Logitech Harmony 525 Advanced Universal Remote

Best of the best – Replaces all my remotes. Had it for at least 15 years. Still going strong, Logitech no longer updating database, so new products has to be "learned" button by button. But my wife loves it when the remote is the same regardless of new products in the house! To bad it's not possible to get a new.

One of the better remotes out there – I am an electronic engineer/card carrying techno-geek and I like and use this remote. I have tried many and find the 525 the best value. NOTE unless you are a technical person, you WILL struggle to set up this remote. My main complant is that the remote simply wears out every 18-24 months, so I just buy another and another around $50 a pop. Once… Read more

set up it does a very good job most of the time. Other remotes can cost 6 or 7 times more but actually do less than the 525. It's the best of its kind but you will need an engineer to set it up properly. Value, easy to use once set up. Diffiucult to set up, wears out in two years.

Best (and cheapest) addition to any entertainment system! – Bought my Harmony 525 several years ago and it's still going strong. Worked so well I just had to buy a Harmony 785 for another AV system in another room. I have a drawer full of original remotes from various electronic components, never used. I can't imagine TV life without a Harmony - it's my best investment after a widescreen TV and a good PVR.… Read more

My 525 (and 785) Harmony has the best range of any remote I've owned - works when pointed in the opposite direction. I can control the digital radio in the kitchen from the couch in the next room! I'm tempted to program it, so I can lean over the upstairs balcony and change channels on the neighbour's TV! Batteries last several weeks of often intensive PVR use - skipping ads, setting timers, etc.

Compared to programming macros into other learning remotes, Harmony's Activities concept and on-line setup is intuitive and simple. Connecting it to a PC and the Logitech website is easy, using either the dedicated program or the active webpage, and after listing your system's components, Logitech offers useful setups to accept, dump or edit. Saving the results to the remote takes about a minute. During initial use, some ease-of-use issues might become apparent, but keeping a notepad handy on the couch and writing down alternative button actions or layouts makes later on-line edits easier. Logitech were readily contactable to assist me personally on one occasion when I needed an obscure code for an old device and even interacted directly with my remote to install the code for me.

Even though this model is no longer available, I'm sure there are other low cost Harmony models just as good on offer still. I'm puzzled as to why many reviews have been so critical of this Harmony and the on-line setup since both my Harmonys have been easy to program and simply a joy to use. I'm quite bewildered by those who report never even using theirs, but I'd happily take any unwanted Harmony off their hands! One button press on one remote instead of several specific button presses on 2 - 3 remotes - if you can find them! Inexpensive. Easy programming and intuitive to use - Help button resolves most problems. Seems fragile and probably wouldn't survive being sat upon, but mine is undamaged after several years intensive use. Backlight movement trigger too finely set - light goes on when I tiptoe by in the dark, wasting the batteries.

Nice idea, poor execution – I had this remote for a couple of years, pulling it out of a drawer and trying it before returning it again. Simply, it was painful to use. The idea of a universal remote is that it gives you the functionality of all your remotes in one package without handicapping you in any way. Sadly, this remote fails to deliver a satisfying user… Read more

experience by being too fiddly, too hard to read the labels, and it's too tedious to navigate through the options it presents.

Firstly, the good:

1. the database is huge, for devices, and included my (obscure in Australia) eGreat networked media tank

2. it can be customised, and commands learnt from existing remotes

3. it feels good in the hand

4. its backlight wakes when you approach it, making it easy to find in dim conditions

5. the macros can be set up automatically, so all your devices are switched on and inputs selected with a single button push.

Then the bad:

1. the software requires you to register an account first - a step I find pretty much needless unless Logitech is harvesting emails for some particular reason

2. the software itself is very simplistic and restrictive, despite being enormous (46MB). for example, you cannot easily change menu options - but more of that later

3. the display is very low resolution, and the printing difficult to read because it is so blocky

4. setting up macros the way you want them is tedious if not impossible - but more on that shortly.

Points 2 and 4 were particularly aggravating for me and helped make the user experience a frustration.

Regarding point 2, I bought an Onkyo receiver, and programmed the remote to communicate with it. sadly, the defaults in the software poured everything into the remote, including 5+ pages of iPod commands that had to be navigated through to get to the setting I wanted; it was easy enough to delete these from the setup, but the software required me to manually elevate commands through the empty screens, rather than doing this for me. Arranging other commands were just as tedious. I gave up.

