Ready to Entertain: New Logitech Harmony 700 Remote

At Harmony, we’re pretty passionate about creating fantastic control experiences for all sorts of entertainment systems. Announced today, the Logitech Harmony 700 Remote gives people the power to control home-theater systems with up to six devices in a stylish package that’s easy enough for the entire family to use.

Harmony700

Over the last few years, we’ve really focused on the details that make a remote enjoyable to use. For the Harmony 700, we included hard buttons for the activities you use most often, a color LCD screen for easy browsing of your favorite channel icons, texture and paint finishes that feel great and resist fingerprints and perfectly shaped, back-lit, soft-touch buttons.

But Harmony 700 isn’t just beautiful, it’s brainy too. One of the most interesting features of the Harmony 700 is the way it can help you recover from incorrect delay settings. IR delays are pretty complicated stuff, and when they’re not set correctly you might experience a device not turning on or an input not being switched correctly when starting an activity such as “Watch TV”. Now, with Harmony 700, if you use the on-remote Help button repeatedly to solve the same delay-related problem, the remote will recognize that and prompt you to fix the setting right on the remote.

And to make sure the Harmony 700 is always ready to entertain, it’s rechargeable. In fact, the same USB cable that you use to program the remote connects to an AC adaptor that plugs into the wall. So whether you want to recharge your remote, or reprogram it, the cable is always handy.

Author

Product Manager, Harmony Remotes Business Unit

33 comments

  • I am a big fan of Harmony remotes, and still love my old school H688 remote. The 700 is interesting to me as an update, but I have some questions about the screen.

    I notice that it only has 4 buttons vs the 6 on my 688, but I notice that it has left and right buttons as well. Do the L/R buttons allow one to scroll to new screens?

    Just my opinion, but this remote would be perfect if it had 4 activities buttons instead of 3 (not including the “More” button), and if the screen had 6 buttons instead of 4.

    The 4 vs. 6 soft buttons will cause me to do a major rethink on the screen layout. But on the positive, good move to add the red,green, yellow, blue buttons.

    • Hi Gary,

      Yes the L/R arrow buttons beneath the screen access additional menu screens. While many Harmony users have more than three activities, most of them tend to use the same ones on a daily basis, accessing the additional activities less frequently. Within an activity, we\’ve ensured that the commands that are most frequently used appear on the first page and of course, you can customize this order to suit your needs.

      Glad you like the R/G/Y/B buttons!

      – Ian.

  • Are the buttons soft touch? I have a 550 that I use in the bedroom and there is a difference between using the “rubberized” soft touch buttons and the other “clicky” plastic buttons. When I try to watch TV late at night, the clicking sounds of the plastic buttons wake my wife up.

    • Hi Robert,

      The buttons on Harmony 700 are all rubber and not hard plastic. The clicky sound you\’re referring to is actually the mechanism under the button that registers the actual button press. The feel and the sound of the buttons is a big priority for us — we\’re constantly working to improve both. Like the 550, the 700 uses both the clicky mechanism under the more frequently used buttons and the squishy type under the other buttons. You\’ll find that the click sound on the Harmony 700 is much quieter than the 550 and the feel of the squishy buttons is much less squishy and more precise.

      – Ian.

  • Shame that it will only control 6 devices. I have a 670 that seems to do everything the 700 does, but controls 15 devices. I’m at 6 now (TV, Stereo, DVD, VCR, Cable Box, and TiVo).
    Any chance of adding more devices (firmware update maybe)? The One or some other more expensive unit is not for me – don’t like the touchscreens as I like to control the unit through touch without having to look at it.

    This looks like a perfect replacement for the 670, except for the number of devices.

  • It is very nice to hear about new products. How Logitech is helping loyal customers who bought the 880 and have charging problems becayse of bad design of the electrical connection?

    • Hi avi,

      Assuming your remote is outside of warranty, we are offering a 50% discount on new products.

      -Ian.

  • e have Comcast Cable and we have a LCD tv from Best Buy (their house brand) that we could never get the code for to program the other remote. As a result, we are having to use 2 remotes. Is the 700 the solution to our problem?

  • Hi Ian. The 700 has been great to use. Battery life is a little disappointing but all in all another good job.
    One thing that I think needs to be considered with future remotes, mainly due to the ever increasing amount of devices that allow recording of TV, is a dedicated ‘Recorded TV’ hard button. it almost as important these days as any of the other buttons.
    Cheers
    Scott

  • Hi Scott,

    Glad you like your Harmony 700! For heavy DVR usage, I suggest mapping one of the existing buttons. Personally, in my Watch TV activity, I use the Menu button for DVR since I hardly ever need to access my STB menu (and if I do I can find that command on the screen). Depending on your model of STB, one of the four color buttons may also be available – my SA box doesn’t use the Green button for example – I use that one to catch up to Live TV.

    Regarding the battery life, I would expect a fully charged battery to last at least 3-4 weeks or more before requiring recharging. Harmony 700 hasn’t even been out that long yet so if you charged your remote when you got it I’d be very surprised if it already needed recharging.

    – Ian.

  • Hi,
    For the announced price the 700 looks really nice. And kudos for the colored buttons !

    A couple of questions :
    – are the keys illuminated?
    – is it possible to personalize the display?
    – will the remote wake-up from sleep when handled?

    • Hi MasterPhil

      In answer to your questions:
      – are the keys illuminated? Partially. All of the buttons from the Menu/Guide/Info/Exit cluster and below are backlit. Only the buttons surrounding and above the screen are not backlit.
      – is it possible to personalize the display? Yes, you can add icons for your favorite channels. You can also add and organize the specific commands you need access to within each activity.
      – will the remote wake-up from sleep when handled? Yes.

