply connect the device to your PC with a USB cord and voila the settings can be downloaded to the device.

It sits pretty well in your hand. Some functions will take two hands, but the majority of normal use functions – volume, channel, navigation pad – can all be done with one hand.

This is a really nifty device. As long as you are comfortable with internet and remote programming you should have no trouble. If you have difficulty setting timers on a VCR you’ll probably find this a little challenging but perserverance will pay off in terms of having a remote that controls all of your devices simply and logically.

My only gripe is that the navigation pad doesn’t have a ‘hold down’ function in Foxtel mode to scroll through the channels. You’ll need to click it each time you want to see what’s on. It’s only a small thing and it’s certainly not a deal breaker.

I’ll keep using this great device an let you know if I find any other difficulties with it. But so far so good.

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