I had mine about 2 months and it just started giving me problems, I can wiggle it or push down some for it to make contact....I guess I should call in for a replacement too...Michael

I've owned my Harmony for almost a year. When I first got it, I didn't initially experience any charging issues. However, as time passed it became harder and harder to get my 880 to charge - it would beep to say it had started charging, then immediately beep again to say it'd stopped, like it saw the charger for a moment but lost it. By the time I'd owned the remote for about 3 months it was driving me nuts trying to charge it, sometimes it would take literally 5 minutes of jiggling before it would start charging properly! Which feels like an hour, let me tell you! And sometimes in the morning it would still only show 1 or 2 bars, as if it had lost connection again during the night and failed to charge completely.

After reading these forums I found it seems quite a common problem, so I reported it to the support line.

Although I'm in Australia (which is often a problem when trying to get support from international vendors) Logitech were both professional and quick to respond. I had read earlier posts where it seemed they were in denial that this problem even existed, but that no longer seems to be the case. This is apparently a problem they are familiar with now, because they asked almost no questions before confirming my address to ship me a replacement base station.

I received the new cradle within about a week. It works way better than the old one. It is still a bit fiddly, and maybe one time in three when I charge my remote I have to take it out and put it back in again before it will actually continue charging. But it never takes multiple minutes of jiggling frustration to get it to charge, like the old one did!

In my opinion, the base station design is fundamentally flawed, but the update has reduced the practical impact to a point where the device is at least useable, and that's enough for me.

I can only hope that the updated base station is now standard on all new units.

The only thing I can say to anyone considering buying this remote is: It is a fantastic remote, really awesome! The remote itself is incredibly easy both to configure and to use. Even with the problems I have experienced (problems which are now resolved) I would say it has definitely been worth the money. The charging problem is a real issue though, on at least some percentage of units. If you get a new model you should have the updated less annoying base station, but in case you don't, make sure you can exchange it, or report it to the support line immediately if you do experience problems. The faulty base stations seem to get worse with time so no point waiting and hoping it'll get better on it's own.

I have had issues with the 880 remote not charging correctly after two weeks of use. After calling tech support they agreed that the charging cradle was defective and that a new one would be ordered. I get an email a week later saying that it was backordered and it will be 2 to 3 weeks before it will arrive. Well that was on March 9,2006 and now it is April 15 and I still have no replacement charging cradle so I call up tech support and they give me the same run around that they are backordered and will take 2 to 3 more weeks?????? You wonder how this company can stay in bussiness? Well thanks to this forum I see I am not the only frustrated user of this Harmony 880 remote. I will definitely try the fix that "dgwing" suggested and see if that fixes my problem. Will post success or failure.

I have had my 880 for about two months now, and have had the charging issue for two weeks. Contacted Logitech told them that I was aware of the base charger issue. They ended up sending me a brand new remote, and requested I ship the the defective remote/charger back to Canada. Shipping to Canada is not that cheap from TX. In addition, they tell me to do the following:

Please ensure that for customs purposes you state the following:

Value: $10
Contents: Return of Remote Control manufactured in Canada.

If you do not state the above, customs may mistakenly charge us duty.

The address is:

Remote Control Business Unit
Logitech
Attn: Returns Department, RMA #
2355 Skymark Avenue, Suite 200
Mississauga, Ontario
L4W 4Y6
Canada

Could there be possible issues with declaring that this item was manufactured in Canada, when it is actually made some place in Asia.... (don't have access to the remote right now) Am I on the hook if there are any customs issues?

Yes indeed. Easy fix. Myself, I figured the paper would eventually wear out, so I took one of the soft rubber ring thingies out of a cakebox of Memorex DVD's, cut it to fit, slid a layer under the entire length of the 3 prongs, then put a dab of glue on the lower one, and layed a 2nd layer under the 3 contact points. Works flawless, should be a permenant fix, and the most important thing, the fix saved me a serious case of the redass to boot.

Any help would be appreciated:

I think I've got the cradle issue worked out, at least temporarily. But here is what is still going on with the remote itself:

I put it to charge and it doesn't beep, it goes through the reboot process, I can see the slideshow kicking in, I see the battery indicator as all red with a question mark through the middle of it and after a while the screen goes black. I let it be there in the cradle overnight and this morning, no charge.

