Customer Reviews

Logitech Harmony RF Wireless Extender

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The Logitech Harmony RF Wireless Extender allows your RF-equipped Harmony Remote (the 890, 895 or new 1000) to control components without having an IR "line of sight" to the components. One RF Wireless Extender is included with the Harmony 890, but it is unfortunately not included with the Harmony 1000.

Make no mistake, this device is an absolute REQUIREMENT for any large room or complex setup. In my configuration, the Harmony 1000 didn't have the strength to power all of my components through IR from 20 feet distance. The RF extender solved this problem, and now I can control my entire setup even from another room.

One RF Wireless Extender can control up to 8 components within the line of sight of the unit, or within line of sight of the 8 included IR emitters. You can add multiple extenders to your configuration if you have components in different rooms or areas that could not be served by one unit. Annoyingly, even if you have more than 8 components within the reach of the unit or the emitters the Harmony software won't let you assign more than 8 devices to a single extender.

IMPORTANT: You should try to setup and verify your Harmony configuration using IR-only if possible before adding the extender, even if you have to sit near your components or have cabinet doors open. This is because the Harmony software makes you connect and disconnect both the extender (which must be unplugged from AC power) and the remote each time you make a change. Setting up the Harmony first, by itself, with IR is much easier to make changes to the configuration.

After verifying I could control my components using IR-only, I added the RF Wireless Extender to my setup. The Harmony software updated to the latest firmware, and I have had no problems configuring it using both Mac OS X and Windows clients.

Setup is very easy. If all of your components are behind a cabinet, you can simply mount this "blaster" unit inside, at least 10 inches from the front of your components. Or, you can attach the 8 included wired emitters (in 4 pairs of 2) near the IR receivers of each component. The wires for each of the 4 pairs are roughly 7 feet long, splitting into 2 emitters that must be placed within 25 inches of each other. Also good to note is that the tape is strong enough to attach to your component, but not strong enough to leave any residue should you need to remove them.

Within the Harmony setup, you then assign each component to either IR or RF Extender control. Optionally, you can assign each component to a channel (A,B,C,D,blaster) which corresponds to the 4 sets of 2 wired emitters and base, or all channels which sends all commands to all emitters. I chose to specifically assign each component to its channel, which seems to give better performance. (TIP: label your emitter wires!)

Once configured, you connect the RF Extender and the Harmony Remote to your computer to download the configuration. Then, you must plug the RF Extender into the wall, and optionally attach the IR emitter wires. The Harmony remote must initially be "paired" with the RF Extender, which is done by pressing the "Connect" button on the extender, and following the prompts on your remote.

Operation was flawless. I could control all components from around my house! And, the performance of startup was much faster, I believe because I had assigned each component to a specific channel on the extender.

In my configuration, I was pleasantly surprised to find the RF extender is fast enough to send the repeated command sequences needed to accelerate up and down through the menus in my AppleTV. Great job, Logitech!

If there was one area where Logitech could make improvements it would be the supplied documentation, which attempts to be user friendly but in the process is so oversimplified it is of little use. Since Amazon doesn't allow half-star increments, I stand by my 5-star review, documentation withstanding.

Based on the large number of problems people had when this was first released a year ago, I was expecting issues, but it would appear that the latest firmware (RF Extender v2.4, Harmony 890 v4.7) and Harmony client software (v7.0.2) have resolved all issues for both Mac OS X and Windows users.

All in all, a highly recommended product - and a great value bundled with the matching Harmony 890 (see my review there). I have since upgraded to the Harmony 1000, but kept this extender to use with it. It's a shame that Logitech doesn't include the extender with the 1000, as it really is a requirement.

I would recommend this without hesitation.

Works well with both the Harmony 890 and 1000. Fairly easy to set up, though there are two HUGE drawbacks which Logitech should fix.
1. They have hard-wired the cable to the Extender so that you have to unplug the unit whenever you want to upgrade the settings - a royal pain when it's plugged in behind your components.
2. Even if you want to make a tiny change to the Harmony settings (e.g. changing a couple of icons) you have to update BOTH the Harmony and the Extender. This takes much longer and, because it's hard-wired, is very annoying.

