# Logitech Harmony Touch



## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Apparently Logitech released a new remote.

Article here


$249 
no RF
supports both tap and swipes to the screen


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

It now shows on the Logitech site

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/remotes/universal-remotes?WT.mc_id=AMR_DR_Q4_FY12_SERP&WT.srch=1&ci=0


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## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

Why wouldn't this support RF? I would buy this remote right now if it had RF.

Ugh


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

I have had the Touch since Monday and I am starting to become more of a fan. For reference I am a long time Harmony user and the Touch will be replacing a 900.

For those worried about accidental screen touches the first touch wakes the unit up and turns on backlighting similar to movement on the 900. There is a learning curve on swipes not accidentally issuing a command. Also I find reaching the contols at the top to be reatively easy even with small hands. I have more of a problem reaching the lower rows but these are seldom used at least by me. I like the fact that you can customize the screen commands without going to your computer. Deleting or adding commands from any device is a simple task. You can also reorder commands from the unit itself.

The Touch is shorter than a One or 900 and has a weighted base. This appears to be where the battery is located however the battery does not appear to be replaceable. I am not sure if this is good or bad based on prior battery problems on other Harmony models.


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## AtomicAgeZombie (May 2, 2012)

Can you set long, multistep macros? One thing I do with my Xsight Touch is enable/disable Game Mode, which is about 15 steps long.


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

AtomicAgeZombie said:


> Can you set long, multistep macros? One thing I do with my Xsight Touch is enable/disable Game Mode, which is about 15 steps long.


Max is 10 steps


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

dmiller said:


> For those worried about accidental screen touches the first touch wakes the unit up and turns on backlighting similar to movement on the 900. There is a learning curve on swipes not accidentally issuing a command. Also I find reaching the contols at the top to be reatively easy even with small hands. I have more of a problem reaching the lower rows but these are seldom used at least by me. I like the fact that you can customize the screen commands without going to your computer. Deleting or adding commands from any device is a simple task. You can also reorder commands from the unit itself.


I guess I have to try this myself. I'm very skeptical of the whole "frequently used keys on the top" thing. Nobody has really done this with a remote. Every previous remote from the most expensive to the cheapo cable remotes all put them in the middle or the bottom for a reason....so that your thumb can easily reach them. Putting it on top sounds like a two handed affair.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Don - how does it work with DirecTV IRDs? I didn't see a button for the 30 second skip and 10 second back features. Are they on the touch screen?


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

mechman said:


> Don - how does it work with DirecTV IRDs? I didn't see a button for the 30 second skip and 10 second back features. Are they on the touch screen?


It has been fine with my HR34. The two commands you mention are on the touch screen. After a few weeks I am happy with the Touch.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Thanks Don! I may have to get one now that my Harmony 1000 died.


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

mechman said:


> Thanks Don! I may have to get one now that my Harmony 1000 died.


Let us know what you think. I am surprised there is not more buzz on this one.


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

My only concern with the layout is that by having the touch screen in the middle of the remote accidental button presses have to be issue. 
Also I like hard buttons because I don't have to look at the remote to press them.


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

rab-byte said:


> My only concern with the layout is that by having the touch screen in the middle of the remote accidental button presses have to be issue.
> Also I like hard buttons because I don't have to look at the remote to press them.


Once you get used to it accidental touches are rare. Remember the first touch wakes it up and the the second will issue a command. I use forward skip all the time without looking.


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## Theater132 (Oct 3, 2012)

I have the Harmony 1100 and I am thinking of selling it and buying the Touch. I like the way the Touch is layer out. Do you think the Touch is better than the 1100


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## dmiller (Aug 7, 2012)

Theater132 said:


> I have the Harmony 1100 and I am thinking of selling it and buying the Touch. I like the way the Touch is layer out. Do you think the Touch is better than the 1100


I had a 1000 once but prefer conventional remotes. Better or not is totally subjective. My preferences may not align with yours.


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## jimbodude (Jul 26, 2011)

I'm a pretty big fan of real buttons myself, but I wonder if gestures can fix some of my issue with touch screen remotes.

I have a Harmony One right now. I am quite annoyed that they don't let you customize any of the icons for the buttons or activities. Is this still the case with the Touch? I mean, it wouldn't keep me from buying one, but seriously - it's a full-color screen... It is meant to be eye candy.


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## typ44q (Apr 7, 2008)

dmiller said:


> Once you get used to it accidental touches are rare. Remember the first touch wakes it up and the the second will issue a command. I use forward skip all the time without looking.


I picked up a Touch on Friday and I think my biggest annoyance is with it taking 1 touch to "wake" the screen.

This is the scenario that I keep finding myself in, I will be watching a recorded TV show (rarely watch live TV) get to a commercial and will have to touch the screen to wake it then swipe across the screen two or three times to set my FF speed now the screen goes to sleep while it is fast forwarding the commercial ends and I have to touch the screen again to wake it then tap the screen for the pause/play command which will pause it then tap it again to get it to play. That is three taps of the screen to go from FF to Play, something I could do with my old 880 with one button press and of course by the time you wake the screen and pause it you have overshot the the show and have to rewind.
I find myself using the hard buttons on the top instead of the gestures which is not convenient at all. 

The other thing I have noticed is that the IR signal is not nearly as strong as my 880 but from what I understand the 880 and an exceptionally strong output.

I got the touch when amazon had it for $194 last week but I am considering returning it and getting a One.
If my 880 was not giving me problems with the buttons I would be happy to keep it as I really enjoy the powerful output, I got spoiled not having to really aim the remote.


