Harmony 880 Universal Remote Control - Review

How many times have you wanted to get rid of ALL of the remotes you keep around for your TV/Stereo/DVD Player/CD Player/Playstation2/VCR/DirecTV DVR/etc.. and replace them with just 1 remote? I've purchased multiple of these in the past in the 10-30 dollar range and been infinitely disappointed. Those all still sit in a cabinet collecting dust and reminding me of attempted consolidation gone awry.
So, when I had seen all of the advertisements for the Harmony brand remotes, and the raves about how they were "compatible with any device you have" i was truly skeptical. After about 3 years since my last attempt at "remote consolidation", I jumped in again, and this time in a big way. I had a couple requirements that had to be met. 1) I own a DVD changer, and NOTHING I had found to this point could control this device the way the factory remote could. Nothing. Changing discs was not possible with any remote I had found, and that's not very convenient. 2) I hate changing batteries in remotes. If I was making a purchase, it had to have a rechargable battery, and a cradle to set it in. I really like cradles and not changing batteries. I think it's a trend for me. (See my digital camera review below).
Harmony makes many different remotes, and I read through GOBS of user reviews before I found what looked like the perfect option for me - the Harmony 880 universal remote with charging base.
I made the purchase from TigerDirect.com as usual, and again within 2 days it was at my house.
From first appearance, it was just another universal remote in a pretty box. I got all the goodies out of the box, loaded the required software onto my laptop, and figured I'd give it a go at the setup. Within 20 minutes, I had ALL of my components programmed into the device via the very easy to navigate menus in the software. Even better, with one simple connection to the remote via a USB cable, it did all of the work. I told it what I wanted on for each setting (TV / movie viewing / CD / Radio / VCR) and it plugs in all of the info and programs the remote for you. Very handy. After about 45 second of the remote being plugged into the computer it was done!
Skeptically, I pushed the "Watch TV" button. Wouldn't you know it, it worked! And quite well. The response was actually a little quicker for everything: volume, channel changing, the works. Now came the big test, the DVD player. This beautiful pice had been my nemesis in the universal remote world since I bought it, but I relly like the device, so I've kept it.
As I pushed the "Watch a DVD" button I was almost cringing at the thought that it wouldn't work. The DVD player popped on, the receiver went to Theatre/DVD mode, and the TV input went to the correct input. Good news. Even better, the new display on the remote came up with the optiong to choose which DVD I wanted to select! That was refreshing.
The best part of this entire device was that my wife likes it. Everything is 1-touch operation for on/off, and it replaced 6 remotes we had cluttered on a table in the living room. She is even comfortable putting in movies for the children without calling me at work now. A heavenly thing.
My current and ongoing review of this device is a 5/5. Absolutely excellent in every sense so far. The charging cradle works great, and the option to change button functionality has been very nice as we decided we wanted a couple things to work differently in certain modes. Very easy to change the settings, and just as easy to plug the remote in and get it working. Thank you Harmony for an excellent product. At around $150, it's worth every penny, and I've spent way more than that on remotes I'll never use again.