The Harmony Pro doesn't have hard number buttons.

So reading the article you spend $50 more for emitters? Lol!!

Wow!

I recently had to deal with a harmony. I wanted to blow my brains out. The client never remembered their password so I had to factory default it and make a new one. So stupid.

Since we have some serious Harmony fan boys on here, let me ask this... How is the reliability!

Because every Harmony I have come across in the field, I replaced with either URC or RTI. Because the customer complained about what a POS the remote was. The RF sucked! And several that had just out right failed!
You know how many URC or RTI remotes that I have had fail? Not counting the problem models which I knew about and never sold.
I still have customers with RTI T2+ remotes that refuse to upgrade because they still work great. And I have a few customers with URC MX700s in the same boat (despite that quirky middle stick, they still love them).
These remotes are 15 or more years old!
Let's see a POS Harmony 'consistently' do that.

And $400! LMAO
I can do a URC MX-780 with MRF-260 base for that same price. How much IR routing do you get with the Harmony....  yeah. And although the RF isn't as good on the MRF260 as the MRF350, I'm sure (in my experience) it beats the Harmony.
2-year warranty on Harmony? You'll need it!
App control, OK URC will add cost here but 'How's that interface for Harmony again?'
And finally... How much is my cost in that $400 from Harmony. I know how much my cost is on the URC $400. *This being sarcasm, I have no doubt I would make more than double what I would with the Harmony*

OH! Expandability. When the customer out grows their Harmony Elite/Pro, what do they upgrade to? Ah, they can't!
Everyone else has upgrade paths to bigger & better for customers.

Oh! And as someone mentioned above, programming is completely in the cloud. How many discussions have we had on the different forums about how this is a BAD thing! Allowing access and changes 'thru' the cloud is one thing. But to have to totally rely on a company's servers, for what is one of your biggest sections of your business... F^n stupid. It would be a cold day in hell for me.

Another thing: Precision IR kit? LOL WTF! How is a 4 head IR emitter 'Precision'? Look = NextGen has got you beat:
[Link: amazon.com]

And they make $$$ doing so. They may not make as much as if they were direct dealers but they still make a profit. If you were a small business and averaged $100 profit/day by selling Sonos through distribution, that's $36,500 toward your bottom line at the end of the year. That's a big chunk for a small business.

how about those MX-700s, which I know are like a boxer with a glass jaw?

Forgot to mention that the Harmony remote i updated to add a new AppleTV...had swipe functionality built in. I wonder how long to get that feature taught to a URC remote.

BTW- the MX-780 cost is higher than the Elite and the Elite comes with the hub. At $400, I don't know how you're making money on the URC.

|how about those MX-700s, which I know are like a boxer with a glass jaw?

Now I can't take anything you say seriously. The MX-700 is a tank. Pretty sure you can throw it against a brick wall and it would still work flawlessly. I don't like its limitations, but to call it fragile is just plain wrong.

??? What price list are you looking at.
I'm not going to get into dealer cost on an open forum, but $400 for a MX-780 & MRF-260 has plenty of profit in it for me to support it.

I admit I'm going by memory on the markup for Harmony. I'll have to find a price sheet with the Harmony Elite on it. Because what you are saying, the dealer cost is VERY different from the markup of the rest of the Harmony line.

You're right- most of their models make it impossible to make money but this one is much better, even with the discounts shown on Amazon. I have seen it at $295 with list of $349, but if we can have something specific to CI and not just anyone, maybe there's hope.

Did the price drop on the MX 780? I just looked and it's less than I remember.

MAP on the 780 is $300 and I don't remember it ever being different...or at least that is what I've always sold it for. MRF260 is $150

They need to use 3.5mm jacks, rather than 2.5mm and if possible, put more of them on the hub. More can be used with a splitter, but the 2.5-3.5mm adapters aren't always easy to find and they're not very durable.

I have seen far more user error than equipment failures and the RF has worked great. In the systems that had the 1000, I can operate the equipment from their patio and the rear exterior wall is 16" thick masonry with a sun room between me and the den. The Den's RF extender is in the basement below the TV, the extender for the whole house is on the backside of the bottom cabinet below the TV. They move throughout the first floor when they use the house system remote. Another 1100 was in a large house, again with 16" thick exterior walls and they liked to take the remote outside when they're on the deck. Now, they can leave the remote and take their smart phones outside AND control what they listen to.

I used one NextGen IR spaceship POS and it was terrible. Barely passed through drywall.

BTW- the MX-780 cost is higher than the Elite and the Elite comes with the hub. At $400, I don't know how you're making money on the URC.

I still have a Harmony from 2003 and it works. It has been dropped several times- how about those MX-700s, which I know are like a boxer with a glass jaw?

I would take the Harmony RF over the MRF-260 RF