- Complete RF (radio frequency ) wireless technology lets you control out-of-sight devices hidden neatly away behind cabinet doors from up to 100-feet away.
- Full-color touch screen for simple one-touch access to your favorite channels and activities, like "Watch a DVD" or "Listen to music"
- Sculpted backlit buttons in logical zones for easy entertainment control even in the dark
- Recharging dock eliminates the hassle of searching for and replacing batteries
- Replaces up to 15 remotes with universal control of virtually any home entertainment component
The Harmony 900 is VERY similar to the Harmony One, which is a terrific remote. If you don't need the RF capability, I would stick with the Harmony One It is a much better value.
My Harmony experience: I started with the 880 and upgraded to the One, and now to the 900.
All of these remotes pass the babysitter test that is, can a babysitter pick up the remote and watch tv. The RF capability (using radio frequency "RF" instead of line of sight infrared "IR") helps the 900 pass the babysitter test with flying colors.
PROS of the 900
1) The remote has a great screen and there are tons of icons available online to take advantage of it.
2) The ability to use RF means that you can set up your system so that the remote does not need to pointed anywhere near the components for them to work. This is especially useful where your "Watch TV" command includes several steps such as turning on a receiver, cable box and tv miss one of those and you can become very frustrated. The RF prevents this. Three provided blasters (one large and two small) convert the RF signal to IR in your av cabinet. The 900 also can send IR and you can select which devices have signals sent over RF or IR. I have a plasma set on the wall and can't easily put an IR blaster nearby, so I have the plasma set to IR and all of my other components in a nearby AV rack set to RF. It works great.
3) All of the other pros you get from the 880 and One are also present in the 900 (except macros see below).
4) The other obvious difference between the One and the 900 is that the 900 adds a row of four colored hard buttons to correspond to the A B C and D commands on some cable boxes and blue-ray players. To make room, the mute and previous channel buttons are a bit smaller.
5) The IR blasters are great and do NOT need to ever be removed from the cabinet to do updates (as you have to do with some other models). All updates are done on the remote over USB, and the remote then updates the blasters wirelessly.
CONS of the 900
1) By far, the largest con is the inability to simply upgrade from previous models. Upgrading from the 880 to the One took five minutes. You just have to remap a couple of buttons and everything else carries over. Upgrading from the One to the 900 requires you to start from scratch. It forces you to create an entirely new Harmony account. You have to reconfigure all of your devices, all of your activities, and all of your favorite channels. You have to re-teach any custom IR commands. This is fairly inexcusable. I have five devices and four activities. I've been using Harmony remotes for years and have really fine-tuned my set-up. It took me over three hours to get it all back in shape and I'm probably still not there. So, this is a major flaw I would hope they can fix.
2) The remote can still do customized macros when starting or ending an activity, but you cannot do macros within an activity anymore. That means you cannot have the pause command also mute the sound and bring up the lights. This is not a big deal for me, since I never used macros on my older Harmony remotes, but some people seem to be quite bent out of shape over the removal of this feature. To be clear, you can still do whatever you want when starting or ending an activity.
3) The "slideshow" on the older remotes has been replaced with a sleep timer.
4) The stickers provided to affix the blaster and mini-blasters to your AV cabinet shelves are terrible. You will need to use better double-sided tape.
5) The 900 takes longer to switch between screens than the One or the 880 did. It is as if it is "thinking" about things for a second or two before they happen.
6) The left and right soft keys used to switch between screens are less sensitive than they were on the One, and you cannot adjust the screen touch sensitivity.
7) The 900 gives you the ability to add icons to the soft keys, but unlike the favorite channels you cannot use custom icons from the internet. This is a silly limitation and the number of available icons is very limited. In any event, this is still a step up from the One.
8) Favorite channels are still limited to four screens per activity. If you want to have more than that (and many people do) you need to add another watch TV activity. Each activity gets independent favorite channels. I wish this could be expanded. My remote is only using 31 MB of 62 MB of onboard memory, and I would love to have the ability to add many more channels to my favorites.
9) You no longer have the ability to adjust the brightness of the light on the charging cradle, but it isn't very bright and doesn't bother me. The One has a switch on the bottom of the cradle to adjust the brightness.
