[Denis]

I have had this new remote since Feb 2, so little more than ONE month. One of the 6 keys next to the LCD display has just died on me. I'm really pissed. When I push it, I feel it click, but nothing happens, the remote won't even light up when I push the key. All other keys work. I even tried updating the rmeote, but no effect. Since I have had it for more than 1 month, I doubt the store will take it back. More worrisome is the fact that this has happened so soon after I bought it. Is this a common problem? Has anyone else had this happen?

If Logitech ships me a replacement one, will I have the same problem again with another bad key on the new remote in another month? I'm wondering if the new 880 model has better quality keys? If so, I wonder what would be the chance Best Buy would give me my money back until the 880 comes out? I am not impressed, this is a $250 remote! I expected far better quality than this.

 

[PokerChip]

There is warranty for these things...

I think this is an isolated incident. I own a 688 and I have read a lot about the remote prior to purchasing it.

Some of the more recurring comments out there have to do with the size of the buttons, the lack of backlighting on the activity keys, the overall layout, but I haven't really seen anything that would indicate bad keys seem to be a pattern.

 

[Edival]

I have a 688 as well, and one of the same buttons died on me too.

Just as I call customer service a month after (I was able to make do without it), he gets me to press the device button, then try it again. It worked... weird. Now it's a little tough to press sometimes. Anyway, they created a file for me to track that we had the conversation, so hopefully if it gets worse in the next month or two I won't have a problem getting it RMA'd.

BTW, Logitech gives a 1 year warranty on their remotes.

 

[bolmsted]

I had a Harmony 688 remote until earlier today and took it back because the "Device" button stopped working for some reason over the last couple of days... everything else seemed to work fine. Also, ever since I had the remote the "9" key seemed a bit hard to press / sticky and didn't really register unless heavily pressing so this seemed to be warranted.

Anyway, I bought the 688 back on 06/14 in 2005 so I brought it back to BestBuy today and showed them the warranty statement in the booklet where it says that you can take it back to the retail store with your bill.

They provided me with a store credit for the value of the 688 ($199.99+tax = $299.99) via a gift card!!!!


(This is where it gets good. )

So I went over to electronics to look at what remotes they had in stock as the cashier at the returns said they didn't have the 688 anymore (to my disappointment initially) which I confirmed relatively quickly by browsing. (keep in mind they gave me a gift card and not a refund)

They had the Harmony 628 and 659 models which didn't really appeal to me since the didn't have the PVR / transport type buttons that I was accustomed to and the reason I bought the 688 to begin with.

They also had the 880 and 890 models hanging on the wall but with these highly exorbitantly and ridiculous prices of $299 and $499 respectively.

Immediately I thought of Digital Home Canada and the forums for the 880 so I looked up the best price of the Harmony 880 at CenDirect for $165 + shipping. So they gave it to me for $165 which took into account the 10% price difference in exchange for the shipping costs.

Anyway, walked out a pretty happy camper today having had the Harmony 688 for a year and now getting the 880 model at half the price at BB and $40 on the gift card allowing me to buy 1.5 DVDs on the way out!!!

The Harmony 890 is a bit too rich for my blood at this point even with price matching and don't really have a need for the RF functionality at this point since all of my components are infrared. (Are the EVu receivers also Infrared rather than just RF?)

//b