      -Ian.

  • Thanks for the reply Ian. My DVR is actually a Windows Media Centre PC. I do make use of the coloured buttons as you have suggested.
    Microsoft kindly named their main menu button the Green Button so I have obviously mapped that to the green coloured key. The red functions as my Recorded TV button but I like the idea of a labelled key.

    I actually feel like I’m wasting the Activity hard buttons. I only have 2, Use MCE and Play Playstation, and they both come up on the LCD. My MCE activity is used for TV, Music, DVD, Internet etc so consolidates what could be several Activites into one.

    I’m not sure if my NDA allows discussion of my battery life experience online.

    Also not sure what the price will translate to here in Australia but it’ll certainly be getting recommended by me.

    Cheers
    Scott

    • Hi Bill,

      The Harmony One features a color touch screen, while the Harmony 700’s color screen does not have touch functionality. They also approach rechargebaility in different ways. The Harmony One has a recharging cradle while the Harmony 700 recharges via USB. Other differences include the physical shape and the number of devices each can control. The Harmony One can control up to 15 devices while the Harmony 700 can control up to six devices.

      For more information about the differences, please click here.

      -Ian.

  • If this fixes all the IR Delays, then this will be a gift from god! My wife just called me about to through the 550 at the TV b/c she couldn’t watch a blu ray. Yeah, sometimes it freezes and glitches out. $150 is a nice price, might pick one up to see if it solves my problems by ‘learning’ if not, straight back to the store.

    I assume this was made to be compatible with the PS3 Logitech Adapter??

  • I just saw the 700 remote. Looks good. I’m glad you didn’t paint it silver! I have the 670 and the silver paint is wearing off where you touch it. Looks like junk now. I like the rechargable batteries, but pluging it in to recharge every week is a pain. You chould have a charging stand line the Harmony 1. If I were to replace my 670, can the programming be ported over from the 670 to the 700?

    Skip

    • Hi Skip,

      Unfortunately, the programming cannot be ported over. You’ll need to set up a new account.

      -Ian.

  • One detail that I wish you would change. Move the numeric key area up. I believe that most of the time the remote is used to watch television. The other functions are probably used only once (4 activity buttons) should be at the bottom or occasionally (dvr commands) lower down. Placing the numeric key pad at the bottom makes it difficult for one handed operation if like most people you hold the remote in the middle.

  • I was pleased to see that you are offering a 50% discount to loyal customers. My 880 is out of warranty. How do I go about procuring the discount?

  • Hi Ian

    You say that: “assuming your remote is outside of warranty, we are offering a 50% discount on new products”. That’s a really cool gesture for those of us who’ve struggled with the device for ages. How do we go about taking you up on the offer?

    • Hi Chris and Robin,

      You can contact customer support (contact info for your specific country can be found through the Harmony software).

      -Ian.

  • I was considering to purchase a 785 but after having seen this new 700, I think it’s
    the perfect fit for me… I looked at the compatibility test, 5 devices over 6 are known
    in the database. The last one is a multimedia gateway, a Popcorn Hour from Syabas :
    http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=productinfo&item_id=6
    May be I did not look right, but I did not find it. Any chance to have it supported in the near
    future ?

    Many thanks in advance, Marc.

    • Hi Marc,

      The Popcorn Hour from Syabas is in our database. It is listed under the Media Center PC category. To add the device to the his account, you need to follow the steps outlined here.

      For the manufacturer and model number, use the following:

      Manufacturer: Syabas
      Model Number: Popcorn Hour

      -Ian.

  • Is this device infrared only? Too bad you can’t come out with a UHF like this. These remotes fail when it comes to UHF (as found with many satellite boxes which have weak infrared support).

  • Tell me again, why I should buy an other remote from Logitech, when the Harmony 880 never performe the way it was suppose to ( or did it). Truthfully I don’t think so, oh well, more controls on the table.

  • My 550 screen just died and (with my 50% discount) I am trying to decide between the One and the 700. (Even at a discount the One would be a real spurge for me.)

    Here are my pro & cons:
    – You have to look at a touch-screen(on the One) so maybe the 700 is better
    – The One controls more devices and the touch screen seem = to 6 buttons (vs. 4).
    – Lithium ion + Cradle vs. NMHi -no cradle.

    Finally, I think I will go with the 700 because it has the four, colored buttons.
    Can you confirm that they will work with the 4 colored buttons on my Philips DVD Recorder? I thought I read somewhere that they are intended to work with Blueray players, but I don’t owm one of those…yet. These “extra” buttons on the 700 look really enticing–if they work as I would hope.

    Thanks!

  • It looks great, and has colour buttons which, to be honest, is what has so far stopped me from buying the One.

    However, I have one niggle with it – it only controls 6 devices? Really? Lots of people have more than 6 devices nowadays, with PVRs and Media Players and AV amps, so 6 is pushing the limits. Is there any chance this limit can or will be upped in the future? Even an upgrade to 8 would make a difference.

    I understand there has to be a distinction between models, but even the ‘lowly’ 525 can control 10.

    thanks.

  • Colored buttons are good, it’s what keeps me from the ONE also as I need them for both my Oppo BDP-83 as well as Xbox 360. Also I would much rather be able to use rechargeable AA Batteries than charge with a USB cable. That sounds horribly inconvenient IMO.

  • I had an older Harmony remote with ten devices assigned. When I upgraded to the 700 with the “replace remote” option, all ten devices got copied to the 700. The software gives me a message that I’m at my device limit and won’t let me add more, but if I can keep these ten, I’ll be happy. I guess if I had to add a device, I can “replace” this remote with my old one, add the devices, then do the “replace” again for the 700.

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