CONCLUSION
All in all, once configured, I really like the 900. However, I would never upgrade from the One to the 900 unless I really needed the RF functions. If you were to remove the RF function from the 900, I would think the One is a better remote and only costs half as much. That said, the RF function is a great addition and really makes it much easier for others to use. It easily passes the babysitter test. I'm giving it three stars because I think the One gives much better value, and the inability to easily upgrade really irked me. If the One did not exist, or if I had never owned a previous Harmony remote, I would give it 4 1/2 stars.
Buy Logitech Harmony 900 Rechargeable Remote with Color Touch Screen Now
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER) BRIEF EVALUATION
The Harmony 900 can replace all infrared (IR) remotes used to control the various devices associated to an entertainment center. Once configured, its activity-centric interface effectively shields the user(s) from having to explicitly control individual devices, unless they want to. The Harmony will allow 'everyone', including the less technical members of a household to get the most off an entertainment center's capabilities without having to worry about switching the remote's 'modes' or remembering the correct I/O ports before watching a Blu-ray movie, watching TV or listening to the radio.
As compared to its immediate predecessor models (880, 890), the Harmony 900 offers a number of incremental but generally welcome improvements or changes
Ergonomic shape, well-balanced body with sculpted buttons for a tactile feel.
Surprisingly good, hi-res, full color touch screen that allows for up to 6, context defined 'soft' buttons.
Included IR Blasters that make controlling devices behind walls or inside locked cabinets possible and improve remote's ease of use no need to 'point' the remote.
Better designed, wider charger base.
The new Harmony 900 is an elegant and efficient way to operate one's audio-visual equipment and it's should be a 'must have' for anyone who can can afford it. PS3 owners should be aware that Harmony's lack of Bluetooth support will require the purchase of another add-on.
PACKAGING AND PHYSICAL SETUP
The Harmony 900 comes in a well-partitioned box that keeps the various components well-protected during shipping and makes it relatively easy to open and access its contents.
The following are included:
Remote's body
Charging base
Remote's rechargeable battery
IR master blaster
2 Mini Blasters
2 Power Adapters (one for the charger and one for the IR blaster)
5-ft. USB cable
System software on a DVD
Multi-lingual poster-style manual
Putting it together is as easy as inserting the battery into the remote control it's designed such that you can't do it wrong, attaching the power adapter wire to the charging stand and then performing the initial charge.
CONFIGURATION
An Internet-connected computer with a USB port will be needed to install the software and configure the remote. Once installed and an account is established, the software will guide the user, step by step through all the configuration/setup activities.
[To make setup quicker and easier, one should have the EXACT make and model number (like Sony KDL-70XBR7, not just Sony Bravia) for all the devices about to be registered or one will have to go through a time consuming process involving 'teaching' the Harmony what every button on the unrecognized device's remote does.]
Once all devices are registered and recognized, the software will suggest a series of 'activities' that it believes you should be able to perform with the registered devices. You can accept them all and then refine your requirements, remove some or add some of your own. For the basic setup to complete, Harmony will need to know which devices need to be on, which specific device is to be controlled when turning the volume up or down (TV or receiver) or changing the channel (cable box or TV) and which specific ports/channels are used (HDMI-1 or Satellite-IN)
After the basic setup is completed and tested, it's possible to further customize your activities. Typically, you will add 'favorite' channels to the touch screen. For reasons I can't understand, the only 'channel' icons Harmony carries are for a number of FOX outlets but Harmony-compatible icons for most known channels (other than C-SPAN) I could find at a site whose URL I posted as the first 'comment' made to this post (can't post URLs inside the review). Optionally, you can add some 'soft' buttons for each device if the remote does not have physical buttons for all the available functions.
It is also possible to customize the way your remote behaves: several color schemes are available, you can decide for how long the 900 will stay lit after a button is pressed, whether the 'favorite channels' or the 'controls' are displayed by default when a TV-related activity is selected, you can add custom commands as 'soft buttons' on the touch screen or change the default mapping of physical buttons to different commands.
Further fine tuning can be done to change the default buttons mapping for any registered device or even to establish the exact order in which the various components are turned on and off and, if needed, set specific delays between specific steps performed to start a particular 'activity'.
Even when there aren't any devices behind walls or inside cabinets, the Blasters can be used to enhance the user's experience. By placing these IR-generating devices (one big 'master' and two attached 'mini blasters') on the shelf/shelves or inside the cabinets you no longer need to worry about pointing 'at' whatever it is you want to operate because the Blasters communicate with the remote via radio (RF) which means no need to point and less severe distance restrictions. The Blaster use is an either-or proposition for any individual device. For example, Harmony allowed me to exempt the AV receiver from the Blaster treatment (it was not responding to Blaster commands reliably), meaning that everything but the AV receiver could be controlled through the Blaster while the receiver was getting 'traditional' IR commands from the remote.
