The best universal remote you can buy
Drop the circus clown act and stop juggling remotes
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A good universal remote can completely change your living room experience. Instead of juggling a bunch of different remotes for your TV, cable box, game console, streaming box, or whatever else, a good universal remote can clean up your end table and let you go from watching nothing to watching something with a single press of a button.
A good remote controls anything you might have today and anything you might buy in the future. It’s easy to program and can turn on multiple devices in the right sequence. It can control devices that have traditional IR systems, but also can control newer ones that rely on Bluetooth. It’s also accessible and easy to learn, so anyone in your household can just pick up the remote and watch something.
There have been a lot of universal remotes come and go over the years, but lately, Logitech’s Harmony line has come to dominate the market. That means that picking the best universal remote is often a matter of picking the best Harmony remote available right now.
And there’s one model that stands above the rest.
Shot on location at OneButton, Brooklyn, NY
The Winner
Logitech Harmony Elite
The best universal remote for most people (and the best Harmony remote) is the Logitech Harmony Elite. It’s the most expensive remote in Harmony’s lineup, but it can control virtually anything you’d want a remote for, from entertainment devices to smart home gadgets.
The Elite works with a base station that sits in your entertainment console and allows you to use the remote from anywhere in the house — no line of sight necessary. It can control multiple IR devices as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi systems, such as Amazon’s Fire TV or Sonos speakers. The Elite can also control a variety of smart home devices, so it can turn your smart lights on and off or adjust the temperature on a Nest. It’s more like a whole home command center than a simple TV remote.
The remote itself is a combination of a touchscreen and backlit tactile buttons, so you can use it without looking in the dark. The design is comfortable to hold and puts the most important buttons in easy reach of your thumb.
Logitech has made it easy to program automated functions on the Elite, so a single button press can turn on your TV, turn on your cable box, and set the TV to the correct input. Or you can program a setting that will make the lights dim, the TV turn on, and the Netflix app to start automatically.
The Harmony smartphone app, which is used to set up and program the Elite, can also be used as a remote itself, which is convenient. I wouldn’t rely solely on my phone as a remote, but it can come in handy when the remote is out of reach.
Of course, the Elite isn’t for everyone: it’s rather expensive and might be more remote than you need. If that’s the case, then our runner-up pick is for you.
The Runner Up
Logitech Harmony 650
Unsurprisingly, our runner up is another Harmony: the 650. The 650 is a straight-forward universal remote: it can control up to eight devices, has an ergonomic, backlit keypad, and an LCD screen for onboard help and more advanced functions. It’s also a fraction of the cost of a Harmony Elite.
The 650 can only be programmed via a Mac or PC app, which is a bit clunky, and it has no aspirations of leaving the living room; you can’t use it to control smart home appliances at all. And since it only works over IR, it can’t control Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices, such as Amazon’s Fire TV or a PlayStation 4. But for a straightforward, easy to use universal remote that anyone can pick up and use and won’t break your wallet, it’s hard to beat the Harmony 650.
Photography by James Bareham. Video by Phil Esposito and Mark Linsangan.
The Others
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This story will be updated as new products are announced and tested by our team. If you want to discuss the current options or suggest another one, please visit our forums.
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