I really like this RF Extender. I've used it on the H890 remote as well as the new H1000 remote. All I can say is that it really works. You do have to hook it up to your computer and program it separately from your remote. It has its own firmware. It's easy to do though. I haven't encountered any problems yet setting one up. I'm a professional A/V designer and installer. This is the new way to go. I've installed many hardwired remote IR systems in the past by Xantech and Russound. Those systems cost upwards of $125 on there own. Why not pay a little more and get a great universal remote to boot (H890 for around $250). It comes with a power adapter and IR blasters that plug into this unit then stick on the components you want to control. You can use a flashlight to shine on the face of those source components to help you in locating the IR receiver windows on your cable box/receiver/DVD player etc. (look for a round hole or LED shaped device) Anyways, this is a great product in my opinion.

Update, I will have to say this. I wish they made the transformer have a connector at the Extender instead of hardwiring it in. I do not like having to reach thru many wires in different A/V racks to pull out the transformer and then plug it back in every time the remote gets updated. It would be far easier to unplug the ir emitters and a power jack all at the same location!

I was a little cautious when deciding to purchase the 890, which comes with the RF Extender as a package, based on several of the reviews which indicated how difficult it was to disconnect the extender once set up to reprogram. The IR modules and power cord wires now have connectors to the base unit so disconnecting is now a snap. Earlier reviews implied this was not the case, so appears Logitech has been listening!

As has been mentioned in many places, documentation is pretty much worthless. For a novice, it isn't clear, for example, that you can plug in the IR remotes and attach them to any component without additional programming. The RF Extender simply transmits the same signals to all IR devices at the same time - duh!

I had to fumble a bit to get the 890 to talk to the RF extender - again, a little documentation would have been helpful here as the 890 display scripts weren't much help in this step. I didn't quite come to the point of calling tech support, but came close.

Finally, while the RF Extender can support up to 8 devices, it does so with four pairs of IR remotes. There are two IR modules attached to the end of the wire. You can split these about two feet apart. I haven't seen any issue with how well they attach. The glue seemed pretty strong - especially if you use the one inch square mounting pads. The only problem I had was accidently running one wire over my CD player tray. I had to remove the wire and come down from the top of the player. Removing the IR pad was not easy, so doubt they would come detached on their own.

Now the best part. Once it was connected and talking to the 890, it works flawlessly! I can point the remote anywhere, keep it tucked under a blanket if it's cold, if I'm behind furniture, from the kitchen about 30 feet away - it just works!

I'll be buying a Harmony 1000 and RF Extender for my elderly in-laws next, who are having trouble remembering how to switch between watching a movie and then watching TV.

1/30/08 Update: Just purchased the RF Extender with the Harmony 1000. Note the Harmony 1000 doesn't come with the RF Extender - it must be purchased seperately, unlike the Harmony 890. When purchasing the RF Extender seperately, the power cord did not come with a connector near the base unit like it did when shipped with the 890. I'd find it hard to believe Logitech would be shipping different versions of the RF Extender, so surmise they must be transitioning their stock now. Beware, at least in the short term, you might get the power connector or might not.

Also, when purchasing the RF Extender by itself, it did not come with the one inch square pads to help secure the IR emitters. These came with 890 kit. Hopfully this is a transition in stock issue.

2/12/08 Update:
I'll write another review on the Harmony 1000. It has had serious problems staying connected to the RF Extender. One day it works, the next day it stops broadcasting. Returned to Amazon for replacement (which was excellent service by Amazon!). Got the replacement and I've seen one instance of the Harmony 1000 stop broadcasting with the RF extender already. I have to pop the battery out and re-insert to reboot the 1000. Then it works again. Quite a shame as the unit otherwise seemed to be working for my elderly in-laws. Note this appears to be a problem with the Harmony 1000, not the RF Extender!

This remote is absolutely the best value after you get it set up to your system components. It will take some work and maybe a call to tech support, but you will be happy with the end result. It took me some time(4hours) and a call to their very good tech support to finally get the last glitch out of the remote. The RF works great so I can keep the doors closed to my cabinet and still have full function control of six different components.