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## healingbreeze (Apr 10, 2013)

I bought Harmony Touch In the UK to replace my trusty Marantz TS5000 which was getting old. The quality of the build is very good compared to other Logitech remotes and using it with my setup of AV AMP, Monitor Satellite & Cable box it is pretty good.

The 'Touch' is very good, you have to be careful when picking the thing up that you don't activate the touch and trigger.

The online database is very good and I found all my kit. It is easy to program. 

One niggle is that sometimes its self learning seems to cancel itself out. Sometimes it fails to switch off all devices.

It is good that as soon as you log in to the Harmony website it uploads/updates settings to the cloud.

I would give it 8/10


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## healingbreeze (Apr 10, 2013)

jimbodude said:


> I'm a pretty big fan of real buttons myself, but I wonder if gestures can fix some of my issue with touch screen remotes.
> 
> I have a Harmony One right now. I am quite annoyed that they don't let you customize any of the icons for the buttons or activities. Is this still the case with the Touch? I mean, it wouldn't keep me from buying one, but seriously - it's a full-color screen... It is meant to be eye candy.


You can customize the 'Activity' icons on the touch by uploading images from your PC


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## healingbreeze (Apr 10, 2013)

dmiller said:


> Let us know what you think. I am surprised there is not more buzz on this one.


Looking at all the other Harmony remotes, I think the touch is the best build quality and gets an awful lot of functionality into a small device. I would have thought its 'touchy smartphone concept' would get people buzzing to try it out too!


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## typ44q (Apr 7, 2008)

healingbreeze said:


> Looking at all the other Harmony remotes, I think the touch is the best build quality and gets an awful lot of functionality into a small device. I would have thought its 'touchy smartphone concept' would get people buzzing to try it out too!


I think the big difference is that with a smart phone you are looking at the screen and touching it to interact with what you see on the screen, with the remote you are looking at your TV and blindly trying to use a touch screen which is difficult. They tried to get around this by having gestures but as my previous post explained it is more steps and does not work as well as physical buttons. 

Plus unlike a smart phone where the touch screen is only active when the screen is on, the harmony screen is always active and drains the battery at an alarming rate requiring you to charge it every few days. This battery is also NOT user replaceable.


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## healingbreeze (Apr 10, 2013)

typ44q said:


> I think the big difference is that with a smart phone you are looking at the screen and touching it to interact with what you see on the screen, with the remote you are looking at your TV and blindly trying to use a touch screen which is difficult. They tried to get around this by having gestures but as my previous post explained it is more steps and does not work as well as physical buttons.
> 
> Plus unlike a smart phone where the touch screen is only active when the screen is on, the harmony screen is always active and drains the battery at an alarming rate requiring you to charge it every few days. This battery is also NOT user replaceable.


You are right. I use vari-vocal spectacles so I guess i am used to nodding when I look at things so it is quite normal. I have not played with the gestures yet. 

I hope the battery lasts a few years!

It is cool that on the favorites if you select a channel it switches on all the devices associated with it. It is not so cool that it only lets you have favorites for one device. I guess that will come in the next incarnation.


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## hjones4841 (Jan 21, 2009)

If you want a Harmony 900, Newegg has refurbs for about $139 (price varies a bit). I bought two; one looked like new, the other remote looked like new, but the rf emitter unit had a few scratches. Both work perfectly, tho. I am using 900s in 4 rooms in the house and wanted a couple of spares.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880111068

They must have a bunch of them - "Limit 15 per customer."


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## typ44q (Apr 7, 2008)

hjones4841 said:


> If you want a Harmony 900, Newegg has refurbs for about $139 (price varies a bit). I bought two; one looked like new, the other remote looked like new, but the rf emitter unit had a few scratches. Both work perfectly, tho. I am using 900s in 4 rooms in the house and wanted a couple of spares.
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880111068
> 
> They must have a bunch of them - "Limit 15 per customer."


Wow that is a great deal, very tempted to try and sell my touch to get one..


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

I have to disagree on the opinions of the Harmony Touch. The build quality is just fine. But the design truly stinks. Too many hard keys (like DVR advance) were changed from hard buttons to touch buttons. The play-rewind-fforward combo is at the top of the remote...clearly the most brain dead design decision in the history of universal remotes.

Logitech is in financial straits and this product isn't helping. I waited years for them to replace the Harmony One. I should have bought that remote on close out at Costco when I had the chance,


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## rab-byte (Feb 1, 2011)

I absolutely agree about the layout issues but I am happy to see they got something into market. 

More so I'm impressed with the 'Ultimate's' feature set.


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## typ44q (Apr 7, 2008)

rab-byte said:


> I absolutely agree about the layout issues but I am happy to see they got something into market.
> 
> More so I'm impressed with the 'Ultimate's' feature set.


I really do like the idea of the ultimate, great features and if you don't mind using a phone or tablet the basic version is very inexpensive. It also comes with a "backup" remote that does not have the touchscreen which I really like.


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## Sevenfeet (Feb 2, 2009)

Maybe, but it's really bad when people are still buying the old product like there's no tomorrow. Honestly I understand the need for a true touch product. But I cannot understand the design decisions that made it into the final version. A high end remote shouldn't take more thought time and more clicks to do basic functions.


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## typ44q (Apr 7, 2008)

Sevenfeet said:


> Maybe, but it's really bad when people are still buying the old product like there's no tomorrow. Honestly I understand the need for a true touch product. But I cannot understand the design decisions that made it into the final version. A high end remote shouldn't take more thought time and more clicks to do basic functions.


Its even worse that I am considering selling my Touch at a loss and buying a old One or 900. 
In theory my receiver does RF and has IR outputs but I am not sure how well it works or if its worth using over a regular IR repeater.


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