Point 4 was a frustration because if a device was on, it would be turned off due to the "toggle" nature of the commands. In this too, I gave up.

Before I put it away for the last time, I was using it occasionally, but found I had to push many more buttons than if I had the separate remotes. If sound was too high, I had to select the media tank (2 button pushes) and then pause while I selected the receiver (two more pushes), then adjust the volume, then more pushes to get back to the media tank to commence play again, then if the sound was still not right...

So, I replaced it with a different brand, despite looking hard at other Logitech products in the range. A One For All Xsight Touch and have been happy ever since. Nice to hold, backlight auto on, huge database of compatible products Excruciating to use

Good – I have a philips TV, Sony amplifier and a Panasonic DVD player and it supports all 3 devices seamlessly. I am not sure if there is support for newer products in the market such as Blu-ray players or LCD/PLASMA TVs and how often does logitech updates the list of devices. I only bought this remote because my TV's remote was dropped and broke. I have… Read more

had it for a few years and it works perfectly even after all this time. I have bought a new TV since so as I said I am not sure if the Harmony software has updates for newer devices anymore. Very easy to set up and it supports hundreds of devices.

Great interface, easy to use and a very good price. (Much cheaper option than replacing the original remote that came with your device).

Imitates the original remote's interface and buttons so you do not loose any of the special features your device remote may have had. Only thing is that when you press the "ON" button every device linked to the remote turns ON automatically (a great feature) But if some devices are ON, and others are OFF, the remote does not know that, so What happens is, those devices who were ON turn OFF, and those who were OFF turn ON. Nevertheless you have a choice to control each device individually.

Good – Great value for money, has all the features the average user would need. Battery life is pretty good, even with the light up feature, rechargeable batteries are fine to use but will not charge over usb port when plugged into PC. Quick response time, easy to customise, good buttons, small and slim line. A bit fiddly getting from device to device (eg, from tv to dvd volumes), cannot send a date and time over the RF signal.

Good – Not sure why people are saying these are hard to setup, not sure what else they have tried to compare to. I got a list of my devices and just added them all to the software that came with the remote, plugged the remote in and it uploaded all the correct information. This included, 2x TV's, Mini hifi, Projector, MCE and even did the learning… Read more

process to setup our Rinnai Gas Heater functions.

The activity settings are a little harder to setup as you need to understand your setup more and we found a limitation with our TVs input settings which negated the use of this function in our situation.

The biggest issue I have with it is the slow response, so takes longer to send requests to appliance, and some limitations in the setup software, like setting order of devices on the LCD screen as I want the most used first and not alphabetical.

And if the dog chews/toddler smashes this one, I just need to get another, plug into my pc, upload the config and be running like nothing happened quickly. Cheap for a universal remote, and can be cheaper than buying a single replacement remote

Control multiple devices with it

Easy to setup

Great if you have lost your remote Slow to send signals

Drains batteries faster than standard remote (although it does light up and have a screen so not sure if that is a con)

Some options limited in the setup software

Terrible – DONT BUY IT!! i dont know if all logitech devices use the same internet application to configure the remote, but the software to configure this is dismal! they have tried to make it idiot proof so my dad could use it, but have missed the mark. they need to have an expert mode for people who arent morons. its such a simple concept, yet they have… Read more

got is soo wrong. ok, so you have got the thing configured. hit the button, now try to stop the help menu from continually popping up... annoying. mine worked fine for a while then spat the dummy. replaced the batteries (you have to update it each time you do this) and it worked ok for a while. still, it works for 3 weeks then packs up. i have given up, so will sell it and get something else. + lights up when you walk near it so you can see it in the dark - absolutely TERRIBLE software to configure it!

- doesnt keep its settings. works for a few weeks then does its own thing

- help menu on the remote difficult to get rid of

- you need to be connected to the internet to configure it

Bad – I have purchase a couple of Logitech remotes as so many people have told me how good they are. One for myself and one for my father. I found the set-up process ok, but found several times through designing your macro that often functions were missed out that you selected by the time you did it all and editing basically means starting all over… Read more

again for the macro as trying to insert commands - well forget it.

Problem that I have found over time was that the remote just became buggy and I had to go back and re-load the macro functions or re select them to get it working again.

