Gadget time

I can't resist the lure of the latest gadget and that's why most of my friends think of me as Gadget Guy. So, the latest in the collection is the Logitech Harmony One universal remote control. Not sure why I inflicted this on myself, especially at the price, but I couldn't resist after one of my gadgetry friends at work told me he'd gotten one.

My love/hate relationship with universal remotes goes back a long ways. I've certainly poured hundreds of dollars down the drain trying to find one I could actually use. There was the one in London that never worked at all and all attempts to send it back and get a refund proved futile. Thanks Amazon UK!

Then there was the very cool touch device. I think it was called the chameleon. There were no buttons, just a skin that would light up and morph to what you wanted to do. Only problem is it didn't work, was hard to read and whenever you picked it up, it'd do something you didn't want.

The Harmony One has something none of the others have had -- a connection to the internet. This is for setup purposes only, but it assures that it knows about all the gear you're trying to set up. Its data base is constantly current. Also, you set it up on your computer (PC or Mac), so no more fiddling with buttons on the remote itself. Whenever you need to make a change, just plug it back into the computer and make the update.

I only had one problem (so far). I couldn't figure out how to turn everything off. Turns out there's actually a button for this. Duh! Since timing is a key thing with universal remotes, the Harmony has a nifty way of fine tuning that after you've done your initial setup. There is a help button which you can push if things don't work quite right. It will make those adjustments and ask you to test it again until you get it right. Their customer support, which is offered via the phone for only 60 days after purchase, was excellent.

So far, I think I'm going to like this and it'll hopefully allow me to put the other half dozen remotes I have in a box. Now, if I can just convince Lynne that newer is better.