Logitech Harmony 650 Remote Control (Silver)

by Logitech

Product Features

• Replaces up to 5 other remotes, reducing complexity and clutter in your living room
• Supports 5000+ brands, including devices you own today and add tomorrow
• Simple online setup using your PC, live customer support available
• Bright color screen shows your favorite-channel icons plus commands for easy navigation
• One-click activity buttons like "Watch a DVD" automatically switch the right devices to the right settings

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 1.6 x 5.8 inches ; 15.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004OVECU0
• Item model number: 915-000159
• Batteries 2 AA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (874 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #1 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Audio & Video Accessories > Remote Controls > TV Remote Controls
  • #17 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Television Accessories
  • #34 in Electronics > Televisions & Video
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 24, 2011

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Features

Logitech Harmony 650 Universal Remote Control One touch changes everything—with bright and brilliant control Say goodbye to juggling remotes and complicated equipment settings. With a bright color screen, one-click activity buttons, and control of five devices, Harmony 650 lets you access TV, movies and music effortlessly—even in the dark.							Harmony 650 Noteworthy Features •  Works with devices you own now and add later •  Color screen displays commands and favorite channels •  Activity buttons turn on the right devices with one touch
enlarge	enlarge			Color command screen Favorite channel icons: Jump right to your top news, sports and movie channels Quick commands: Instantly see and select commands for whatever devices you're using Smart display: Get on-screen help at the touch of a button
	enlarge			One-click activity buttons Press “Watch DVD” or “Listen to Music” and all the right devices turn on in the right order Easy for anyone in the family to use
	enlarge			Controls five entertainment devices Replaces up to five remotes: Say goodbye to a jumble of remotes cluttering up the coffee table No more complicated instruction lists of what to turn on and what buttons to select
	enlarge			Works with 5,000+ electronics brands Online database supports over 225,000 devices, including new ones added every day Compatible with components you own today and add tomorrow Learn More >
	enlarge			Simple guided setup Connect the remote to your computer—online software walks you through quick setup No need to enter endless equipment codes into your remote Live customer support is ready to help if you need it Learn More >

Compatibility

Package Contents Logitech Harmony 650 Remote USB cable 2 AA batteries User documentation 1-year limited hardware warranty

PC Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 USB port Internet access Mac computer Intel-based Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later USB port Internet access

Compare

	Which Logitech Harmony Remote Is Right For You?
		Harmony 650 For control that's bright and brilliant	Harmony 700 For simple control that's always charged and ready	Harmony One For simple, stylish touch-screen control	Harmony 900 For complete control of devices you can't see	Harmony 1100 For personalized control of your home theater system	Harmony Link Turns your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Android smartphone into a touch screen remote

Control Features

Harmony 650

Harmony 700

Harmony One

Harmony 900

Harmony 1100

Harmony Link

	TV listings with one-touch access to shows						iPad only
	Tablet design with 3.5" touch screen
	Customizable screens for more powerful personalization
	RF control for devices inside closed cabinets				RF system included	RF Wireless Extender sold separately	IR mini blaster included
	Touch screen						On mobile device
	Rechargeable			Docking Station	Docking Station	Docking Station	A/C powered
	Bright LCD color display						On mobile device
	One-touch controls for multiple activities
	Always growing database of 225,000+ devices—works with what you owntoday and tomorrow
	Simple online setup with PC or Mac (Windows XP, Vista or 7 or Intel-based Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later)
	Live support if you hit a snag
	Help button so you're never stuck
	1-year warranty
	How many devices can it control?	5	6	15	15	15	8

 

Accessories

Add to your Harmony remote and do even more.

Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3 Get one-touch control of all 51 PS3 functions using any Harmony remote. The Bluetooth wireless connection lets you access your PlayStation 3 games and movies without leaving the couch.

Logitech Harmony IR Extender System Control entertainment devices neatly hidden away inside a closed cabinet or closet. This plug-and-play system lets you extend the reach of Logitech Harmony or any infrared remote—even through solid wood or glass doors.

Product Description

A universal remote with a colour screen and one-click activity buttons that bring you showtime in no time.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Resets Continuously December 8, 2011

By pbf

Amazon Verified Purchase

This remote looks good and setup process is great. It has a design flaw where the AA batteries do not fit properly and any tap on the remote resets it. It will then be out of sync with your devices and becomes frustrating very quickly.