Any thoughts?

New out-of-the-box my original 880 had a non-functioning hard button as well as the charging issue which was easyto see was a geometry-of-fit problem. When I received the exchange unit, it also had the charger-fit problem, but nowhere near as severe. Anyway, I had the oportunity of trying both the remotes in combination with both the charging stations and guess what... fit was a problem no matter what the combinaton.

So I kept the best-fitting charging station and returned the other with the defective remote. I was able to further reduce the frequency of charging interruptions by cleaning the the metal contacts with a pencil eraser, so now the performance of charger is actually quite acceptable tho not perfect.

Incidentally...Logitech's policy of making customers assume the return shipping costs of defective units is unprecidented in my experience. In my case- living in So. California- I had to pay $12.75 more for an 880 that worked than I did for a defective one.

Mine just stopped recharging after about a year.

A quick, but not permanent, fix to this problem also applies to most 'drop-in' charger issues (ie. cordless phones, etc.). Use a pencil eraser to clean the contacts on the base AND the 880. I live near the beach so this is a recurring headache.

I have an early version of the 880 (got the 1st at local BB) and have been overall satified. My gripe is with the 'weak' IR and channel buttons design. Not a deal breaker tho.

The Logitech Harmony remote stinks. I'm on my second one now and of course Best Buy claim they've never heard of my specific problem before. The cradle contacts are too shallow and the remote is regularly out of juice. Shame on Logitech and shame on Best Buy for ignoring the problem.

They have sent a new base and a battery. Then they sent a new remote and that stopped charging. I just got a third one today.

Each time I have noticed that there is some type of corrosion on the right terminal on the charger.

Just thought I would chime in on my experience. I've gone through two 880 remotes and three chargers with logitech support over the past several months. All of them worked great for 2-3 weeks, and then I would get that damn beeping when it rested on the cradle. Nothing like coming home from work and as I step through the room, my own feet seemed to trigger it, making me grind my teeth.

I kept all contacts clean throughout this mess, using pencil erasers, dry clean cloths, qtips and rubbing alcohol. I took the cradle apart the other day as it was described in this thread. I was pretty amazed to see that the contacts dont even have support under them - they are just held up in the position they had connected to the charger. I used some sticky foam that I tore off the bottom of my tape dispenser at work (shh) - cut two pieces of appropriate length, stuck them together and placed them under the contacts. Closed everything up, remote still didnt charge unless I pushed down forcibly.

Well, bein that those contacts in this great design never had anything under them, they were free to be raised or recessed individually over time for whatever reason. I noticed on mine that the middle contact was definately higher than the left and right. So if the remote was placed on the charger, I had to tilt it left or right for it to charge. I guess it needs at least 2 or all 3 contacts to be touching the remote for enough power.

With that foam underneath them now, I pushed down on the middle contact and observed all three contacts to be at a much closer level with one another. Remote charges perfectly when placed naturally and lightly into the cradle.

Sorry for the short novel, but this has just caused me so much frustration for the money I paid, and just wanted to add to your troubleshooting. Check to make sure all your contacts are clean and level! gl all!

I've had the 880 for two years and started to hate it after a few weeks -- about the time that the novelty of the color lcd wore off. At first I didn't notice the charging problem, but then it started beeping continuously during the middle of the night a few times and really pissed me off. I can't believe that after two years, the fix was this simple -- it charges perfectly now.

(And, for the record, I used a few layers of thick electrical tape but I'm sure just about anything will work...)

Ive had 3 bad remotes not charge, now its holdin up money. I thought they were better than urc. switching to rti

I've had my 880 for 11 months now with no issues, then suddenly this week I started having problems charging it. Sometimes I couldn't get it to dock at all, sometimes it would beep and show the slideshow like it was charging but not actually charge. I cleaned the contacts with a pencil eraser and alcohol and let it dry a bit. When I put it back on it docked fine and looked like it was charging. But, when I took it off an hour or so later it was not charging and the rightmost contact was black like it was arcing or something.

So, I got out some fine sandpaper and used that on the contacts... so far it seems to be working but I'm worried it's not going to last. Kind of sucks given the only reason I bought the 880 was the dock, now it's a liability instead of a feature.