This remote really does "what it says on the tin". I have previously owned (for 2 years) a Kameleon remote which worked ok, but never quite did everything I wanted it to. Which sounds ok, but if there is just one thing you need the remote to do which it doesn't, and you have to keep reaching for the original, then what's the point?
The harmony 515 on the other hand does everything, and you can even check if all your devices are compatible on their website. Simply go to Logitech's website, go to the remotes page and click on the "Will Harmony control all your equipment?" section on the right hand side (about half way down). In terms of how the remote works I'm really impressed, and would have given it 5 stars if it had not been for a couple of niggles.
Bad points:
- If you use a Mac you might have issues loading the software from the supplied disc. Mine refused to accept the disc, which appeared to be in good condition, and as my drive was accepting everything else I threw at it I can only assume there was a compatibility issue (I'm running the latest leopard OSX)
- This leads to the next issue - you then need to go to the Logitech site to download the appropriate software (you need this to set the remote up properly). You need to navigate to the Logitech site, and then go to the support centre and find the 515. The 515 is not listed so you are left wondering what to do! Happily I tried the closest option (the 525)
and found that downloading this software worked perfectly.
Now that really is it for the bad points, on to the good ones:
- Set-up
This is pretty straight forward, you use the software you have downloaded and follow the on-screen prompts to set up the remote. This is far easier in my view than plugging in a whole string of codes to find one that works (how the Kameleon works). You will need the model numbers of all the devices you want to control, and be sure you know how they are all connected. It took me about 15 mins to set them all up (TV, amp, DVD player, Digital TV Recorder)
- Activities setting
One of the coolest things is that you can set up activities like "watch TV" or "Watch DVD". What really makes this stand out is that if I select the "Watch DVD" activity on my remote it switched on TV and sets the correct input channel, turns my amp on and again selects the correct channel, and also turns my DVD player on. Cool in itself, but then it does an "activities" set-up on the remote, so that the main functions I might need I can access without telling the remote to switch devices.
e.g. If I am watching a DVD I want to control the sound through my amp, have play/pause etc contol on the DVD etc. The only prob is that if you need to anything more than the basic controls you need to switch to the device mode which breaks the activity set-up. If you try to go back to it whilst everything is on it turns the whole system off (as it assumes everything is off when you select an activity)
- Devices
These are easy to find through the navigation on the screen on the remote itself. The only slight downside is that you have to scroll through a few screens sometimes to get to the function you need - you may be able to customise this but I have yet to investigate
It is by far the best universal remote control I have ever bought (I've had a few) - it even feels nicely put together
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