Why You Can Trust CNET Logitech Harmony 200 review: Logitech Harmony 200
Logitech Harmony 200
- Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)
Editors' note: Confused about how this model stacks up to other Harmony remotes? See CNET's "Which Logitech universal remote is right for you?" for updated comparisons and recommendations.
Logitech Harmony 200
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
CNET has recommended Logitech Harmony universal remotes for years--in fact, we were recommending them since before Logitech bought Harmony's Canadian parent company in 2004. But no matter how enthusiastic the recommendation, there are always those of you who absolutely refused to pay $100 or even $50 for a remote.
Well, Logitech has finally called your bluff. The company now has a $20 remote: the Logitech Harmony 200. It only controls three devices and it won't give you nearly the same flexibility as more expensive Harmony models, but the Harmony 200 is a great remote for controlling a basic living room or bedroom TV that also has a cable/satellite box and a disc player or even a VCR.
How a Harmony differs from other remotes
The Harmony 200 is a smaller version of 2010's Harmony 300 with a few small tweaks. Today the Harmony 300 sells for around $30. That's already very inexpensive, but the $20 price of the Harmony 200 puts it in direct contention with those supercheap universal remotes you can buy at the drugstore.
Those drugstore remotes are invariably packaged with a little sheet of paper that has hundreds of numerical codes to control your TV, cable box, disc player, or whatever. The remotes "work," provided your devices match up, but their trial-and-error-based setup is a pain and they often lack the specialized keys that are common to modern DVRs, cable/satellite boxes, and Blu-ray players.
Instead, you program a Harmony remote using your computer (Mac or Windows PC) connected via the included USB cable. Logitech's wizard-style software does the heavy lifting.
In other words, if you've ever moved music from your computer to your iPod or cellphone, you probably won't have any trouble programming the Harmony 200. The setup process incorporates graphical prompts and natural language question and answers--considerably more approachable than a sheet of printed four-digit codes.
The Harmony setup process
You start by setting up a required account at myharmony.com (you'll just need an e-mail address and password). The site will then automatically install software onto your computer. Old-school Harmony customers, take note: this is the new and improved Harmony software, a streamlined browser-based version that's much easier to use than Harmony's previous software. On the other hand it offers little to adjust settings (advanced users can still utilize the old, more customizable software).
The setup wizard asks very simple questions, so users need only to know the make and model of the products they wish to control, and how they are connected (e.g., which input on the TV the DVD player is plugged into: HDMI 1, Component 2, and so forth).
Once the three devices are identified, the system automatically downloads the correct codes from Logitech's massive database to the remote via USB. (It includes hundreds of thousands of products from thousands of brands.)
On the off-chance that you have a new or obscure device that isn't yet in Logitech's database, the software will guide you through the "learning" process. It involves pointing an existing remote at the back of the Harmony 200--where an infrared (IR) receptor is housed--so the software can absorb and assign the appropriate commands.
The software handles two other functions. The first is customizing the button functions for each key on the remote. Most of the keys are preprogrammed by default (play, pause, numeric keypad, etc.), but you can still personalize what they do. Using a graphical version of the remote on your PC screen, you can simply drag and drop functions for each device to the corresponding button. Specialized buttons for set-top boxes or game consoles (such as aspect ratio or the "A," "B," "C" buttons found on many cable-based video-on-demand systems) can be mapped to the four colored buttons in the center, for instance. It's about as intuitive as it gets. The software also lets you assign "punchthrough" commands so, for example, your sound bar (and not your TV) can always handle volume changes.
The second software customization is preparing the "Watch TV" button at the top of the remote. Using the software wizard, you let the system know which devices need to be powered up and set to which input so you can watch TV (e.g., TV on, switched to HDMI 2 input; cable box on), giving you a one-button way to turn the system on. (If your devices use identical power on and power off codes, the "Watch TV" button will also shut everything off; otherwise, you'll need to power down each device one at a time.)
This is the sort of automatic activity-based programming that Harmony remotes are known for, but on the 200, it's limited to the single "Watch TV" function. If you want more ("Listen to music," "Watch DVD," "Play video game," and so forth), you'll need to upgrade to the Harmony 600 or above. Likewise, if you've got a remote with a large number of specialized buttons, the Harmony 200 isn't your best choice. And, with any universal remote, the normal caveats apply: you'll need good line of sight to your gear's infrared receptors, and the automated input switching won't work well unless your products have discrete inputs (most TVs and receivers from at least the last five to eight years should).