If you search for "Harmony 650 reset" you will see this is a common issue with the current version of this remote. Do not be tempted by the price. Just printed the return label for mine.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Love the 650, IF it worked longer than a couple months August 23, 2011

By Kevin

I also have had 2 650s. The first one would go into demo mode everytime you bumped it. It got to the point within a few weeks where you couldn't even pick it up w/o it going into that training mode. I took it back to best buy and exchanged it for another 650.

The new 650 has worked much better. So I was hoping it would continue. Unfortunately now another 8 months of use and it has gotten very flaky again. As of tonight I have tried to completely install updated firmware and software, but I can't even get the SW to recognize the remote now. I can't change ANY of the settings now (and I have changed bluray players so I need to update devices). I just continue to get errors.

I love all the other Logitech products I currently own and have owned in the past. I think there is a defect with these 650s.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this remote August 5, 2011

By T. Brechbill

This is a really excellent product. The level of sophistication at its price point is compelling. I won't attempt a comprehensive feature review; others have done a good job of that. A couple of high points for me:

--Remote Assistant. If you start an activity and it fails to complete properly, the Help button brings up an interactive question set that pinpoints which portion of the activity failed, then the remote corrects it. In my experience this works flawlessly in correcting errors in activity launches.

--Remote database. This appears to be quite comprehensive; it had my Anthem 500 AVR, which is a relatively new product and far from mainstream in popularity.

--Ergonomics. Button placement is logical and uncluttered. Button responsiveness is just right. Backlighting is effective without being intrusive.

--IR learning. Easily learned everything I threw at it.

One last point I'll make, echoing a previous review: If you are tech-savvy and want the maximum programming flexibility with this remote, don't use the myHarmony site to set it up. Download the Harmony Remote software and use it instead. It's not quite as pretty as the myHarmony interface, but it has loads of additional features, such as the ability to append additional functions to the end of an activity.

I was confused by some of the negative reviews of this product, since I feel it is excellent. I think at least some of the negative comments arose from failure to fully explore the software for this remote in order to learn what it can do. For anyone who doesn't have an excessively complicated hardware setup, I think this would be hard to beat.

27 of 32 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Frustrating and unable to execute what I need December 12, 2011

By Brian

This is a very frustrating device and I have wasted about 15 hours of my life this past weekend trying to get it to do what I needed. I have a simple setup with DVR; DVD; Receiver, TV and VCR so 5 device limit was fine. It actually saw my receiver, which has 2 zones as 2 devices if you add the receiver as the last device. If not, the receiver takes 2 devices and counts as 2 of 5. I found this out the hard way as it would not add my VCR saying I had used up all the devices.
I primarily bought it so that my wife, who is very non technical could have 1 button control and it does not do that.
Firstly, it seems as if you can set it up easily online with a browser. Not so. I kept getting server errors for hours as I tried to add devices. I then found out that they had downloadable software which is highly preferable as it offers customizable options that the browser does not offer. The browser is a simple 'idiot-proof' interface with few options. Don't use it if you do buy this device.
The biggest problem is that most devices today do not have on/off buttons. They have a button that toggles the state and the Harmony cannot keep track of that. When you program it, it allows you to set devices on or off for a particular activity but has no 'leave current state' option. So you frequently find that it gets confused and turns devices off that you want on and vice-versa. I kept turning things off/on manually which defeats the objective. For example, I use my TV/DVR with the receiver and often without the receiver for the kids or it's the way my wife uses it. So I programmed 2 activities on the Harmony - Basic TV (no receiver) and Regular TV (with receiver). If it is used to set basic TV and then the Regular TV is pressed, it turns on the receiver and turns OFF the TV and DVR.... That's because it is toggling the state i.e. something that is on is turned off even if you have program it to stay on. You can control the devices manually, but it is too confusing. Might as well use the individual remotes, many of which handle 2 devices anyway.
Then it had no clue how to handle my receiver Zone 2. It was a separate device, but synchronizing it with the main zone proved impossible, I think mainly because of this toggle. So if you program Zone 2 to be off for an activity, and it is already off, it toggles it on.
I found also that it got confused. Sometimes everything would be off and I would press an activity button, and only one or 2 of 3 devices would turn on. It was 'stuck' until I used the device remote and then it sync'd again.
It was too frustrating for me and only confused my wife more.
I am sure you can use it as a single remote for all devices as many do and have reviewed, especially if the activities don't work right instead of having all the remotes lying around. However the screen is small and you push buttons a lot. Some button mapping is counter intuitive. It was not why I bought it. For example it controlled my DVR box but some items were 4 or 5 or 6 menu's down. (4 items per screen so you work it out how many buttons are on your remotes). You can change the order in the software with a lot of work so they most sue ones are closer to the top but that only helped a little.
Also support was bad. Look around the Logitech forums and see how many complaints about no response. I sent a support request 3 days ago and still no acknowledgement or reply.
I could add much more but you get the picture. The software is quite good, but it took me a couple of hours of experimenting to figure out how to use for my situation of 6 activities and 2 zones and many options on the remotes. My For example my receiver has about 16 inputs (5 HDMI; 5 AV; 2 Audio; USB; Tuner; Sirius; Internet etc). These inputs spanned over 4 or 5 screens on the remote when I used it instead of the Receiver remote. I also had to experiment with interdevice delays which is how long devices take to process all the infrared commands as every device sees commands for every other device. That delay is not in the software .. it is on the remote by pressing the help button for 10 seconds. That took a long time to find. The remote has a help assistant that assists get things turned off or on, but it does not remember or save what it fixes. Again frustrating.
There are a lot of positive reviews which is why I bought it, but consider your situation and what it's primary purpose will be.
Took it back today. Read more ›