While it's true that the initial setup can be completed in about one hour, I found that the more I use the Harmony the more I think of further refinements so it can take several setup refining sessions over several days before the configuration could be called 'stable'. Once that's accomplished, everything is set more or less on 'automatic pilot' and there's very little to worry and a lot to enjoy. Once used to the 'cycle', updating is easy: fire up the software, enter changes, connect the remote to the computer and get it updated.
THE EXPERIENCE
Anyone watching a Harmony at work for the first time should be impressed. I know that I was when I first used my Harmony 880 a year or so ago. It's almost like it's talking with the TV, the satellite receiver, the Blu-ray player, the AV receiver box. Devices turn themselves on or off as needed as you switch from one 'activity' to another, they reconfigure themselves, opening the proper input or output channels and the Harmony appears to conduct 2-way communication sessions with each one of them individually probably not true since, as far as I know, IR controllers don't get feedback from the devices they control if anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.
Once set up, the typical interaction with the remote is to select an 'activity' and then enjoy the show. The Harmony will turn off the devices not needed for the activity, turn on and properly set up those that must be on, set up the soft buttons on the touch screen and map the 'hard' buttons to various functions. To switch to a different activity, simply touch the 'activity' button, then select the desired activity from the touch screen and the Harmony will go through a similar cycle. To turn everything off, touch the 'off' button and everything is turned off unless the setup asked the Harmony to keep certain devices 'on' all the time the satellite box, for example.
Whenever the Harmony makes a mistake or gets confused about the status of a particular device, pressing the Help button will place the Harmony in a troubleshooting mode. It will try to interactively fix the problem or, if the user knows exactly what to do, telling Harmony 'I know how to fix this' will give the user the opportunity to address the problem without assistance.
Besides 'activities', it is possible to command a specific device, independently. And, of course, the Harmony's own settings can be tweaked to some degree and for minor, remote specific changes such as the color scheme, the setup can be performed on the remote directly no need to connect it to a computer.
Unlike its immediate predecessors, the Harmony 900 designers opted for the 'groovy' look. Sculpted, well-defined buttons, instead of the smooth styling of the 880 and 890. Just about every button you would expect on a respectable remote is there, including the 4 'colored' buttons used with some satellite/cable boxes and Blu-ray players. Since Harmony 'knows' a lot about all the devices it works with it loads data from a 200,000 electronic devices database the functions usually map correctly to the expected Harmony button. In addition, the full color touch screen allows for 6 additional 'soft' buttons to be visible at any given time and, if more than 6 buttons are needed, it's possible to 'flip' page after page of more buttons there are 'touch' page-flipping buttons to the right and left of the touch screen. In our case, we used 4 pages worth of 'favorite channels' so we have 'my' page, a movies channels page, the kids page and Ms. D's page most convenient.
The remote lights up whenever a button or the screen are pressed or when the remote is moved, shaken or rattled (gently, hopefully). It would stay lit for up to 30 seconds (configurable) if nothing else is done to it, waiting for additional commands. Clearly, the shape was scientifically determined to fit the average human hand as comfortably as possible it feels well balanced and comfortable to hold and it's easy to pick up from a table or from your armchair's arm. When not in use, the preferred resting place should be the charging cradle which holds it securely until it's needed again.
WARRANTY AND SUPPORT
The one year limited warranty appears to be standard. Harmony reserves the right to replace your unit or parts of it with either new or refurbished components at its own discretion. You are not covered if you abuse your Harmony and, depending on local laws and regulations you may or may not have to pay for shipping the device back and forth.
Once you register your Harmony, you are entitled to 90-day free phone support. This should be sufficient to address whatever issues you may have with the setup. Based on my prior experience with the 880, once configured, there's hardly any need to make further changes for as long as you don't add new devices to your entertainment center so 90 days of support should be enough. After that, support is available for a fee. I never required any assistance for my 880 and I am still within the 90-day free support with the 900.
ISSUES
Like everything else, the Harmony 900 is not perfect. I probably hinted at some problems above but it may not hurt to list them all in one place.
It's a fingerprint magnet. Unlike its 880/890 sisters, the 900's shiny black surface not only takes fingerprints, it's attracting them and it's showing them off, possibly in duplicate (kidding). The 900 looks elegant and pretty when clean but all it takes is one touch for much the prettiness to go away and you MUST touch the 'touch' screen or you won't be able to do much.
