Harmony 720 Review

     I decided to pick up the Harmony 720 when it was on sale at Costco for $140. I could have gotten it a little cheaper online but I wanted to be able to easily return the remote if I didn’t like it. The Harmony 720 is a universal remote with a color screen with 6 programmable soft keys. It does not have RF capabilities. The remote also comes with a rechargeable battery and charging base. I think is useful since I won’t have to change the batteries and as long as I get into the habit of replacing the remote on the charger then I won’t lose it.
     The first thing I did was to charge the remote on the base. I let it charge for a couple of hours and then installed the included software on my Vista PC. The software installed fine and updated itself automatically. I had to set up an account with Logitech with the usual username, password, etc. I then went through a process of telling the software what equipment I have. I entered my TV, surround sound amp, DVD player, cable box, and media server. All of the models were known by the program. The program then asked various questions such as what I use to change the volume when watching TV. It program then showed me a list of what it would program the remote with. After connecting the remote to the computer with the included USB cable the program was uploaded to the remote.
The remote now showed the different activities that I programmed it with. They were Watch TV, Watch DVD, Listen to Radio, and Digital Media. There is also a System Options button (it allows you to set the time and start a photo slideshow on the color screen). Each of the activities did what they were supposed to. The color screen and remote buttons adjust to whatever activity you select. For example after selecting Watch TV, the remote turns on the TV and amp and selects to correct video input on the amp. The volume buttons are automatically mapped to the amp while the channel buttons will work with the cable box. The color screen has DVR, page up and down buttons for the cable box guide and an aspect button for the TV.
     In all it took me about 1hr to program and customize the remote. The procedure was not perfect the first time. I changed the timing for the amp to make it respond quicker. I also customized the buttons for the DVR such as skip forward, skip back, and DVR. There are a lot of button options in the online database but the remote can also learn codes via a IR receiver in the back of the unit. About 2 weeks after getting the remote I changed from Time Warner Cable to Dish Network. Changing the remote was simple and quick. With the Harmony 720 I have been to get down to 1 remote from the 2 I previously had. This may not seem like a lot but it makes it much easier when I have company over and they want to watch TV. It also makes it much easier to add or change equipment in my set up. I have been greatly impressed with the Harmony 720 and Harmony certainly lives up the rave reviews it gets. Feel free to email me with any questions.