Officeworks has the Harmony 520 on special this week for $99.95. I've been watching these for some months and wonder if it's time to buy one.
Clearly, the price drop is linked to the new 525 that is appearing on the shelves.
Anyone know if there's much difference - and is the 525 worth the extra $35?

The 5 series are for markets with Teletext, and only differ by way of the 4 coloured hard buttons for driving Teletext and PVRs. Many users have gotten away with programming the 4 activity buttons as colour buttons while the remote is in PVR driving mode.

$35 for 4 coloured buttons? I'd pay it. But only because I know that I'd delete programs accidentally by pressing the wrong activity button...

I agree too, very handy if you have a STB like a Topfield, with my 880 I have the buttons in my window.

I the Harmony 525 $35 More at Officeworks that th 520?

Not at Officeworks, but I have seen it around that price elsewhere

The 525 XBox edition is on sale for $99 (50% off rrp) at OfficeWorks until the end of January.

It has more buttons than the standard 525, one being "favorites" - I don't remember the rest.

"Seems" better than the standard 525, but maybe uglier.

I took the catalogue (which pictures the 525, but describes the X-Box edition) to JB and got them to price match a standard 525. No hassle, but now I wonder if I shouldn't have just bought the XBox edition... even though it is a little uglier.

Thoughts?

If you go to Tecs Computers Megastore in 305 Latrobe St. Melb.
They are selling the Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360 for $89.
This was about 2 weeks ago.
Considering i have seen the Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360 at JB HiFi for $189.
So they is a real saving if you want of these remotes.

The 520 is good, better than having 7-8 remotes all over the coffee table but what realy frustrates me is that you can't seem to order the functions of your devices, i.e. for me to change the sound format on amy amp (say choose between HD STB & Foxtel) I need to go to page 11 or 20 - very annoying.

If you can list in order of usage the commands of your devices then pay the extra money

Cheers Matt

Go into your Harmony software, delete all the commands which are assigned to the 'soft' keys - then save to the remote, then re-add the first four you want to appear, etc.

Pretty sure that's how I did it.

- or you could simply assign this particular key to the 'prev' button if it's not used for anyything else in Amp mode.

Hehe I feel like I am speaking to myself since we share the same first and last name.

Anyway. Since you're unlikely to use all 20 pages of softkeys on your AMP, how about pruning them down by getting rid of the ones you don't want or use? Incidentally you can order them. The order they come up on the setup screen on your PC is the order they will appear in on the remote. It requires manual shuffling but it certainly is possible. I do it all the time. Whenever I add a device with lots of commands like an amp, the first thing I do is go through and delete 3/4 of the buttons.

These remotes are a joy because of their incredible configurability but unfortunately that freedom can mean hours of fine tuning, especially if you are a perfectionist!

Matt

Mattis & Timmy,

Many thanks for your solutions, I will attempt to delete & shuffle later tonight.

I'm one of the many people in the Adelaide Hills without bloody broadbad (disgrace!!) so I've not really used all the software as it takes so bloody long & then drops out.

Now that I know I can, I will have a go

Cheers

Matt

Do they have phones in the Adelaide Hills now?

Lyle if you count 2 tin cans joined together by string,then yes

Hello! Just wondering, before i go out and buy one of these remotes, how many activities can i store on it? For instance can i have it to "Watch Foxtel" and "Watch Digital TV"? cos i played round with the software in its test mode and i could only have Watch TV, no digital tv.

Thanks

The demo is limited, but you can have 'lots' - I don't know what the upper limit is but my XBox360 Harmony has 7 activities at the moment.

Hi Sliderjt,

I'm not sure how many activities you can set up, but you can have quite a few. I have 6 set up on mine. You can call the activites whatever you like and you can customize them heavily, so you could easily setup a "Watch Foxtel" activity and a "Watch Digital TV" activity no problems.

I think CZZER has mentioned that its about 255 activities

sweeet! thanks for your replies, just bought 1 of ebay for $80 and it comes with warranty as well
Hopefully this new toy replaces the 6 remotes ive got.
Oh and this is fully compatible with Foxtel Digital right? i think i have a Pace DS420NF-5

Once you tweak all the settings on the Harmony, it will certainly replace them all.

