Logitech Harmony Ultimate Review

Last year, Logitech's Harmony Touch($374.99 at Amazon) universal remote control impressed us with a simple, elegant design, an easy setup process, and enough power to automate nearly any home theater activity with the press of its 2.4-inch color touch screen. Now, Logitech has one-upped itself with the Harmony Ultimate, a universal remote control system that takes all of the great parts of the Harmony Touch and adds even more power and features. At $349.99 (direct) it's pricier than the Harmony Touch and can be hard to justify if you don't have a very complicated home theater system, but its functionality and design still earn it our Editors' Choice and distinguish it as one of the best remote controls available.

Design
The Harmony Ultimate($323.99 at Amazon) remote itself looks and feels almost identical to the Harmony Touch. It's still a conventionally shaped remote control centered around a large 2.4-inch touch screen flanked by large, simple buttons for playback, navigation, and volume/channel control. The controller has a matte, textured underside that feels both sturdy and secure in the hand, and its slim, curved profile is much more comfortable than many chunkier, rectangular remotes. It has a micro USB port hidden behind a rubber door on the bottom, and two metal contacts let it charge in the included cradle (which doesn't make a USB connection; you need to plug a cable directly into the remote to update it). If this were it, the Harmony Ultimate would be making a poor argument for its $100 premium over the Harmony Touch.

However, the remote is only part of the system. It comes with the Logitech Harmony Hub, a separate box that works with the remote to handle infrared repeating and Bluetooth. The infrared repeating is a handy feature that lets you control your devices without any line of sight. Place the hub near your home theater components and run the two included infrared blasters to other components nearby, and the remote can trigger the hub to blast out commands to all devices even if they're in a cabinet. The hub also adds Bluetooth functionality and support for the Harmony smartphone apps.

Bluetooth
Bluetooth support means the Harmony Ultimate controls not only your HDTV, Blu-ray player, and set-top box, but your game systems as well. A simple Bluetooth wizard guides you through pairing the remote with the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii U, the former of which previously required an adapter to work with Harmony remotes and the latter of which has no specific remote support. You can't play games on either system, but the Bluetooth commands let you navigate certain menus and control media playback. That's great if your game system is your primary media hub, but perhaps not so great if you consider the Harmony Ultimate retails for at least as much as the game system itself.

Setup

Setup
Setup is easy, and identical to the Harmony Touch's setup process. Logitech's Harmony Web site has a simple Web app that configures all current programmable Harmony remotes over a USB connection with the included micro USB cable. It asks for the brand and model number of your home entertainment devices, then automatically adds them to the remote, with all control support included. You can then set up activities like watching television or watching a Blu-ray disc. After you enter which devices you use for which activity, the app automatically generates the correct series of commands to send out and which devices to make active during that activity.

For watching television, you can also enter your zip code and cable or satellite provider to automatically fill up the remote with the correct channel numbers and their corresponding network logos. You can even make a list of your favorite channels for easy access on the touch screen when in the Watch TV activity. Bluetooth devices and Philips Hue add extra steps to the process, but they're all based on the remote itself; after you tell the app which devices you use and sync your remote, the touch screen displays simple instructions for pairing with game systems and the Philips Hue bridge.

The Harmony Ultimate can control up to 15 devices, and Logitech has a library of nearly a quarter million different home entertainment products and their respective infrared commands. Even if your HDTV or Blu-ray player is obscure, you'll probably be able to control it with this remote.

App Support
The Harmony Hub also lets you control your home theater with your smartphone in addition to the remote. The free Harmony App for iOS and Android turn your handheld mobile device of choice into a touch screen remote control. The functionality is very similar to the Harmony Link, and if you'd prefer to use your smartphone as your main remote, you can forego the Harmony Ultimate remote entirely in favor of the $130 Logitech Harmony Smart Control, a scaled back, non-touch screen universal remote with a Harmony Hub that supports the smartphone app.

In addition to infrared and Bluetooth, the Harmony Ultimate adds support for Philips Hue LED lights over Wi-Fi. This feature requires the Harmony Ultimate remote itself (not just the Harmony Hub), and can change the color and brightness of any light bulbs connected to your Philips Hue bridge. Just as with game system setup, pairing the remote with the Philips Hue hub was a simple process with an easy to follow wizard. The control options aren't quite as robust as the iPad app, but the sliders make it easy to change the lighting when you don't want to flip through presets on your tablet or smartphone.

Conclusions
The Logitech Harmony Ultimate adds even more features and flexibility to the already excellent Editors' Choice Harmony Touch. It's one of the most powerful universal remotes available, and one of the easiest to set up, thanks to the Harmony Web app and the Harmony Hub. The addition of Bluetooth control for game systems, smartphone and tablet remote control, and Philips Hue light control all make the remote more flexible than ever, and the Harmony Hub and its infrared emitters mean you don't need a line of sight between the remote and your home theater to control everything.

Perhaps the only sticking point is its $350 price tag. The remote itself is an intuitive, elegant way to control your home theater, but if you just want the flexibility of controlling your components without a touch screen (or with a touch screen but without physical buttons, through the Harmony App), the $130 Harmony Smart Control might be a bit easier to swallow, although it lacks Philips Hue support. If you want the sleekest, most powerful universal remote available with as much flexibility as possible, the Harmony Ultimate is the controller to go with and is our Editors' Choice for universal remotes.

Logitech Harmony Ultimate

4.0

Editors' Choice

See It

$323.99 at Amazon

MSRP $349.99

Pros

• Powerful.
• Easy to set up.
• Bluetooth and app support make the remote even more flexible.

Cons

• Very expensive.

The Bottom Line

If you can get past the price tag, the Logitech Harmony Ultimate is the most powerful, simplest universal remote you can get.