I was pretty hesitant about spending a lot of money on a fancy remote, but after using this product for a short time I'll say I'm as excited as I can possibly be about a gadget whose primary function boils down to turning other gadgets on and off. One impressive feature is the database of devices. This includes my NS-BRDVD3 blu-ray player from Insignia, who don't even have any solution for using their own product with a universal remote. This player is included in Logitech's database however, and the 510 operates it flawlessly. I was a bit surprised that there was no exact match for my Dish VIP-211K satellite receiver, but the setup program walked me thru a process of pointing the Dish-supplied remote at the 510 and pressing various buttons, which allowed the software to guess a command set. There was some trial and error, but eventually the software learned enough that the receiver works fine w/ the 510. Setup with my other devices was extremely simple. The software showed the inputs for my TV, blu-ray player and AV receiver with the correct names, and initial setup consisted mainly of choosing the devices and inputs for the activities I configured. There are some standard activities that can be configured, but one can also configure and name generic activities. For example, I configured an activity I named "Use PC", which simply turns the TV and AV receiver on and chooses the correct inputs for both.

Overall I would say programming the 510 is pretty straightforward. If you're a total technophobe I can see how it could be a bit intimidating, but the software is pretty good about guiding the user through the process and asking questions that are well chosen and easy to understand. As I mentioned above, getting things to work perfectly may involve some trial and error. One bit of information I learned was that each device actually has to process each command it sees to determine if it is intended for that device, and that it takes a significant amount of time to do this. So, if your devices are slower than average, it can cause a problem if commands are sent from the remote too quickly, and the setup software allows you to specify the time it takes each device to process commands. It also allows you to specify things like the order in which devices are turned on, and the "warm up" time of your devices, which is the time after the power-on command before they are ready to accept another command. When I initially set up the remote for my system, the TV (LG 42LH40) was not always powered up and the input was not always set correctly until I put the TV first in the order of devices powered up and increased the warmup time to 6000ms from the default of 5000ms.

Operating the 510 is easy enough. You press the activities button, which presents you with a menu of the available choices, you press the button next to the one you want, and the remote turns your devices on and sets the inputs. If something isn't right, you press the help button and the remote asks a series of yes or no questions to get everything in the right state. If you find that you have to do this pretty consistently, or if you have other problems, you can go back to the setup software and start up the trouble-shooting wizard, which is one of the few useful "wizards" I've ever used.

If there is anything I don't like about this remote, it's the button layout. The number buttons are small, and the activities button is positioned awkwardly above a couple of other buttons. Otherwise, I'm very happy w/ this remote so far.

Product Overview

Your coffee table has five remotes. You have a special drawer where you keep them. Wouldn't it be easier to just have one remote? You can. Replace all your remotes with Harmony.

Product Feature

• Replaces up to five remotes, reducing clutter and complexity in your living room
• One-touch, activity-based control turns on the right devices in the right order
• Interactive LCD with Help function makes it easy for everyone in the family to use
• Helpful online software guides you through setup. Our live customer support team can help you, should you need it
• Supporting more than 225,000 devices from 5,000 brands, you can be confident

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: May 07, 2010 10:01:01