In all honesty, I would pay more and go for a proper programmed remote (like Control 4 or something like that). You may pay more, but the hassle is a lot less. Nice looking and good price. Buggy

Good – i liked it, it made my life much easier just using the one remote instead of changing every 5 seconds and having to always look for where they were.it is definetly worth having a look at i liked the fact that i dont have to keep switching between remotes if i want to change from watching to tv to listening to the stereo. its very compact and light… Read more

and it is easy to find as the screen stays alight. there are alot of buttons and it takes a while to get used to but when you do its all good.

Excellent – very simple device to operate it works on all my TV and DVD devices and i never have to use a second controller ever again this is the device that controls my home theater. no device like it for this price. excellent remote it does all my needs for changing channels and recording with any TV and DVD device. very affordable and i like the LCD… Read more

screen it shows menus to set up the device the way you like. has many functions that you see in many TV and DVD devices today. works with all my TV's no issues so far

Excellent – good really good this remote replaces all my remotes and will even do ceiling fans, once you get used to it there is only one way to go and thats get one for every room does the business it toggles power buttons so if some things are on and other off and u hit the power for all items so go on some off

Excellent – A great device, I had previously tried products by Sunray, Philips Pronts and Kameleon, but they took hours to set up and thay did not always work well, and you had to find the original remote to fix the problem. Well worth the $70 I paid for it, and the 30 minutes to set it up for all my electronics. Very easy to set up and use, everything done… Read more

on a computer to do this. One button to turn on TV, amplifier and settop box, or any other preprogrammed instructions.

There is a comprehensive data base of most electronic devices you need, I have some esoteric devices and it found them and they work perfectly. Nothing really, the blue screen can be a little difficult to read

OK – I am very pleased with this remote as a whole because it has cut down the amount of remotes i have to use from 5 to 1, I did find difficulty to set this remote up with FoxTel Digital set top box. even now it still has issues turning it on and off, But we get through it, the light up keys are great and have contrast adjustment for those who cannot… Read more

see the text properly

The remote can be brought for around $70 from most electronic stores but be wary of JB HiFi selling them at around $80, they will price match and in some stores beat competitors prices Best value in the logitech remote range, lite up keys are great at night, it was not as easy to set up as made out to be

Good – It does what it says, mostly...was a very disappointed that not all the codes had been entered in for my Pioneer, I can't switch between AV inputs or change the equalizer settings. I know you can program in the codes manually, however I purchased this product because the original one died and the cost of replacing the original remote for my home… Read more

theatre was over $300 AUD. Works with most devices It broke when I stepped on it. Didn't pick up all the controls on my pioneer sound system or ASUS G2SG laptop, and couldn't get IR codes from manufacture or logitech.

Good – This device works great on my home theater setup, with just a press of a button the tv, amp, dvd player turns on and to the correct inputs. I can even adjust my aircon system with it. It does take a while to setup at first and its not a remote that anyone can just pick up and use. Overall very happy with this device. Love it. Works with every… Read more

device that has an IR remote attached to it. Lights up when you bump the table or chair making it easy to find. Can be confusing at first to set up. If your not technically minded can be a pain to use.

Excellent – Pretty great product. Does what it is meant to do. Makes things a lot more easier in our household to only have to find one remote instead of the 6 we used to have. Easy to set up on the computer. Doesn't really use the batteries up either. Would easily recommend this product to anyone who wants to simplify their entertainment systems. Great… Read more

product. Pretty remote. Love how it lights up. Nice and slimline although that could make it harder to find. couldn't really think of anything - maybe buttons a bit small but that is only a very minor con.

Terrible – I waste your time or money on this junk. This remote is not user friendly at all, unless your really in the knowhow of technology i wouldnt bother. sleek modern design. the remote lighting up is good broke easily. fell off coffee table twice and it was ruined after that. It was hard to work out how to set it to all out remote control devices so we… Read more

ended up using it only for our tv and it flicked up 2 chanels at a time so in the end we had to get up and use the buttons on the tv

Terrible – Dont bother with this product, it will waste your time then fail for no apprent reason. I have re-done the setup again, the damm thing started to work again, a few days later some of key function stopped for no reason whatsoever. I can only blame max the dog, he must have adjusted the setup while I was at work. Great concept After spending time… Read more

setting the damm thing, after going through so much network disconnection I finally got the thing to work the way I wanted it to. However, this excitement was shortlived, as a week after the completion of the infurating setup procedure, functions previously setup for foxtel IQ started to malfunction, e.g. the screen was pausing when I wanted to fast forward, it was doing it before, it just suddently decided not to. The scroll to the left stopped working, press another button and something else happens although it was working before, etc.

