Over the years the Harmony universal remotes have come a long way, from the original Harmony 880 which features a color screen and built in rechargeable battery as well as a docking station. The 880 was very good, in fact, it has captured the hearts of those who love their remote controls. The Harmony 890 also has several large benefits to make it the best of the 800 series of remotes. One such reason would be that the RF allows signals to go right through walls and work on hidden components and have the technology set up multi-room communication.



The Logitech Harmony 890 looks almost exactly like the 880, except that it is lighter in color. It also has the dumbbell shape of the remotes that Logitech made earlier. However, now it has a larger LCD and also has 8 instead of 6 icons that correspond with the eight hard buttons. The Harmony 890 works with a color display of 128X160 pixels, the screen is easy to read and interesting to navigate.

Instead of using the soft rubber buttons on most models of remotes, Logitech has creatively designed all hard plastic buttons of its Harmony 890 with skill and professionalism that Logitech is known for. Now it is easy to set up digital set top boxes, Media center PC’s, DVR’s and many others. All of the buttons have backlights so that you can see your remote when you are in a dark theater or the lights are out.

The Harmony 890 includes a docking station, which charges the already available lithium ion battery. Saving time and money is what this remote does because you don’t have to run to the store for batteries. You may also add backgrounds and screensavers as well as digital images to your remote. The best thing about the 890 remote technologies was the added RF capabilities. Using the RF is as easy. Just plug the RF receiver into an outlet, plug in the IR blaster into the receiver and stick the blasters on the equipment. It will line up the component to be controlled by your Harmony 890 remote. In order to add more components in other rooms such as dimmer switches, climate control and security systems that use Z-Wave wireless home control standard, you will need to buy additional Harmony 890 wireless Extenders.

Programming is fairly easy on the Harmony 890 remote. Harmony programs the remote when you connect it to your PC or Mac with the USB cable. Then you must complete the registration and questionnaire, and then choose your component list that explains the procedure for adding the equipment. Then hit the buttons that say “Watch TV," “Watch DVD" and “Listen to Music." For any new electronics, you will be required to enter each and every device. Also after completing the questionnaire, the software uploads the control codes to the 890. If you do have any problems, you can use the remote’s Help Keys which should help you fix the problem. In case there is a problem that you can’t fix then you may call or email the Logitech customer support.

The batteries last a long time and you should be able to go without putting them on the charger for a few weeks. However, most people will most likely leave it in the cradle anyway. The batteries last at least 2 weeks after fully charging it.

Buying the Harmony 890 is easy, the best prices are found at harmonyremotecontrols.