[abcdefghi]

My Harmony 880 after about 7 years or so of use is on its way out. The screen has a crack, one of the buttons is missing, another simply refuses to work etc. So the time has come to start looking into a replacement.

In browsing here the ARRX18G comes up and appears on the face of it to be a good deal, it looks like they can be picked up for $45 on eBay. But is it on the same kind of level as the Harmony for ease of use? set up etc? If I pick up another Harmony it may be something like a Harmony Ultimate One. But if the AR is as good, then I would rather save some money and go down that route. This would be the main remote in the living room and need to control:

Samsung TV
Pioneer AVR
DirecTV Genie
HTPC
Xbox One (power on/off)

Thanks.

 

[millst]

If all of your devices have discrete power on/off [and possibly input] buttons and you don't have two of the same exact device that you want to control, then it's awesome. The Xsight is way cheaper with the eBay pricing.

It's way less laggy than my old touchscreen Harmony. The resistive touchscreen on that thing was painful, too. I'm not sure how much Logitech has improved on the speed, but they definitely have lowered prices.

-tm

 

[mdavej]

Although I'm a huge Xsight fan, it's not as good as the latest Harmony remote. It is very good, about equivalent to the old 900, and an amazing value at under $50 (well not anymore, but I'll get to that later). Same ease of use as Harmony, but no state tracking as mentioned above. The software is far better than Harmony, IMO. The Ultimate is far more advanced though, with smart phone integration, and IP and bluetooth control. Of course all that comes at a great cost. I'll never own anything like an Ultimate because I dislike the layout, lack of hard buttons and touchscreen and couldn't care less about phone apps and IP control. But that's just my personal preference.

Having said that, I'm afraid if you don't have an Xsight already, you've missed the boat on the good deals on the Touch. Supplies have been exhausted and prices are back up to nearly $200. But since you're coming from an 880, you don't have RF today anyway. So the nearest equivalent in the Xsight line is the Color (ARRX15G) which is still going for under $25 shipped. For that amount of money, it would be worth getting one just to try for yourself. One benefit of the 15G is no touchscreen, rather it has buttons beside the LCD. No RF and a bit bulky, but very similar to your 880 in form and function. No charging cradle, but you can use rechargeable AA's. It's vastly superior to the closest comparable current Harmony model, the 650/700, and only a fraction of the cost.

And of course Xsight does some things Harmony doesn't, like fully editable activities, custom command hold durations, multiple favorites lists (with logos), pronto hex import, custom help system, custom devices built from learns, custom protocols, offline programming, unlimited offline configs, JP1 device database and JP1 community support.

 

[abcdefghi]

Well I ended up with another Harmony, picked up a Harmony Touch earlier today for $120. So far so good, just need an IR dongle for the PC

 

[dt744190]

Well I ended up with another Harmony, picked up a Harmony Touch earlier today for SEK1,035. So far so good, just need an IR dongle for the PC

Recommend FLIRC, really nice IR USB dongle. Love that can learn keyboards commands with mine Harmony Ultimate remote.
https://flirc.tv/
http://www.amazon.com/FLIRC-Dongle-Media-Centre-Raspberry/dp/B00BB0ETW8

 

[abcdefghi]

Recommend FLIRC, really nice IR USB dongle. Love that can learn keyboards commands with mine Harmony Ultimate remote.
https://flirc.tv/
http://www.amazon.com/FLIRC-Dongle-Media-Centre-Raspberry/dp/B00BB0ETW8

Thanks, I was actually just looking at those last night. Will likely pick one up soon and get the remote programmed. Will be nice not having to pull out the keyboard to start a movie! Should also increase the wife approval factor once I have it all running.