Bad – had this unit for about 18 months. at first i thought it was good because i can turn on my TV again. Changing the channel and volume is very slow on this. After 12 months the screen started missing a few lines and then the screen had no lines. Lucky i don't have many devices. So i'm holding out until i get a new TV. easy to set up slow

Bad – after all i am using it now only for tv and air con. It can't switch off my air-con btw. the 'activity' control, rules multiple systems together. control most of televisions in this planet. it manages home theatre well. look nice. it feels very cheap in hand,it makes some noise when squeeze it gently. it's not really works on everything. Learn… Read more

function might not learn well. LCD layout is hard to use, shows four things once and then you need to flip to another page. some devices got even more than 10 pages.

Terrible – A piece of junk wouldnt buy one again. My neighbor and i both bought one. I have a 12 month old samsung lcd tv , a 6 month old strong 5492 pvr and a 5 year old sony mini system.I spent 4 hours trying to get it to function properly after setting it up 100 % CORRECT. I called customer care who were fantastic but it still took them nearly an hour… Read more

to get it working properly.

I am now in the process of setting my neighbours remote up and 6 hours later it is still not functioning properly even after the CORRECT set up has been done yet again !!!.

She has a Sanyo plasma tv ( 3 years old ),LG pvr ( 5 years old ),LG dvd player @ years old ) and a sony mini system ( 10 years old )

Another call to customer care again.

You have been warned !! works well when set up Takes way to much time to set up.You could build a rocket to go to the moon quicker.

Excellent – I bought this remote when I had trouble with the packaged one i received with my new media player(Useless store Clive Anthony's never replaces any faulty products), and can say that I have been very happy with it. I've managed to program all my products including lesser known brands, and can turn the media player, stereo, TV, and switch the… Read more

channel to AV with the push of one button. I'm very glad that such a product exists, thanks to Logitech. Thousands of products are compatible with this remote, and I am yet to find one that can't use this remote as a replacement. Many different programmable buttons. Very Bright blue backlight screen with glow button so you can see everything in the dark. Large size so it's hard to lose. Fantastic range of use, very powerful signal. Does many different functions at the push of a button. Can be programmed to do exactly all of the small actions you want it to. Can learn functions from other remotes directly. If you're not very tech savvy, you're probably going to have issues getting this remote to work.

Bad – dont waste your money on this junk. This remote is not user friendly at all, unless your really in the knowhow of technology i wouldnt bother. slimline design and the idea of having just 1 remote was great. Blue light made it easy to find broke easily. fell off coffee table twice and it was ruined after that. It was hard to work out how to set it… Read more

to all out remote control devices so we ended up using it only for our tv and it flicked up 2 chanels at a time so in the end we had to get up and use the buttons on the tv

Good – Despite the cons above, I still recommend this remote. The battery issue isn't too bad, I'll just have to remember to buy a 10-pack of el cheapos and have them on standby. Being able to use one remote instead of six is fantastic. Buy it. :) Great remote for replacing all your others. Seems to know them all, but you can teach it to learn buttons… Read more

from other remotes if you need too. The settings are set via the Internet with a Logitech account, which means the settings are always available to you if you accidentally delete them. You can set it to turn on all devices of a certain "activity" at once, for example in the morning I press a single button called "Watch TV" and on goes the TV, amp, and set top box by themselves. If I then want to watch a DVD, I press "Watch DVD" and both the TV and set top box switch off, and the amp stays on but switches to the DVD audio cable, and the DVD player turns on. All via one button! NICE. At the end of the night just hit the Power button and all devices turn off, but you can set it to leave certain devices always on, such as a recorder so you don't lose whatever TV show you're recording. Has a blue backlight which is nice. The settings by Internet is a requirement, meaning that if you can't connect for whatever reason, then you can't update your remote or change any settings on it. Not really a problem though, as once it's set to perfection you'd rarely need to change it -- only when adding a new device. Keypresses seem a little slow, for example turning up the volume on my amp has a slight delay (less than half a second) with each press, BUT if you hold the button down then it's much faster (albeit with the problem of the volume suddenly blaring). Doesn't come with a battery charger, so you're forever buying AAA batteries. Rechargables aren't a consideration as they run out all too soon. When the batteries die, they die without warning -- just a message on the LCD display saying to replace them and that's it -- you suddenly can't use the remote until you do. If you're like me and don't have any spares laying around, then ALL your equipment won't be usable with it. Ouch.