If you are using a Toppy, Foxtel or Panasonic TV the coloured buttons on the 525 are VERY handy. I know you can assign the coloured buttons on the LCD screen, but having hard buttons makes it alot easier

I just noticed that DealsDirect are selling the Harmony 525 for $105 + $9.95 delivery.

BUT!

Be warned as the pics on their site are clearly not a 525 but more like the 520.

Do ask them for confirmation before purchasing. The bottom and fifth row of coloured buttons is not in any of the photos.

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/logitech-h...ntrol-advanced/

I like my 525 and with that row of coloured buttons it makes using the Toppy PVR all that easier.

I just noticed this!

The listing on top says...

Logitech Harmony 525 Universal Remote Control - Advanced

...and at the bottom of the page it lists

PACKAGE CONTENTS:

* Logitech® Harmony 520 Remote Control.
* USB cable.
* Installation CD.
* Installation guide.
* 4 AAA batteries.

I bought an 500GB External Hard drive from Deals Direct which stated Samsung. When it arrived it had a Maxtor inside.

Seeing as I have had two Maxtors crater very quickly not happy Jan.

The $30.00 Blood Pressure Monitor works a treat though..

Officeworks at QV in the Melbourne CBD (and presumabley elsewhere) are selling the Harmony XBOX edition (advantage being it has four coloured buttons and doesn't actually need an XBOX, disadvantage is that it glows green) for $69.

How easy is it to pull the 525/360 apart and swap the coloured buttons from the 360 onto the 525 remote. I like the fact the coloured buttons on the 360 are coloured, as the 525 just has coloured ink on the button which wears off easily

I think the buttons are different shapes - the XBOX360 remote buttons are round, aren't the 525 buttons more rectangular/oval?

Now thats a great price cannot go wrong.

Did you contact DealsDirect over the different HDD?

Glad to see their rep on Whirlpool just replied to this wrong model Harmony listed.

He posted this 30mins ago...

Our product team aren't in the office until Monday morning, but I've asked them to update this with the correct model number when they're back. Keep an eye on the product listing for the correct info.

If anyone's already ordered this and doesn't receive the model they were expecting, we'll of course organise a full refund.


Damn pity it wasn't the 525

No too be honest I am a bit of a slack b*****.
I just thought it was a genuine mistake at the time. The total capacity was correct so get over it.
Not like its a major issue.

I agree - I bought mine when they were on special for $95 - so $69 is definitely a bargain.

I was in Officeworks Lutwyche yesterday. It looked like $69 for the Xbox version was the "normal" price now. There was no "special" sticker or anything like that. $189 for the 525

Even the 785 was marked at only $299 whereas almost everywhere else has it marked at the RRP of $399. Of course it can be had around $220 online if you hunt around. Goodguys wouldn't come to the party though at $220 though when I bought my plasma.

I think the Harmony 360s are in run out mode as they no longer appear on the Logitech Australia website

Well cut me off at the knees and call me shorty!

It is now the 525 and at $105 delivered if you use the code below the Deals Direct rep on Whirlpool forum gave us for my suggestion of it being a good seller if the delivery cost were cutout and drawing his attention to their mistake of the model listed and pictured...

Well... seeing as you pointed out an error in the listing, I'm feeling generous...

You can use coupon code WPHARMONY for free postage on the Logitech Harmony 525 until 23 November 2007. Just wack that code in when you're completing our checkout.

So there you go

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/p/logitech-h...ntrol-advanced/

Sure beats the DSE one I bought considering the amount of petrol I used trying to find a store that had one left in stock. Theirs might have been for that short time only $99 but the effort, phone calls and petrol added up to far more than the $6 difference here.

