Hands on with the Logitech Harmony One

I was very pleased on the day the Logitech Harmony One came to me. Even though I don't have many devices attached to my computer, I still have about three or four remotes. Anything that could simplify my life is completely welcome.

Of course, that is the appeal of any universal remote, and my experience with these devices has shown me that they never work out-of-the-box. Most universal remote manufacturers will downplay the sometimes difficult setup process, spotlighting how wonderful it will be to get rid of all those pesky, encumbering remotes. Therefore, I feel it only fair to warn a new user of the Harmony One to give yourself at least one hour before getting it to work.

The first part of that hour will be the charging procedure, and that could take half your allotted hour. The Harmony One comes with a charging cradle that plugs right into the wall. By the way, don't forget to install the battery. Yes, I was dumb enough to make that mistake and wasted an hour or two.

Once the Harmony One is fully charged, you will need to go to your computer and install the CD Rom. It takes about fifteen minutes to load it automatically. Then you will be asked to hook the Harmony One remote to your computer via USB cable. At least the instructions say that you will be asked. I must be too impatient, because when nothing happened after the CD Rom was installed, so I double-clicked the newly-made Harmony One icon on my desktop.

More time passed. However, I used the time to check the make and model numbers of my audio/visual equipment. The instructions told me that I would have to input my equipment into the remote itself. It also said that I had to be exact, and so I made certain that they were. Since I couldn't find the instruction manuals for all my audio/visual equipment, I had to go to each device and examine it very closely for the exact, and I do mean exact, make and model number.