Logitech Harmony Smart Control with Smartphone App and Simple All in One Remote - Black

OK this is a bit long story....How this started..---------------------------I owned the Harmony 700 that was working well for last 4 years. However with a new wall mount tv and moving all other electronics to a cabinet, the harmony 700 could no longer reach them as the Harmony 700 is IR only remote. The closed cabinet is in another room behind a wall - about 15 feet away.I have several electronics - LED TV, sound bar, hdmi switch, Dish Network DVR, Blu-ray player, Apple TV, XBox 360. I was able to program 6 devices on the Harmony 700 leaving the Xbox for manual operation but not a big deal as I do not use it that often.Naturally I purchased a IR extender - after a lot of research - a monoprice 300 ft range extender. It worked for a few devices but not others. It would also not work consistently and my wife gave me constant gripe about that.More research and found a NextGen IR to RF extender that had very good reviews on Amazon. But unfortunately for me it had the same issues. Worked well for some devices but not others.Finally I thought whether there were any remote extenders that work over wifi rather than IR. after looking round finally saw the Harmony Smart Control. With my prior experience with Harmony, I was very happy to see this. The main difference between this and the two previous extenders I got was the price - 30-40 for the others and 145 with tax for this one. But I needed something that worked,And I am glad I got this. Below are the benefits in my opinion.Programming---------------------Programming the remote is super simple using The Logitech website. They have a web based app where you can do all the set ups and then just sync to the remote - the hub in this case using a USB cable. If you have used any Harmony remote before, this is a life saver to program complicated functions with ease.The Hub & Remote------------------------------The Smart Control gives you the hub and Remote. The hub is the IR blaster. I believe it communicates with the remote using RF or WiFi - I am not sure. The remote and Hub come paired out of the box. To get started you startup the harmony program and connect the hub to your laptop using USB cable that it comes with. Program your devices and sync. That's it. Unplug the hub from the laptop and connect it to the power cord that it comes with and place it in front of the devices. The Hub supports two IR blasters but come with only 1 external IR blaster. The Hub itself is an IR blaster. So essentially you can have 3 total and you already have 2 (Hub + 1 Eye included).In the other devices that I returned, the IR eye was a tiny IR led. Not sure about the Hub, but I just put it inside he cabinet and closed he cabinet door, and it just works - every time - never misses a Button press. And I did not even put it in line of sight - I have the DVR sitting , the Blu-ray player stacked on it, the Apple TV on top of that, and the hdmi switch on top of that. The Xbox sits in the lower part of the cabinet.But somehow it just works...The only issue I see-----------------------------So I have my TV and Soundbar in living room and the Hub is no where in sight. My only gripe but jot a major one, was that the included remote is more of a controller and not a true remote - it does not have IR at all. So I have to run a wire behind the wall and attached the included IR blaster so it sits just on top of the Soundbar where it can send the IR to both the TV and the Soundbar. The included IR eye has a cable of about 6 feet or so. But I had to cover about 30 feet and the wire needed to be hidden. So I put together an extension cable because i could not find one in store locally. I used a 30 foot speaker wire that I had laying around, and got the 3/32" male and female connectors from RadioShack and soldered them. It worked!!!Finally-----------So now everything works just right. One remote works for all devices. If you are thinking about buying this, stop reading and buy it already.IPhone app----------------------The Hub supports the use of the Harmony iPhone and android apps. Using the app you can control everything that you can with the remote and then some. For example if you press he OFF button on the remote and for whatever reason say the TV does not turn off, your remote will not be able to pick the TV and turn it off anymore. You would need to manually turn off. The App can do that, the remote can't.I Md not really using it though, so can't say much. I just tried it out and it works well for what I tried. I can see that you may need to get Used to it. The one thing what you can do with the App is have favorite channels up to 50 channels so a press of a button on your smartphone.Overall a great buy, I wish I had found it 2 weeks earlier. It would have saved me a lot of time and frustration...

This purchase has restored my credibility to my family. :)Setup is extremely easy, though the included instructions could be a little better. They basically show you how to wire it in but they should tell you to immediately connect it to a computer for wifi setup first. While it isn't required, they should assume you bought this to use with the smartphone app and that only happens on wifi.There is a hub, an IR extender, a remote, and you may optionally download the Harmony app (I call it optional to highlight that the included remote can be your "normal" remote and you simply use the Harmony app when/if desired). I absolutely love ths implicity of the included remote. Logitech proves once again that it doesn't take 1000 buttons & a 2 ft long remote to accomplish everything you need to do (at least on a regular basis).The hub has built-in IR to control typical IR devices (cable settop boxes, AV receivers, etc.) as well as Bluetooth (PS3, etc.). The IR on the hub is fairly powerful but they also include an IR extender in case you need it (I don't but my setup is fairly open). Your remote communicates via RF to the hub, and the hub takes care of how to talk to other components. If you want to use the Harmony app (likely why you buy this), you need to setup the hub to your wifi network & your app will communicate to the hub via your wifi network. So to recap...remote to hub (RF)...smartphone app to hub (wifi)...hub to IR device (IR)...hub to PS3 (bluetooth).Here's the basic setup steps:1. Assuming you plan to use the Harmony app (now or at some point), the hub has to be setup on your home wifi network first. So you'll need to connect it (via the included USB to mini cable) to your computer/laptop to configure the wifi network & login info.2. Then find a permanent location for the hub near your entertainment components. If your setup is open in the front, you may not need the IR extender (I didn't). As FYI...IR from the hub is not your run of the mill remote IR...its powerful enough to hit components that aren't obviously line of sight. Just try to keep your hub to the edge of the shelf to help the IR a bit. Add the IR extender if you have that oddball component that is clear across the way from it (or for your TV if its mounted in a different place).3. Download the Harmony app to your phone/tablet & it will walk you thru the device & activity configurations. Its really smart & simple to walk thru...no codes or anything to look up. It just works.Just as side note....I read where people are saying the app disconnects all the time and the like but this could be 100 things including their home network wifi getting interference from a neighboring wifi network using the same channel (or a close channel). This tends to be the most typical wifi-related problem and with an application such as this, may become more obvious than simple internet surfing would. Find a freeware wifi app that can show you all of the networks in range as well as their strength & interference (google "wifi freeware app") and it will become obvious.