Hi folks, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to blog properly – ‘tons going on, not the least of which was getting married, going on honeymoon and getting stuck thanks to a massive volcano.  It’s all good though and I’ve got some good stuff to share about some IP Camera’s that I’ve been integrating and the trials and tribulations of that, but I’ll cover that another time…right now it’s this is about remotes.

I’ve been a sucker for wanting some super cool looking touch screen job for a while now, but the price has made me hold off.  I now have a new excuse and it’s one that I’d never really considered.  Simplicity.

We had a load of guests staying during the wedding and a major problem was that I kept getting asked to turn on the TV, change the channel or something else.  What the ! it’s easy right? … Wrong, no one could work the remote, it was scaring them.  It’s just a Logitech Harmony 520 which I’ve been really happy with and I though was pretty simple.  Apparently people weren’t used to holding the screen and they didn’t want to break it.  I know I was shocked too.

This lead me to thinking, what do I really want in a remote?  I’ve narrowed it down to:

• Easy to use
• Controls everything

That’s it, I’ve taken “looks cool” off the list.  I went in search of something that fits the bill and the Harmony 300i, a super simple remote looks to be the best fit and I’m a bit shocked about that, no touch screen nothing cool looking.  I’m getting a review unit in soon, so look out for a review.  It also got me thinking, what’ else is new…does anyone have anything cool?

I really like the Amulet device and I can’t wait to get one of those in my hand too…I’m thinking given the above experience it might be too complex though but I’ll have to wait and see.

So what’s your remote, why do you like it and would you recommend it?