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Logitech Harmony Express universal remote control review: Convenient but not perfect




Logitech's Harmony division provides better universal remote controls than just anyone else. The latest model, the Harmony Express $ 250, can be the most practical, though not the company's most powerful.

Harmony Express doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the company's state-of-the-art Harmony Elite ($ 350 MSRP), which Logitech will continue to sell. The Expressen has no touch screen, it has not many programmable buttons, and it cannot perform complex macros that include both home entertainment and smart home devices. But don't misunderstand their apparent simplicity for the lack of horsepower. Expressen can do much of what the elite can for much less money, and since Amazon has Alexa on board, it can do some things the elite can't.

The Genius Harmony approach has always been its extensive library of remote control codes stored in the cloud. You tell the Harmony Express mobile app available for Android and iOS about the equipment you want to control and it downloads the tags to the remote. This process is even easier with Express, as it can detect much of what is in your entertainment center.

  Harmony Express Device Map Michael Brown / IDG

You drag the entertainment system components to the HDMI inputs they are connected to.

It sniffed out my Samsung Q7F QLED smart TV, my DirecTV set-top box and the Xbox One game console, all of which are connected to my home network. But it wasn't perfect. I had to inform the app that I also had a Cambridge Audio CXUHD 4K Blu-ray player in my rack, even though it also has an IP address.

One room, one entertainment system

Harmony Express is designed to control a single entertainment system focused around the TV in one room. The remote control knows which inputs the TV has – four HDMI ports in my case – and graphs them in the app. The rest of the equipment in your entertainment center appears below these ports, and you just drag the icons to the appropriate HDMI ports.

The hardware element of the Harmony Express consists of three components: the remote control, a large infrared blaster that you sit in front of your entertainment center, and an IR mini blaster that allows you to control audio and video components that you might have hidden inside a cabinet. The 5.25-inch long 1.75 inch wide remote control has only three rows of three buttons located below a directional plug surrounding a round OK button. The functions of the nine buttons can be changed depending on which device the remote control is actively controlling, but most will be universal: Rewind, fast forward, play / pause, volume up, volume down and mute.

With the directional panel you can navigate the on-screen menus (up, down, left and right) and press the center button select the highlighted function. By pressing and holding the middle button, summons Alexa so you can use voice commands to connect to all the devices needed to watch TV, launch a smart TV app (either on the TV or on a streaming box) for to control everything else you have Alexa set up to do. You don't have to say "Alexa", either – just keep that middle button down for a second or two is enough. Alexa's voice responds via a small speaker built into the remote control.

  Harmony Express Speaker Michael Brown / IDG

The Harmony Express remote has a small speaker on the back, so Alexa can confirm voice commands.

Ease of use is the main attraction

In my setup, you held the button down and said "Turn on TV" was all I needed to do to turn on the TV and set-top box and switch the active screen to set-top box. To change the channel I just kept the button down and said "Go to channel 200" or which channel I wanted to watch (the system also recognizes channel names, such as NBC or HBO). If I wanted to play a TV show I had played, I could say "Go to DVR" to get a record of recordings. I used the D pad to move up and down the list until I found what I wanted to see and press the OK button to play it.

  Harmony Express Button Map Michael Brown / IDG

The Harmony Express remote control has all the basic buttons you expect to find.

Using the Harmony Express app felt very much like using DirecTV's native remote control to a point. If I wanted to delete a recording using the DirecTV remote, I could just press the red button and it would be gone. Deleting each episode of a series can be done just as easily. Deleting DVR programs with Express involves several steps, although Logitech says it works to make it easier to use voice commands to perform actions that no physical button is on the remote control.

It is just as easy to start a smart TV app – Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, et al., With a voice command, although the wording is slightly different. Instead of holding down the button and saying "Turn on …" you say "Go to the Netflix app" or "Go to the Hulu app." In the few days I have had access to the Harmony Express, I struggled to remember when to say "Turn on" and when to say "Go to". I imagine I get used to the difference with experience.

Love never means having to say "Alexa"

When you have Harmony Express configured for the entertainment center, you can also control all your equipment with any member of the Echo family. But you face so many other situations where the remote is faster and / or more precise than barking on your TV. And the only things you can't ask Alexa to do via the Harmony Express is to play music and call with the remote's speaker.

  Harmony Express Ir Blaster Ports Michael Brown / IDG

You can plug as an extension IR blaster into the Harmony Express primary IR blaster.

Harmony Express achieves a good balance between power and complexity. It's very easy to set up and it makes the most of Alexa's ability to control hardware using voice commands. The remote control itself will not overwhelm you with buttons and invisible icons, but its simplicity limits what you can do with it. If you want a remote control that allows you to sew complex macros that can traverse your smart home, dimming the lights, shutting down shades and releasing the video projector screen from the ceiling by pressing a button, you will have more powerful Harmony Elite. If your needs are easier than that, and you just want to get rid of all the extra remotes that scratch your coffee table, the Harmony Express is worth seeing.



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