Summary: Logitech Harmony Is The \"World's Best Remote. Period!!!\"

Let me start out by saying that any negative reviews that you hear about Logitech Harmony remotes are from people that don't have patience or from those that did not pass 5th grade.

I have had Onkyo's RC model universal learning remote for more than 5 years till a few of the buttons started dying. I wasn't very sure that the Logitech Harmony 550 would work; since it had fewer buttons and you had to use a program or website to program it. But, I was proved wrong towards a very pleasant surprise by my Logitech Harmony 550.

Great Features:
* Can customize almost all buttons to your preference
* Knows which units are on, so that only those are turned off, when you press the single power off button
* Can learn any IR command from the original remote
* HUGE database that already had 7 out of my 8 components... WOW!
* Remote goes into power save mode after 2 hours of non usage to save battery life
* 550 model has 4 extra buttons: Sound, Picture, A & B; I'd rather have more button, hence I picked this model
* LCD display itself acts as 4 additional buttons once you are into an activity such as watching tv, watching dvd etc.
* Great build quality and a high quality rubberized finish throughout the bottom of the remote so that it won't slide off your hand
* You can even control the speed of delay between IR signals to the same device, between devices, during power on and a couple more. Basically you can control any little thing you want to the finest level of detail with this remote

Important Tips:
* Software: Use the program from the CD, provided it is the latest or better version. My CD came with version 7.0.2 while the web based program is 7.0.1. I chose to use my CD program and I like the much cleaner interface of the CD program versus the web based program
* Forums: The logitech forums are amazing and you can get to it from the 'More Help' -> 'Contact Us' -> 'Forums'. Look for posts in this forum by a user by the name 'WannabeActuary' of 'Logi Guru' level and he seems to know answers to all your Logitech Harmony questions
* Programming: The basic programming if you know all your device model numbers takes 10 minutes. For advanced i.e. more picky users you can customize the remote to perfection and you can spend a whole day doing this, because of the sheer fact that you can customize anything and everything, which is great!
* Activity Buttons: Make sure that once you are inside an activity, that you customize the first two pages of the LCD screen to show the commands that you use most frequently. E.g.: In the activity of 'Watch DVD' with a DVD changer, you probably would want 'Subtitle', 'Audio', 'Next Disc', 'Previous Disc' commands are displayed on the first page of the LCD screen and so on

Conclusion:
This is best remote you can find for under $70 and it can do everything you want it to do and it is truly a universal remote. In final analysis, the only thing I can say is that this is the \"World's Best Remote. Period!!!\"

Summary: I've been using this remote for at least 2 months now and I must say this thing is awesome. Despite what other reviewers would have you believe, the ability to have every button from all your remotes is what I think makes this remote so great. Any \"soft button\" logitech doesn't include in the initial programing of your device can be learned through the IR port.

Also, my remote never misses a beat when switching between viewing modes. If I go from \"watch TV\" to \"watch DVD\", it gets all of the inputs right every time. This may be another issue of knowing how to program it properly.

I just had to give my 2 cents after seeing people giving this bad reviews based on improper use or not reading directions. I would buy this remote again in a heartbeat!

Summary: For the price (bought for $75), the remote functions good once setup. The setup software took some time to study and understand. I'm sure I'm still not taking full advantage of all the features. I just wish there was the favorite channel activity; probably no other reason to upgrade to pricier models unless you want color screen or recharging cradle.