Review on 🔌 Logitech Ultimate Home Harmony | Discontinued by Manufacturer by Marcus Cross

Harmony Ultimate Home is a step in a long line of great Harmony remotes in my opinion. I've had several predecessors to Ultimate Home including 51's, two 880s, an 890 and now Ultimate Home. The remote itself feels more solid and cleaner. Buttons fell out on my previous 880 and 890 remotes and one button on the 510. This new design with a secure, soft rubber backing feels more durable. I don't think a drop will cause the button to be flung around the room and the rubber areas will probably protect the remote well if it falls on a hard surface. The interface is pleasant. The screen is a huge improvement over previous generations in terms of resolution and interaction. The touchscreen works great and is fluid. The hub works very well. I have a hub in a large movie theater with a projector that was having trouble receiving IR from the 890 because the 890 was facing the front of the room where all the electronics (receiver, DVD etc) were located. Located at the front of the room, the Harmony Ultimate Home Hub is powerful enough to send IR across the room and perfectly activate any device without having to point the remote at a specific area. If you have devices in a closet, a hub in the same closet should be able to communicate just fine without the need for two IR blasters. You can also tell the remote device whether to send an IR message to both the remote device itself and the hub, or just the hub, or just the remote device, if desired. It connects perfectly with Xbox, PS4 (with converter), Wii, TiVo, Roku and Sony receivers. The ability to control home automation devices is also a plus, but with a caveat. You can program home automation devices (light, outlet, curtains, etc.) but, and this is the important part, only from the device's screen, either at the beginning or at the end of an action. So, for example, when you turn on your television, you can dim the Lutron Caseta lights to 25% and close the curtains, set the outlet thermostat to your liking, etc. When you turn off your entertainment system, you can set the lights to turn on fully , raising the curtains, etc. However, while watching TV (or doing any other activity), you cannot program a physical button for lighting/home automation functions, and you cannot add home automation to the screen. You need to go to Devices, scroll/select a home automation device (e.g. lights) which will bring up a menu with all the lights where you select your light source and turn on or adjust the colour/brightness. It can be done, but it's a pain when you want to turn on the light quickly. The battery is only good for a few days without recharging. Older generations can work for weeks without charging, so this is a small minus. The charging cradle is responsive and easy to use, you just have to get used to it. Also, there's no easy way to swap out the battery when it's dead, and based on the previous battery bloating history of Harmony remotes, that's a bit of a concern. up to 15 electronic devices in a custom package, but more customization options are required in terms of smart home automation settings. In particular, the inability to reprogram physical buttons for home automation is a major concern. Having to scroll through device settings to adjust home automation settings isn't very user-friendly. That's the main reason to consider the Harmony Elite, which adds physical buttons to the remote for home automation (for a whopping $349!). If you don't have home automation or use iPhone/Android/Pico remotes, this is a fantastic remote. If you have a dark theater that requires physical buttons to control the lighting, check out the Elite.