Lack of Bluetooth support requires to purchase an extra module for controlling a PS3 if you have one. I have one.
No more than 4 screens of favorite channels (for a total of 24) per TV activity.
The software does not support more than one Harmony device per account if they are to be configured independently. The requirement for separate accounts makes maintaining more that one Harmony device more difficult than it should be. Granted, at the price the Harmonies sell, this is not likely to be an issue for too many users.
The IR Blaster stays on at all times the only way to turn it off is to unplug it.
Price, of course. How many people will be willing to pay more than they paid for their PS3 to be able to control 'it' and the devices surrounding it? Hard to tell.
RATING
I already discussed why using a Harmony 900 makes for such a satisfying experience:
it simplifies life by eliminating the need of keeping numerous remote controls handy
it saves time and reduces frustrations
it allows those less technologically sophisticated (think children) to take full advantage of technology
Two of the issues that I listed above need of an add-on for PS3 support and complications when managing more than one Harmony device are not likely to affect most Harmony users.
I will not factor in 'price' when rating the Harmony 900 because prices can change and because the review guidelines state that I shouldn't. By the way, I was able to get my old 880 for VERY LITTLE when it showed up for a couple of hours as a 'lightning deal', refurbished, so prices can and do vary.
The 'fingerprint magnet' problem is real. It's possible that not everyone cares about it but it annoys me a lot. I will deduct half a star for that but the rounded up score is going to be a 5-star, given that individual reviews don't allow for half star increments.
Please note that (again) I did not factor in 'price', I did not need warranty repairs and my interaction with customer support was very limited.
_____________________________________________________________
Note: HARMONY 900 vs. HARMONY 880 vs. HARMONY ONE
Since I happen to own both the 880 and the 900 at this time and I saw the ONE in action at a friend's house, a brief comparison may help some decide on which model to pick.
Advantage 900 over 880
----------------------
IR blasters make control of out-of-side devices possible (can get as add-ons separately for the 880)
Sculpted buttons provide better tactile feedback
Touch-screen allows for a lot of flexibility in configuration
Higher screen resolution
Better designed shape
(Apparently) better charging unit. The 880 known to experience 'charger' problems.
Advantage 880 over 900
----------------------
Price
Matte surface does not show fingerprints
Advantage 900 over ONE
----------------------
Yellow/Red/Green/Blue keys on the remote
Blasters
Advantage ONE over 900
----------------------
Price
_____________________________________________________________
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
I am adding this section after a few weeks and two customer support calls because I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and professionalism of Logitech's customer support team.
While it is true that, in both cases, it took more than 15 minutes for someone to actually pick up the phone, my issues both having to do with programming the remote were resolved quickly and to my complete satisfaction by the support person directly modifying my setup and, in both cases, the calls ended with some pretty useful advice.
Of course, it should be noted that 'free' support by humans is only available for the first 90 days. After that, it's the knowledge base or paying for human assistance.
Read Best Reviews of Logitech Harmony 900 Rechargeable Remote with Color Touch Screen Here
I'm sure that I'm not the only person who has tried for years to find a universal remote that actually works intuitively. At some point, I probably even forgot that was the goal and just looked for a remote that wouldn't be too awkward with whatever my current home theater setup was. The problem was that, even though my immediate family could remember which button mapped to which feature, I practically had to leave a written manual for baby-sitters, in-laws, and other guests. Unfortunately, the alternative was to have 4-5 remote controls that were all needed to control different functions which is even worse than a bad universal remote in my opinion.
Anyway, my experience with Logitech universal remotes actually began with the Harmony One. I'll try to sum up my entire review by just saying that the Harmony One was the first truly intuitive universal remote I have ever owned. It is extremely comfortable in the hand, and can be used easily by guests without needing to give detailed instructions.
The reason I mentioned the Harmony One is that the Harmony 900 is basically the same remote with the additional RF functionality. The 900 does have a few minor feature improvements over the One and the interface seems just a bit more polished; but, it is close enough that I would still stick with the One if I didn't need the RF feature.
Here are the things I really like about both the Harmony One and 900 remotes:
1) Extremely intuitive easily better than even the original remotes that came with my equipment
2) Very comfortable in the hand The One and 900 have exactly the same profile and they both use the same charging base
3) I love that the backlight turns on automatically when the remote is moved, but it's also possible to control it by feel once you get used to the layout because of the way Logitech designed the buttons
4) It took a bit to get these programmed how I wanted them, but the software is easy to use and Logitech provides free phone support if you run into issues. Also, most of the codes from my OEM remotes were already in the online database.
