Home > Consumer Reviews > Logitech Harmony 890 Advanced Universal Remote Control

I was expecting this unit to work on my BOSE Lifestyle Unit which has an RF receiver. This was advertized as RF capable but that was not the case when I set it up. It referred to BOSE for another piece of equipment that BOSE doesn't even carry anymore.

I'd just like to echo what others have already said. This remote is not ready for prime time. If you're on a Mac, forget even trying it. It will not work. Logitech support is some of the worst I've ever encountered. It takes several days for any sort of response to questions - and when they finally arrive, the answers are usually wrong. Very frustrating.

I love my Harmony 688, but since Logitech took over, things have been going downhill. Hopefully Logitech won't run the great Harmony concept into the ground. Until they fix the (numerous) bugs, avoid this remote!!!

After reading the (mostly bad) reviews, I decided to try it anyway. It took a while to get the hang of programming the remote, but once I did it wasn't too bad. Of course, every time I changed my mind about the setup, I had to go through the entire process of programming the remote and IR/RF unit. Still, it wasn't too bad. After an evening of trial and error, it was set up and working great...for exactly one day. After that day, the backlit buttons and base station light went out, permanently. I emailed logitech customer service and four days later received a reply: it's defective. Well, even at Amazon's discount price, it's too much money for a product that I can't count on. I returned it. If it actually worked as promised, I think it would be a good product at an excellent price.

7-5-07: I bought another one around Christmas time. Six months later it's still working, so I think it's fair to re-evaluate now. At this point, I'd give it 3 stars. It is still a tempermental remote. The "play" button fell out of the remote after about 2 months. Instead of sending it back, I put a piece of clear tape over the button and have had no problems. It also is 'finicky' about recharging when sitting in the cradle. Except for these two issues, it's working as promised.

I have had many universal remotes, but none as bad as this one! I write computer software for a living, but the complexity of using this terrible piece of junk is unbelievable. Get ready to spend hours and hours sitting in front of your computer setting this up. Hours of time on the phone to technical support as they explain how do download more firmware updates, and how to go through detailed processes to get the wireless extender to work. Then, even when it works at all, the digital readout is hard to see and you'll have dozens of useless commands for all your devices to page through. For example, just to turn my receiver on or off, I had to page down through SIX pages of commands! Can you tailor all those and get this eventually to work? Maybe. But do you really have an entire work's week of your life to spend on a remote? The universal that comes with my Onkyo works to control the other devices just fine. Total time to set it up -- about 15 minutes. I suggest you move on to a different remote.

This remote has simplified my life. I can get all sorts of chics now and money grows on trees. Actually, this remote is very cool, and now I don't need to use 4 remotes.