A workaround just to shut things off...?

No, a workaround for being able to control things when (like lights) when everything else is off.

I hope I can help as I just made the switch from a Pronto Pro 9600 to the Harmony One. A lot of people will probably think I am crazy, but I really prefer hard buttons to soft. I was a little hesitant at first because I had some situations that I thought the H1 might not be able to handle:
I have remote comtrolled audio and video switchers that, according to the Harmony website, are not supported. Not suprising as they are obscure brands.
I have X10 controlled lights.
I have three Sony DVD jukeboxes and you have to assign each remote to the specific unit, so you can control each unit seperately.

I went ahead and took the chance since it is a learning remote, and I was very pleasantly suprised that the H1 was up and running quickly and perfectly. When I entered the make and model of my switchers, it turned out that they were supported! I also got the three DVD jukeboxes installed perfectly. I was able to set up activities to do everything that my Pronto did with macros.

I love the ergonomics and buttons of the H1 and find that th IR seems to work a little better for me than the Pronto (sometimes with the pronto a function in a macro seems to not get received).

The only advantage that I can see, with my remote usage, is you can get fancier and much more customizable graphics with the Pronto. This was not an issue for me, but may be for some users.
I will be selling my Pronto on EBay for a lot more than I payed for the H1. I couldn't be happier and am not looking back. You mileage, of course, may vary.

please feel free to ask me any questions you may have if you want more details. You can email me if you wish.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation whatsoever with Logitech. :)

regards,
Ray

I think this post points out the real Elephant in the Room, and that is that even though the Pronto Pro is much better built, and has a tremendous amount of flexability and versatility and every other form of geeky goodnes, the prontos lack Ergonomics and Simplicity. First of all I personally would never buy any remote that requires two hands to operate or has soft buttons, because that just eliminates my comfort zone which is a remote in one hand and a Drink in the other :) and I need to know all the buttons by feel so I don't have to look down every 10 seconds. Secondly I don't want to Enrole in "Remote University" in order to program my remote.

Almost all the Harmony remotes are user friendly and well designed so that they are a easy to program for the Novice and a joy to use. Yet for the more geeky user they can still do many of the more complex commands you just need to dig deeper and spend the time and make the proper macro's etc. Yes it will not do everything a Pronto will but then again 99% of people will never need all of that and the Harmony Ergonomics make the daily use so much more enjoyable and to me that is the main thing that counts.

I'll jump in as another Pronto -> Harmony One convert. Not quite as flexible as the Pronto, but the tradeoff in ergonomics and more hard buttons, along with all the required functionality to do what I need it to do, makes the H1 a hands-down (well, at least the extra hand previously required to hold the Pronto) winner for me and my family. I love the H1.