Officeworks' web site says $99.95 for the 525 (product # BJLOG0758). Am I missing something? I've been toying with buying something like this to keep my wife happy in the bedroom. She keeps complaining that she needs two remotes just to watch TV (HD PVR feeding an analogue-only WS CRT, which I have no intention of connecting an antenna to). She doesn't like the el-cheapo but functional Tevion universal remote that I bought ages ago, as that just confuses her even more. (So it lives on my side of the bed.)

Once you use the Logitech Harmony site to setup the 525 your wife should be able to easily use it for the many items it can handle and become quite familiar with it.

If Officeworks has the 525 at $99.50 rush down and grab one as at that price they will not last as I found out with the DSE $99 sale on them.

Failing that use the Dealsdirect online site and have it delivered for $105 using the discount code in my post above. They are quite okay to deal with.

BTW My 525 works very well with my Topfield PVR and use it in another room that a AV Sender sends the Toppy picture to and allows me to program the Toppy PVR from that room as well. It saves me having to remember to carry the PVR remote back and forth.

$189 was and is the RRP. That was the price on the normal sticker when I was there. There was no "sale" tag or anything on them.

$90-100 for a 525 is about as cheap as they'll get any time soon at regular stores. Umart (in Brisbane) has 525s for $89 normal price.

Personally I bought the 785 ($219 at Umart). I'm not 100% converted:

1) It's slow even after tweaking repeat times and inter keys delay. I probably need to talk to tech support and see if they can suggest anything more.
2) I don't like the buttons that click. I've never had a remote for anything with an audible click. It's quite annoying when browsing through menus etc. And there's no way of ever fixing that...

525 will have the same issues.

I was just at Office Works Burleigh. The 525 waas $189 and the 360 one was $69. I have the 360 one at the moment but needed another remote. Its been great. They seemed to have the same buttons, slightly different placement. I took the $69 one.

At $69 the 360 is great value. I too hated the clicking noise of the buttons on my 525 but over time have gotten used to them especially considering how functional the remote is. I use my gear alot more now whereas before it was too much of a pain to set things up so I didn't use it all to it's potential. For example an easy thing like listening to the raido or a CD was a lot of stuffing around with AMPs, inputs, stations etc. Now one button press and it's all good

Strange I have never noticed this clicking sound on my 525 and have just tested it after reading your post.

None that I can discern!

I was talking about a 785 but I'm pretty sure the 525 has some clicking buttons also. Not all of them click. In my case it's the volume, directional etc buttons. The number, play, pause, skip etc are normal "non clicking" remote style buttons.

Just bought 1 of these myself for $69.
Extremely impressed, well built and easy setup.I'm still fine tuning here and there but love it.
gone from 4 remotes to 1

Is it necessary to preselect the coloured buttons as instructed?..(xbox360 model) .

I do not intend to use for a game box...

You can use any button for any purpose. The remotes are totally flexible.

I dont have an xbox 360 either and as shonky says , you can program the buttons to do whatever you like.

was thinking about getting the 525 - but was wondering what the battery life is like??

i like the look and the idea of the charging dock for the 880 but was wondering if its worth the extra money??

Of course it depends on usage... but my 360 version goes about 3 months before batteries need changing. I'd expect a 525 to be the same.

My 525 is going on to about 3 months with constant usage and batteries are holding up.
Just went to check what batteries I am using and couldn't get the cover off.
Aah! Press down and slide.
Still using the original Duracells it came with.

The batteries in my 525 last at least 3 - 4 months depending on TV usage and battery quality. It's probably about the same rate that we'd have been changing remote batteries anyway whether we had one remote or using the 4 originals. And remember, when your Harmony batteries start to fail mid-evening there's quite a few partially used ones in the remotes in the bottom drawer

You can also change/reduce the backlight (glow) time of the remote to conserve the batteries in the remote setup.

If you have kids you may already have some rechargeable batteries. These don't quite last as long as one use batteries, but you stil get a fair bit of use from them. Battery life is not an issue with these remotes IMO.

Comparing the 525 i bought to the older 659 i have i perfer the 659! The screen is no where near as easy to read as it does not support longer activity names like the 659. Plus the back light button is not as easy to find.

just my 2c worth