Joe, the issue is with 'cascading' dimmers. Just as with a ceiling fan being controlled by a wall-mounted or other speed controller, the light itself should be left on the 'high' setting at all times.

A halogen lamp is still an incandescent load; it's not that dimming is bad, it's using two dimmers. The kind you have, with only two settings, most likely uses a series diode for the 'low' setting.

Yes, simply leaving the lamp's switch on 'high' will suffice, in which case you can use any dimmer that is rated for the wattage. If you want to use the lamps control, use a non-dimming remote.