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User reviews for the Harmony 659 / H659 / SST-659 from Logitech.
Ratings
Reviews
MSRP (USD)
Average: 3.91/5.00 Median: 4.33/5.00
88
$199
The Harmony H659 remote control features simple Internet-based programming via USB, Smart State control for easy system automatation, full backlighting, a redesigned user interface and a large complement of hard buttons!
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 11 made on Thursday February 5, 2004 at 6:30 PM.
Strengths:
User interface
Weaknesses:
some buttons are hard to press
Review:
I don't understand when other reveiwers are saying that the set-up isn't easy. I guess these people don't know how to read. This Mac OS X user had the whole thing programmed an ready to go in about 30mins. Including a 10 year old laserdisc player. Besides some of the buttons are a little hard to press, this is one of the best remotes I've owned.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 10 made on Saturday January 31, 2004 at 8:49 AM.
Review:
All components were listed on website, no problems with download, cable modem. Everything worked on 1st try even dvd/vcr combo. I went back and added a few extra buttons for Home Theatre System with little or no effort. The extra buttons automatically loaded for other activities too.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 9 made on Friday January 30, 2004 at 11:47 PM.
Strengths:
Slick website - promises the world!
Weaknesses:
Not ready for prime time, not worth the expense.
Review:
Intrigue's website makes their remote controls sound like they're easy as pie to set up. They weave a picture that all you have to do is tell their internet-centric installation tool what equipment you have and everything is pretty automatic from there.
Wrong.
While their expensive plastic is pretty, it is far from easy to setup.
Want to play a movie on your DVD player? Sorry - that's not possible with onr button click. Do you expect to be able to switch from watching TV to watching a video, with the Harmony turning on and off the right equipment? Good luck... you're better off turning everything off each time you want to switch media. Have a DVD player with dolby encoding? Watchout! The Harmony managed to permanently remove my center channel sound from my DVD player.
The email support is about two days late in responding. Their telephone support is friendly and genuine in trying to be helpful. But they can't overcome a series of design flaws that prevent Harmony from delivering on the promises they make on their website.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 8 made on Friday January 23, 2004 at 7:39 PM.
Strengths:
Simple, slightly easy programming.
Weaknesses:
Not yet sure
Review:
I needed to replace a Sony Commander that grew legs and walked out of my house (happens with kids around), so I read many reviews. I wanted to replace it with someting a little more ergonomic so I chose the SST-659. I found the best price (not from the mnfctr) and it arrived via UPS within a week. I opened it, read the manual and got started. The remote froze before the first step was complete. After a call and a few e-mails (I was required to fax a copy of my original bill of sale!!!), I was instructed to order another from harmonyremote.com using my credit card! I now have to send it back at my own expense and hope that my card isn't charged and it gets back to me...to be continued
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 7 made on Tuesday January 20, 2004 at 8:59 AM.
Strengths:
Hard button layout,SST technology,one touch activity buttons
Weaknesses:
Some buttons stick and some equipment not in there data base yet.
Review:
I have owned about every remote made in the last 10 years from $1000.00 and under including the Philips TSU1000 and TSU6000 and this remote is the best yet. With all the others I found myself grabbing the original remote because I didn't want to go through all the differant screens to get to the button I wanted. With this remote you just hit 1 button to get to get to what you want. The SST technology really works. It knows what state all of your components are in and controls accordingly. It takes a long time to get setup if you are a perfectionist but thats because they have so many options to choose. But when your done you will find it was worth it. I bought one for my theater and now I am going to buy one for my den. I don't have much equipment in my den but I like the remote so much I want this to be the only one I use.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 6 made on Saturday January 17, 2004 at 5:45 PM.
Strengths:
USB setup was easy and the list of devices on their website is awesome. The one-button activities idea was my wife's favorite feature.
Weaknesses:
Could not get it to work with my Dish 501 PVR the way I wanted it to. Did not like the button feel and the LCD buttons especially required too much force to activate.
Review:
While I was very excited about the promise of this remote and I received one of the first units, eventually I returned it to Harmony. I was unable to program my Dish 501 PVR correctly. No matter which setup I selected, a feature that was important to us was either missing altogether or burried under several levels of LCD soft screens. Fot $199 plus shipping I was not going to spend hours on the phone with tech service to get it right. If my family liked the "feel" of the buttons I probably would have spent the time to get the programming the way we would like. While I returned mine, I am pretty certain that Harmony tech would have helped if I had the patience to do so.
The reviewer has used this remote control for 1-3 months.
Review 5 made on Tuesday January 13, 2004 at 9:36 AM.
Strengths:
great design, lightweight, contoured to fit your hand easily, excellent blue backlighting, logical button layout, TV listings on-screen a major plus, not a battery hog, adaptable to most a/v setups, website seems comprehensive and offers a lot of information to help a new user learn how to program the remove, website programming means feature set can be regularly updated..... it's the first of many remotes we've owned that my wife LIKES to use.
Weaknesses:
setup not as simple as advertised, website operated incorrectly several times during learning of infrared commands (the site downloaded the wrong files several times - repeated tries finally got the correct files downloaded), tech support seemed a bit clueless when I used them to try to solve a problem, end up solving it by myself (much simpler), pricey, some buttons too close to edge of case, some buttons feel "squishy" (especially the small white ones surrounding the display) and all buttons lack tactile response (not a major issue though), requires a change in thinking by the user about how a remote should work (learning activities versus learning individual devices), programming of some settings (ie: speed settings) require advanced user knowledge and are almost a necessity to improve the response of the remote since the defaults make it seem a bit sluggish. NOTE: some users would consider the ability to fine tune such parameters a STRENGTH, I'm sure.
Review:
The remote is thoughtfully designed with killer backlighting and logical layout. The TV listings feature is really useful. Be prepared to shift your thinking about how remotes are supposed to work. Programming via the Harmony website (the only programming option) is not as intuitive as Harmony would like you to believe. My relatively simple a/v system took multiple runs back and forth from computer to system to test the downloaded codes. Major complaint is lack of remote simulator program for the Mac (a Windoze version is included). The website is not for the faint of heart and trial and error is required to finally get things flowing properly. In one instance, the website was just plain wrong. While trying to learn VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN commands, the site is supposed to download small programs that prompt you through both VOLUME UP and VOLUME DOWN operations. Instead, the site downloaded 2 VOLUME UP programs and NO VOLUME DOWN program. I had to try several times to get the VOLUME DOWN program to download, which it eventually did. An unskilled user would have a frustrating time accomplishing this, methinks. Mac support (OS 10.2) seems smooth and website access via Safari is flawless. Once one navigates through the maze of the Harmony website and finally gets the remote programmed the way you want, the remote itself operates very well indeed. On the bright side, the website is always improving and software improvements for the remote can easily be downloaded as they are developed. It's unlikely this remote will become outdated anytime soon. What would make it better? Get the bugs out of the website. Keep buttons away from the extreme edges of the case. Get some tactile feedback for the buttons, especially the small squishy ones surrounding the display. And of course, drop the price a tad. All in all, a great Canadian product, definitely "outside the box" design and concept, and worth the bit of extra effort required to get it configured and fine-tuned.
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