Which Universal Remote to Use?

I've had the Harmony 690,880,890, and 1000.

For me, the 890 is the best allowing RF to IR control and is all inclusive (you need to buy the RF extender to the 1000 for $99)

I would not recommend the Harmony one, it is cute with the touch screen but the screen is to small to be of any value, and it is only IR, unless you want to be tied to line of sight, avoid this, also you'd need to point it at your projector if you have one.

I don't like the MX line as they are much more difficult to program than the Harmony's, and I don't like their design. Harmony also has the largest database of control in the world. When I swap out even a pre/pro, I can reprogram my Harmony's in a few minutes... They are that easy.

AMX is nice, but every-time you change something, you will also be paying for someone else to change the remote, not only is it a PITA, it can get expensive.

I have not worked with the iControl, as for the Philips, the big ones (read expensive) are really nice, also somewhat tedious to program, but a solid remote.

Yeah,

I got the Harmony 1000 for free, and it's barely worth that. Initially Harmony had told me they were going to allow you to customize the screens, but that is never going to happen, they also needed to add an RF to RS 232 controller to it but that too won't ever happen.

I use the 890 for my main rig which is a complicated dual use (movies/music) system and it works very well and I love all the hard buttons, I keep the 1000 in my bedroom which is much simpler a system and it barely is good enough for that. I often have to reboot the 1000, and the IR emitter stinks!

Maxim,

I have had my 880 for ~5 years, it works flawlessly, my 890 is slightly younger but not by much and again, works perfectly, neither has ever had an issue, and I would highly disagree with the statement that they are 'delicate'.

I have big dogs and had young children (well, 9 and 13 then) and they both survived without a scratch. The one complaint many have is the charging dock for the 880/890 is not the greatest design, some times the remote won't make good contact and it doesn't charge when in the cradle.

I do not find this to be an issue, and in fact, my 890 still runs for weeks without recharging, even with regular use.

Oh, BTW my entire house is tiled, so every time the remote has fallen, it's landed on tile, and both still are hanging in strong.

I guess by now you can see I am hooked on the Harmony remotes, and have been now for seven years (when I got my 690, which BTW is still working perfectly as well, no cradle issues as this one runs on batteries, again which last MONTHS between changes!)