OK – the computer software is really simple to use and the entire concept is great. I have found controlling some devices really difficult as I can't work out what the buttons are for, eg.. my airconditioner, I can't work out the functions like oscilating and changing from heating to cooling. Great for basic items such as your TV, DVD plaler,… Read more

surround sound system.. etc. It's worth giving it a try, very reasonably priced the ability to control all my devices with one remote control Although it is simple to set up, actually using it is quite confusing for quite a while

Excellent – I use the 525 to control a Pioneer 7ch amp, Samsung LCD, LG DVR / VCR and Technics CD. I previously needed 3 remotes and lots of button pressing. Initially, after using the Logitech setup, I thought "wow this is easy" but there were some issues with Activities mode turning OFF devices it was supposed to be turning ON. I figured-out that you… Read more

need to lie to the setup program and tell it that you have separate buttons on your original remote for power-off and power-on. Almost all modern devices have 3 IR power codes On, Off and Toggle; but only have one button on their remote (Toggle). After fibbing to the setup program it selected the discrete Off and On codes and everything turned on and off correctly.

I had to use the learning mode as the Logitech database didn't seem to have a code to swap between the digital and analog tuners on my Samsung LCD. The directions were clear and the function worked flawlessly.

I also had to change some of the delay times, button assignments etc and it took some time to understand the program logic but now my wife can push 1 button to watch a DVD and all the other control buttons then work as expected.

It's a great product if you're prepared to put in a little effort. Price, ease of initial setup, huge online database of equipment types. Automatic backlight is too sensitive (walking around will turn the backlight on). Somewhat confusing options in advanced setup.

Good – I control a Loewe TV, LG DVD/HDD, Pioneer Amp, Pioneer CD and Strong HD STB with the 525. Initial set up of devices is easy, activity set up takes a bit of playing around to get TV, Amp etc to do what is required. Great remote and excellent customer assistance. Stylish design, solid feel, online setup,first class customer assistance Getting ACTIVITIES to do exactly what you want is a bit tricky

Terrible – I bought one of these yesterday, and returned it for a refund today. Despite what it says on the packet, setting-up instructions were not simple. In fact they were quite confusing (and I have never had a problem setting up stereo, TV, computer, surround sound gear). I finally got onto the Logitech Support Centre and spent 3 and a half hours on the… Read more

phone with the technician trying to get it to work properly. It's not like I have obscure brands (Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer) and the TV and DVD recorder are under a month old, while the receiver is 2 years old.I gave up and took it back today. The Logitech Support guy was incredibly hard-working; it's just a pity the product was so poor. If you buy one of these, make sure you can get a refund easily. Oh, and when I took it back, they offered to send someone round to set it up... for another $98! Looks good Did not so as it was advertised.

Good – You can pick one of these up for under 80 bucks now. If you are not technically challenged and you have heaps of remotes that are constantly getting lost, this product is a no brainer. Great looks, easy to operate. Smart backlighting makes the display light up automatically when it senses movement nearby. Controls all of my devices very… Read more

effectively. It is not simple to set up. To get the remote to do what you want it to do can be painfully time consuming and required a lot of trial and error. Everything worked for me eventually but it took a lot of patience.

OK – I like it the remote took about 3 hours to set up over about a week, I like to think I can set up anything easily this was not easy frustrating at times would be a beter description, the tme consuming part is the continual conection and disconnection to logitechs site to try the tweaks. I could not use the application mode as my devices do not set… Read more

up properly as logitech expect. Its not very enviromental as it requires all your devices to be left in standby mode all the time, leave one off and try to use application mode it can be very confusing with TV's and videos changing to odd channels. I use it in device mode and no confusion. looks cool, device lights up on use hard to read buttons without glasses, not as easy to set up as the directions say. you must have a internet connection to set up remote.