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fit right into my HTPC setup. November 16, 2011

By Ethnic Mike

Amazon Verified Purchase

I am one of the "cut the cable" people out there. I expect there to be more in the future with the prices the satellite and cable providers charge. I could probably go on for about 10 pages about how my HTPC is setup, but this is about the Logitech remote. It truly is a great HTPC remote control. I wanted a solution that allowed my family to easily maneuver the Windows Media Center interface (no mouse, no keyboard required) as well as control the TV. Those are the only two devices we currently use, but this can replace up to 5. I've tried it for the Xbox and it works fine but I only use it for playing games.

My wife and I used to user our iPhones to control the HTPC (using Hippo Remote). It worked ok, but for a good TV experience you really have to be able to not look at the device as you control the TV. Not an option with the iPhones since there is no tactile feedback of what you are pressing on the touch screen. With the 650, we can control everything with out staring at the remote. It does a great job navigating in Windows Media Center. I can use it for Netflix, Hulu Desktop and Boxee with no issues. The only thing it can't do is type in text if say, you want to search for a movie in the Netflix Instant Queue. We switch to the iPhones on for that purpose only, and we normally maintain our queue from the PC anyway.

Set up, I admit, was not that easy. For most setups it would be, the online interface to setup the remote to use each device is very good and easy to use. The real problem has to do with one of my two gripes about the remote. Might as well state them now:

1. It comes with no IR Sensor, and many PCs don't come with one. Mine didn't.... I ended up doing what so many other Logitech buyers did and also bought the WMC remote simply for the IR sensor. I don't know what it is about IR sensors, but most of them online are overpriced. You'll pay nearly as much for an IR sensor as you will the extra WMC remote that comes with one. This way I at least have a backup remote. this issue is on Logitech's forum, and they say they'll address this in the future. That was years ago, so don't get your hopes up. Once you get the sensor you actually have to figure out what remote control profile to use to attache the remote to it. The profile is actually named Ortek VRC-1100. You can find that online or even in some of these Amazon reviews. Applying that setup to the remote allows it to function as a Media Center remote control. No way to know to do this unless you do online research.

2. Shut down: The remote is capable of shutting all devices down at once, but it's not consistent. Sometimes the power button will do it, sometimes it won't (I make sure to have the correct device selected when I do it). When it doesn't, I actually have to press the "video" red button on top to get it to work. I'm a little baffled by that.

Overall this increased our user experience for the right amount of money. We didn't need the more expensive touch screen remotes to do what we wanted and we don't need more than 5 devices. If you are thinking of cutting out cable and moving to an HTPC, this will be a very good universal remote. Read more ›