Harmony 880 . . . JUNK! - Page 2  

I agree, unfortunately I never got the device working far enough along to complain about the color screen . . . because the little pull off picture of the macros when the 880's in it's box looks GREAT and looks a hell of a lot clearer than the actual screen. Once I pulled that little sucker off, I too was unhappy with the resolution. At least it's in color. Never got to the weaker IR range.

Are there cheaper models with a charging cradle?

The whole build quality disappointed me. It feels like a Fisher Price toy and the screen was a lot less than I was hoping for. It really needs to be of a wider form factor to increase the screens resolution. But I was willing to allow trade off's if I could have just got the damn thing to work with my system.

I suffered along over the past 10 years with all those hard to read Palm devices. So I too am a closet tweaker, but have no desire after my Pronto learning curve to do it all over again.

My phone now is the Treo 650. this is an awesome device with an amazing aray of features packed into it. The screen is CRYSTAL clear, so clear I watch full length DVD's on it while I'm in airports or on planes.

If Treo can pack all this into a form factor that is smaller overall than the 880, I can see that many Harmony 880 users are willing to settle for a lot less in a remote that for the money should be a hell of a lot better than it is.

Once again, I'm not trying to incite happy 880 owners with my comments, but for me owning a Treo 650 for $199, I know consumers are settlling for a lot less when I look at the 880's screen. Again, I thought it was great, until I pulled off the fake picture of the macros stuck over the screen :(

No offense taken, I too browse the avs on my Treo 650.

As I've already mentioned in other posts here that I'm going to do exactly what you suggest. Ecost (did I mention that Ecost are a bunch of Scumbags for their no returns policy?).

So they are sending me a brand new one in a sealed box, which I'm going to list on Ebay for the $179 and ship it out free. Ecost is issuing a UPS pickup so since I would have to pay to return the first one, I'll just offer free shipping (probably cost me only 4-5 bucks for USPS).

[quote=jagouar]I bet if we take a poll 99% of all the harmony users will have everything working perfectly with their setups. I know from the first time I programmed mine it was perfect.

That's why I bought it . . . I read all the reviews and the positve out weighed many of the negatives where posters had units defective out of the box. Many had issues weeks later where their units failed. I was hoping I would be one of the many happy 880 users like you. I wanted to exist in perfect Harmony with my new Harmony (get it :D )

But alas, for me it was never meant to be. Your experience is exactly what I was hoping for . . . Take out of box, open website, download components and enter the world of Harmonic BLISS :(

And I only have 3 simple components.

Really, I'm not looking to flame anyone for owning an 880. I just wanted what you have. To buy an 880 and to live life HAPPY . . . HAPPY as a HIPPO (along came Polly) with my new 880.

Ben . . . I just re-read your post. What you said in twelve lines is EXACTLY what it's taken me to get across in my many posts. Damn, I wish I could have been as concise as you in my posts as to what you've said above.
My guess is you're an executive of some sort, am I close?

On another note, I'm in the Great Northeast (or rustbelt). We've been down to Atlanta 5 or 6 times contemplating a permanent relocation there. Love ATLANTA :cool:

What's with the two Aussies in a row here ganging up on me. Did you think I'd just let your snide remarks pass :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

What time is it "down under" anyway . . . The two of ya, "get a life" and go watch TV or something :D :D :D

What the hell is "whinging" anyway?

Why didn't anyone tell me of the $50 rebate during all my ranting.

For $50 off I'll tweak around with the damn thing when they deliver another unit to me.

I would like it to work and if I can call tech support again maybe they can fix my issues. Forthe $129 I'll give it one more shot.

Rebate: http://www.logitech.com/lang/pdf/rem...testrebate.pdf

Thanks Angry, now that I found the $50 rebate which brings it down to $129, for that price I'll tweak around with the Damn thing a little more. I know it can do what I originally bought it for but for $179 I was fed up with having to invest all that time to make right which should have been right after I downloaded the component codes.

I'm going to give it one more try as you and others have suggested before it goes to Ebay as soon as the replacement unit arrives.

I'll report back on my success or crush it under my boot!