I asked for (and got) a Harmony 1100 remote for my birthday. As a techie, I was expecting the unit to be programmed in a more general (and probably more complex) way, and at first was not sure I wanted to keep it. As the flexibility of the unit gradually became apparent, allowing me to "fix" problems easily that the automatic setup left (such as the exact DSP setting I wanted on my AV receiver), I got more interested. Over a few days, as I got familiar with how to program the unit, I got more and more adventurous. The result was quite amazing - now at my fingertips were simple controls to do things that were way too complex for taking the time with 4 remote controls to do manually - especially for my wifh, who really had difficulty getting through the maze of hundreds of buttons to accomplish a simple task such as listening to satellite radio without turning on the TV, etc.

Now that I had convinced myself that this really did solve the mess of controlling my AV system easily, including dedicated buttons with icons for my favorite TV channels and sat radio channels (downloaded from the web and imported), I had one minor problem left... having to aim the unit carefully so everything got the IR messages. This is a problem because of the cabinet can easily get in the way between where I happen to be and where the IR sensor is located on the 6 devices to be controlled. I had heard that wireless was available, so I looked up this product. Afer reading several reviews on Amazon, I realized it was exactly what I wanted, and I purchased it.

The main problem I had getting it to work was finding out where the IR sensor were located on each device. Some of them were not at all obvious. I finally figured it out by using a cardbard card between the unit and the remote to get the location behind the plastic panel. Once I did that, it worked like a charm (at first, I had the wrong location for the sensor based on the incorrect diagram in the manual, and it was unreliable - once I figured out why it was working fine when I was right in front of the unit - IR was bouncing off me into the sensor at the other end of the device - I was able to correct the problem).

It works like a charm! My wife can now listen to classical music from the sat receiver whenever she wants, or watch a favorite channel without looking it up, play a DVD movie or select one from the DVR, play a streaming movie from Netflix, listen to a CD, and play with the Wii - without me having to show her which button to press. Even have the proper tray (CD or DVD) pop out to be loaded so she will not get confused which unit to load! AMAZING!

If you have a remote control mess like I did, with multiple remote controls, so it is too confusing for the non-techies in your family to use, this product, combined with a Harmony remote, is a fantastic solution. Beats the heck out of so-called universal remotes I have attempted to use in the past (which require "switching" from one unit to the other before pressing buttons).

And, of course, you can impress your friends... :)

The extender easily linked up with the Harmony 890 remote. I have 4 pieces of equipment behind oak doors. I put the leads in each cabinet, it was not even necessary to attach them to the components, and the signal is great. The 890 remote comes with one extender which is good for 8 components, so you don't need to order a separate extender. I didn't realize it was included, but Amazon accepted my return without a problem.

I mentioned this device in relation to the review I did on the Harmony 1000. I have my stereo, Cable box and DVD player in a cabinet that is behind my chair, while the TV is over the fire place in front of me. Until now I had to leave the door open on the cabinet and try to reflect the light off the TV into the cabinet, which worked until the batteries got low. Now the door to the cabinet is closed and everything works perfectly. This is a solution that has made my wife very happy and definitly gives the room a spiffier look. If you have a problem similar to mine, this is the way to go. I whole heartedly recommend it.

So I got this with the Harmony 1100. I have a ps3 converter too. The lag between the remote->converter->extender->ps3 was so horrible I opted to use the ps3 converter only. The lag between the other components with the extender isnt as bad as the PS3, but they still are pretty bad. I'm read to disconnect the extender altogether and just rely on line of sight.

It wasn't too difficult to setup, but I would definitely not recommend. My advice would be ensure line of sight and don't waste your money.

Since my stereo/TV cabinet is on the side of the room, aiming an IR remote is tricky. I purchased this device so I didn't have to "aim" the remote. It works as advertised and allows you to plug in the cables between this device and the IR sensors that you place on devices you wish to control.

About the wires...they are fairly ugly looking (unless you hide them) and it also requires you to figure out where the IR sensor is on each device (since you need to put the end of the wire overtop the device's IR sensor). Since the location of the IR sensor is often poorly documented, some degree of documentation is needed. This is not the fault of this device though.

Recommended...though giving some thought to placing the wires (so they are not ugly looking) is necessary.