Review of the Logitech Harmony Express universal remote: convenient, but not perfect

The Logitech Harmony division offers better universal remotes than anyone else. His latest model, the $ 250 Harmony Express, could be the most practical, even if it's not the most powerful in the company.

Harmony Express does not have everything its predecessor, Harmony Elite, high-end product ($ 350 MSRP), which Logitech will continue to sell. The Express does not have touch screens, programmable buttons, or complex macros that integrate both entertainment and smart devices. But do not confuse his apparent simplicity with a lack of power. The Express can do a lot of what the elite can do for a lot less money and, as she owns the Alexa Amazon, she can do some things she can not.

The genius of Harmony's approach has always been its vast library of remote control codes stored in the cloud. You tell the Harmony Express mobile device – available for Android and iOS – the hardware you want to control, and then downloads the codes on the remote. This process is even simpler with Express because it can detect only a large portion of what is in your entertainment center.

Michael Brown / IDG

It has detected my Samsung Q7F QLED smart TV, my DirecTV decoder and my Xbox One video game console, all connected to my home network. But it was not perfect. I had to inform the application that I also had a Cambridge Audio CXUHD 4K Blu-ray drive in the rack of my equipment, even though it also has an IP address.

A room, an entertainment system

Harmony Express is designed to control a single entertainment system, focused around your TV, in a room. The remote knows the inputs of your TV (four HDMI ports in my case) and schematizes them in the application. The rest of your entertainment center's equipment will appear under these ports and you just have to drag their icons to the corresponding HDMI ports.

The Harmony Express hardware component consists of three components: the remote control, a large infrared emitter that you install in front of your entertainment center, and a mini infrared emitter that lets you control the audio and video components that you may have hidden inside. a box. The 5.25-inch-long, 1.75-inch-wide remote has only three rows of three buttons arranged under a directional pad surrounding a round OK button. The functions of the nine buttons may vary depending on the device that the remote control is actively controlling, but most of them will be universal: rewind, fast forward, play / pause, increase volume, decrease volume, and mute.

The directional pad allows you to navigate the on-screen menus (up, down, left and right) and pressing the center button selects the highlighted function. By pressing and holding the center button, Alexa is prompted to use voice commands to turn on all the devices needed to watch TV, launch a Smart TV application (on your TV or streaming box), to control Alexa has everything set up to do something else. You do not need to say "Alexa" either – just hold down the center button for a second or two, that's enough. Alexa's voice responds via a small built-in speaker to the remote.

Michael Brown / IDG

The ease of use is the main attraction

In my installation, all I had to do was hold down the button and say "Turn on the television" to turn on the television and the set-top box and switch from the active display to the set-top box. To change channels, I just held down the button and say "Go to channel 200" or whatever channel I want to watch (the system also recognizes channel names, such as NBC or HBO). If I wanted to play a TV program that I had recorded, I could say "Go to DVR" to bring a list of recordings. I then used the directional pad to scroll through the list until I found what I wanted to watch, and then pressed the OK button to read it.

Michael Brown / IDG

Using the Harmony Express application was very similar to using DirecTV's native remote – to a certain extent. If I wanted to delete a recording using the DirecTV remote control, I could just press the red button and all would disappear. The removal of each episode of a series can be performed as easily. Removing DVR programs with Express involves more steps, although Logitech says that its purpose is to make it easier to use voice commands to perform operations for which there are no physical buttons on the remote.

It's just as easy to launch a smart TV app (Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, etc.) with a voice command, although its wording is slightly different. Instead of holding down the button and saying "Enable …", you say "Access the Netflix App" or "Access the Hulu App". During the few days that I had access to Harmony Express, I had a hard time remembering when to say "Turn on" and when to say "Go to." I imagine that I will get used to the difference with the experience.

Love means never having to say "Alexa"

Once you've set up Harmony Express on your entertainment center, you can also control all your equipment with any member of the Echo family. But you will encounter so many situations in which the remote is faster and / or more accurate than barking orders on your TV. And the only thing you can not ask Alexa to do through Harmony Express is to play music and make phone calls using the remote control speaker.

Michael Brown / IDG

Harmony Express balances power and complexity. It is very easy to configure and makes the best use of Alexa's ability to control material using voice commands. The remote itself will not overwhelm you with impenetrable buttons and icons, but its simplicity limits the possibilities. If you want a remote control that allows you to assemble complex macros that can cascade into your smart home, dimming the light effects, closing your blinds and dropping the ceiling projector's screen at the touch of a powerful Harmony Elite button. If your needs are simpler than that and you just want to get rid of all the extra remotes that clutter up your coffee table, Harmony Express is worth a look.