5) Nice rechargeable base the remote will go for a couple of days without a charge, but I try to stay in the habbit of leaving it on the base when it's not in use so I can always find it. :)
As I've been using the Harmony 900 remote, here are some of the improvements I've seen over the One:
1) The RF functionality is the most obvious improvement.
2) There are 4 additional colored buttons (red, green, yellow & red) that map perfectly to the buttons on my Xbox 360 controller.
3) The soft buttons can now use icons instead of just text and there is a good selection of icons to choose from. This is a really nice touch and you can still use the text labels if you prefer them.
I suspect nothing is perfect, so here are the things that could be improved with the Harmony 900:
1) The biggest thing I wish Logitech would change is that a custom power-on command cannot be used for different activities. In my case, I'm using the Media Center Extender feature in an Xbox 360 to control my home theater system; so, in order to turn it on in that mode, I need to send the 'Media Center' command to the Xbox 360 instead of 'power-on'. Fortunately, there is a way to modify the power-on or off commands, but it is set at the device level so it impacts all the activities. This makes it impossible to have one activity for 'Play Xbox' and another for 'Media Center' and I end up combining both features into one activity (which isn't really ideal).
2) I was a little disappointed when I saw that I couldn't just upgrade from the Harmony One to the Harmony 900 in the Logitech software. I ended up having to create another account and then copied all my settings over manually but at least I only have to go through that manual migration process once. With the remotes being so similar to each other, I'm really surprised that it's not possible to just upgrade from one to the other.
If you've made it this far, let me just sum up by saying that either one of these remotes really is worth the cost. In my opionion, it is the final touch for a home theater system that makes it much more enjoyable to use. In some ways, it is funny that people will spend thousands of dollars on an HDTV, DVD player, surround sound receiver, speakers, etc... and then they have 4 different remotes sitting there so no one else can even figure out how to turn the system on to watch TV :).
Want Logitech Harmony 900 Rechargeable Remote with Color Touch Screen Discount?
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First I had the Harmony One and absolutely loved it. The One worked perfectly, was super fast, & easy to use. However, I grew tired of having to point it for 15 seconds at all my equipment while it turned my equipment on some of which has long power on times so the remote has to wait between the power command and the input command. For example, it knows that my TV takes about 10 seconds from power on to being able to change the input to the right source. But with IR, you have to keep pointing it broadly enough to hit all of your equipment. I can just set it at the edge of my couch and it normally would catch everything. It also makes it a little difficult to use the LCD screen if you have to point it at the equipment as you press a soft key because you need to tilt it towards you to read it or you have to sit up and look down at it while pointing.
So then I bought the 900 so I wouldn't have keep pointing it at my equipment. The RF really lets you do this (more on this below). I also really like the 4 extra programmable keys (red,green,yellow,blue). My Tivo doesn't currently have the color commands you find on some other PVRs, so I like to program them to the most frequent soft keys I use because I find buttons easier to press by context than soft keys. For example, I set blue to LiveTV, and yellow/green to swap between full screen and zoom to help when I watch a wide-screen show in SDTV.
On both, the biggest thing I liked is that I could program any of the keys, and additionally had soft keys on the LCD too if I wanted. It offers additional commands that aren't on the original remote. The biggest benefit for me was TV input and TV ratio commands to change directly to AV1, AV2, HDMI1, HDMI2, ... or switch between full screen, wide screen, and zoom without having to cycle through inputs or bring up menus using multiple buttons on my original remote. The software is great for setting it up. You can have moments of frustration, but it is really powerful and once you have it setup you forget about it and using the remote seems so simple & intuitive becuase you set it up for your preferences. It takes a while to setup, and longer to keep tweaking for your preferences to add, remove, and move soft keys and setup activities exactly how you want it. For a month I would use it and think that I wish something were moved, added, or different and would make a note to go tweak it and update it later.
