Gadget review: Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote

My previous universal remote was laborious and time-consuming to set up.

It was festooned with more buttons than a Cadbury factory and involved either painstakingly pressing and learning every single button of my existing remotes, or inputting model number codes from a sheet.

Invariably my TV or DVD player wasn't on the magic list and my button presses weren't to the universal remote's exacting standards.

To put it bluntly - these all-singing all-dancing remotes are normally a pain in the backside to load.

Determined to learn from my previous faux pas, I invested a small fortune in the Logitech Harmony One.

This glossy black device has a mini colour touchscreen and comes with a tomb-like cradle for charging. After noting the model numbers of my TV, DVD player and set-top box, all I had to do was input them into the Logitech software on my PC (it works with Macs too).

The software popped onto the Internet for a few seconds to check that it had found the correct set-top box, asked me to connect the Universal Remote via USB, and hey presto, it was ready to go.

With support for a whopping 225,000 devices, and a dummy-proof help system on the remote itself, set-up was nothing short of sensational. It even automatically configured "Watch TV" and "Watch DVD" shortcuts on the touchscreen.

It's one of those gadgets that you baulk at the price of and then wonder how you lived without.

Whilst it's undoubtedly an expensive way to replace your litter of remotes, the Harmony One gives me presidential-like authority over my growing gadget arsenal.

Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote

102, www.amazon.co.uk, for more information see www.logitech.com

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 16 April, 2011