Our main beef with the software: it works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and even Safari, but not with Chrome.
Design and ergonomics
The Harmony 200 utilizes the same basic design found on most recent Harmony remotes. It's a bit shorter than its siblings, but that actually makes it somewhat more comfortable in the hand. A standard numeric keyboard sits at the bottom. Above that are the video transport controls (play, pause, rewind, fast-forward, stop, and record--but no "track up" and "track down").
The upper half of the remote has five-way directional keys, channel and volume controls, and some standard DVR keys (Menu, Guide, Info, Exit, List, and menu up/down). There are also dedicated input and power toggles. At the top are the three device buttons (prelabeled to TV, Cable, and DVD--though you can assign them to whatever you'd like), and the aforementioned Watch TV key.
That leaves only four "extra" buttons left over for customized controls (the yellow, blue, red, and green keys) Since those are often used by cable boxes, you might not be able to program functions like closed captioning, aspect ratio, and channel favorites. In either case, stepping up to the Harmony 300 will get you at least five more user-assignable keys.
One conceit to the Harmony 200's budget price: only the device buttons are backlit. That said, the button layout is intuitive enough that you probably won't have any trouble navigating major functions by touch in a darkened room.
The Harmony 200 is powered by two AA batteries (included). As expected at this price point, there's no rechargeable battery or cradle option, as found on the Harmony 700 and higher models. We recommend investing in rechargeable batteries, and swap them in and out as needed.
Performance
I programmed the Harmony 200 to control a Panasonic TV, Samsung (Time Warner) DVR, and Sony PlayStation 3. (Because that last product doesn't include an IR receiver, you'll need to invest in the Logitech Harmony Adapter for PlayStation 3--it works perfectly, but costs more than the Harmony 200 itself.) Later, I swapped in the Xbox 360 in place of the PS3.
The Harmony 200 performed flawlessly, working just as well as previous Logitech models we've tested. The IR emitter is quite powerful, and as long as the remote was pointed in the general direction of our gear, there weren't any missed commands. We also liked the general feel of the remote. Some may find the Harmony 200's buttons to be a bit too mushy or rubbery--personally, I prefer hard plastic keys. But they worked fine and never missed a punch.
Customer service
While even tech amateurs should find the Harmony 200 to be easy to set up, Logitech does offer free phone support in English, Spanish, and French (Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT; Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT) and via e-mail.
Without identifying myself as a CNET editor, I took advantage of the e-mail support. The one issue I had was that each up or down volume command from the remote resulted in a "double send" to the TV--so volume was always raised or lowered by increments of two rather than one.
It took six days for the e-mail response (a long time, but at least I didn't have to stay on hold or navigate a phone tree). The response indicated that they had fixed my problem remotely, and I needed to simply resync the remote. Indeed, doing so solved the issue--volume presses now correctly raise or lower levels by just one tick. (One mystery remains: why Logitech can't seem to roll out a systemwide fix--so the problem doesn't exist in the first place--since the issue has apparently persisted for months.)
Is it worth $20?
My biggest beef with the Harmony 200 is the same frequent complaint from past Harmony models. There's still no way to organize multiple remotes under a single online account, so you need to use separate e-mail addresses for every Harmony remote you own. With Logitech now producing models specifically designed to be the second and third remotes in the home, we continue to hope that the company figures out a way to organize disparate remotes under a single account.
Advanced users may be frustrated that the Harmony 200 has few "extra" keys for programming. It only controls three devices, has no LCD screen, and lacks task-based commands (beyond "Watch TV") as well as sophisticated macros/sequences. At the end of the day, though, this is a $20 accessory--those features are available on more expensive Harmony models.
We have no problem recommending the Harmony 200 for TV-based entertainment systems in a bedroom or den (say, a TV; cable/satellite box; and a DVD/Blu-ray player, game system, or VCR). It allows you to ditch up to three separate remotes, and it offers the easiest PC-based programming procedure we've seen to date. And did we mention it's only $20?