I still say I should not have to as you say "persevere" but I'll try once more :)

Ha Ha make my coffee, you a funny guy!
I can't stop laughing, you should do stand up ;)

I weighed out some responses from courteous members here that suggested if I spent just a little more time it should work for me as it does for others. I actually need 3 working units, so if I can knock off $50 on each I am willing to invest some tweaking (but probably not as much as others would to get it right) to save $150. I'm still not impressed with the screen or the build quality but if I can get it to do what it's designed to do I'll give it another shot.

Ecost is sending me a new one as I think it might be a buggy unit since it won't hold my input settings which is the cause of all my issues with it.

But there is no magic price point if the damn thing won't work with my bedroom setup. It's not the money . . . it was the offer of some of the more courteous members to help me through some of my issues that actually piqued my interest to give the new one coming another try.

I have found this forum to be overall a very helpful group of members and have not come across hardly any flamers. Seems were all here for the same thing which is how to better enjoy our audio video toys and share experiences with equipment good and bad.

But hey, we need comedians here too. Actually, one post I read where they have their bathroom lights go on when they press pause on their remote.
So I suppose I could program it to turn on my coffee maker :p

But then again, that's why I have this 28 year old "hot" blonde on the couch next to me, that's her job :D

Several years ago I forgot which but it was one of the big box stores who were caught buying the sealing tape from the manuf. and resealing returned stuff and selling as new.

I don't like getting replacements from the same store on defective products because you are getting the item from the same build lot. That's why I would prefer to tell a store like Ecost to take their remote back an shove it just because of their not returns policy.

I would have preferred to pick up the same remote from another store if I give it another try.

I have no choice now unless I buy one from another store an return the Ecost one back to the store I just boought it from. Seems like a waste of ones time though so I'll try out the Ecost replacement. If it's still a no go I'll list it on Ebay and listen to some more recommendations here.

I would not put it past Ecost to be selling refurbed units as new that they buy from another source.

I learned a lesson to check "all" return policys now before entering the order becuase they can change it quickly.

Thx, Tech support did do the delays and adjusted the inputs to land on the correct one and then they made the changes to my home page from their end and I downloaded the update. Still would not hold the inputs though. They kept changing with each press of a macro which put it to the wrong input each time.

I'll check back here for help when I get to that point again or maybe the new one will be OK. Seems members here are a lot more knowledgeable with this unit.

I know I could go back to Logitech for a replacement but I figured those were sure to be refurbs.

It would have been sweet if my experience was as good as yours!

I hope the replacement 880 does what I want it to do when it arrives.

See this interesting post I just made on another topic: Slingbox ROCKS: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...25#post7016425

This is my beef and rant on the 880. The Slingbox lists for $250 and you plug in a few wires and it does EXACTLY what it's touted to do with "NO" tweaking.

The Harmony remote really just turns stuff on and off, volume up and down etc. And for me it did not do that correctly.

The Slingbox to me does amazing things by allowing you total control of of your DVR and the ability to view "all" of your premium channels, saved movies and "On demand" from anywhere, maybe even anywhere in the world where there is a high speed connection on your laptop or on a hotel tv.

So my point is Logitech should learn from companies like Slingmedia on how to market a device before the software is working for "all" of us not some of us.

Again, no flaming intentions here. Just my opinion . . . .
and I'm going to perservere a little long with the 880 when the new one comes in to get it working correctly as another poster suggested ;)

This is true . . . but it was just my simple layman's comparison about getting what you pay for. To me I'm shelling out $200 for either. One works EXACTLY as advertised and the other for many of us doesn't.

it may be a ridiculous comparison to you but not to me, but I know nothing about the technology behind either. What I do see is that the 880 is advertised that you download your components and you're good to go. The Slingbox says what it does on the box and it does Exactly that. First try!

The downloading of the component codes is supposed to take care of all the behind the scenes tech mumbo jumbo you mentioned. I don't care how they do it for my $200, I just want it to work. I was patient for an hour on the phone with tech support and they could not get it to work for me either (with my setup).

So apples to oranges aside MY bottom line here is 2 days ago and $200 later I was installing the 880 with a no go. $200 installing the Slingbox and 5 minutes later, works perfectly!

I'll still try and get the 880 replacement unit working and if it does I'll buy two more with rebate for $129. Who knows, it might work perfect with my living room setup (with an additional DVD recorder). Could work first pop with my Son's equipment too.

I still think the 880 is the best out there for what it's "supposed" to do and for the price but after my experience I would not recommend it for the average home theater enthusiast until they clear up it's software glitches.

Thx for your comments.