TOUCH SCREEN:
The 900's screen is supposed to be a better resolution than the One, but I prefer the screen on the One. I find the One's screen brighter and easier to read. The 900's backlight seem yellower and the text feels more washed out to me. You can pick between 4 themes on the remote, one of which goes back to the One's theme, but with that theme I couldn't read the 900 as well compared to the One when I held them side-by-side. The default theme on the 900 is the easiest to read of the themes on the 900 in my opinion. The 900s touch screen is less sensitive than the One, and especially for changing pages which is a good improvement from the One which was way too touchy. On the One I was always accidentally changing pages instead of pressing the soft key I wanted, or accidentally doing something. This seems to intentionally improve that. Changing pages on the 900 is still very fast, but switching from Activity pages to Device pages takes much longer. The One changed pages and between activities and devices super fast. The 900 dims and brightens as it switches between them and takes longer. I miss the speed on the One when pulling up device-specific buttons to fix something, however I don't do that often. Within the task, page changing is sufficiently fast.
RF:
The RF is supposed to let you use the remote through cabinet doors and without pointing at the equipment. I have glass doors and just didn't want to point it at them all the time. Also my equipment is spaced apart enough that if you aren't careful you miss equipment even when pointing with IR. The RF has completely solved this. It really works. I don't know how to clean the screen anymore because I can't do it without turning things on. The best I can do is clean it quickly while it is starting my devices with a long power on time. If I press a button in my kitchen pointing nowhwere near my equipment in the living room, they follow the commands. However, the RF has some disadvantages. It is very slightly slower than IR commands, except for hiccups if you've place the emitters well. I've "raced" my One and 900 to navigate around my Tivo. They are incredibly close when it works. But was really slow when I didn't have my IR emitters placed well. I used the 900 and One to compare speeds until I got the commands working nearly equivalently on the 900 as my One. There are hiccups where you can see it fail to communicate with the RF receiver by an icon on the 900's LCD. You can also see the remote send the commands, and sometimes it gets backed up. So I press a ton of buttons really fast to test it, it seems to hang up or stop working, and eventually fires them all off. Every once in a while it will get backed up or fail a command, but is sufficiently rare. For example, once in a while I'll be fast forwarding and can't stop it until it has gone way too far. So for RF, take care to place them and test positioning to make sure it is most optimal. Do not overlap emitters or that can cause problems.
EXTRA BLASTERS & PRECISION CABLES
It comes with 1 blaster that is the RF receiver and 2 mini blasters that connect to the back of the blaster.
You can buy additional blasters and precision IR cables. The 900 supports up to 5 blasters each with 2 mini blasters or precision IR cables. They are all available from if you have the URLs or part numbers and I have bought all of them in January 2010. I bought 2 extra blasters, extra shelf emitters, and precision IR cables. However I couldn't find them by searching or navigating the site and only obtained the URLs by other forums and contacting support by email. Adding a blaster is very easy. On the remote itself, you go into options and RF setup and will find an add blaster button there. Then when you enable or disable RF for devices, it indicates blasters by number so it knows which ones are covered by which.
Amazon edits URLs to other websites from reviews, so the best I can do is give you URL hints, part numbers, and correct names as they appear on Logitech or the parts store. You can find some if you know the correct exact name or part number, but for the cheaper parts store you will have to use an internet search engine or URL hints.
You can buy the additional blaster as an expensive complete set, or by 1/3 the cost by buying the parts separately from the parts store. Note that the part numbers on the parts when ordering do not match the part numbers on your equipment, but when it arrives it is the same as the original. You can buy the expensive complete set including a blaster, mini-blasters, and AC adapter. Or better yet you can buy the parts separately and was quite cheap in my opinion. I bought the parts. I can't say prices in a review, but I thought the set was very expensive but the parts were very reasonable. I bought 2 extra blasters, 8 sets of 2 shelf emitters, 2 AC adapters, and precision IR cables for 75% of the cost of a single official extra blaster set. As parts, just note that the AC adapter and mini-blasters are sold separately from the blaster, but are still a ton cheaper. The parts descriptions are extremely unclear, but I ordered and can tell you what I found.
Additional Blaster Set (extra "Harmony RF System") (Blaster, mini-blasters, & AC adapter)
How to find: Search Logitech site for "Harmony RF System" or "6228". Descripotion will say for 900.Additional Blaster Parts (sold separately)
How to find: Search Logitech site for "Harmony 900" or "5874", open product page for the Harmony 900, click "Support", then "Replacement Parts". Or do an internet search for " parts store harmony 900". Or from the parts store (), use URL hint.
Blaster (without AC adapter or mini-blasters) is called "Receiver for Harmony 900" P/N 993-000188.
AC Adapter (same as for remote charger) is called "AC Adaptor for Haromony One, H900 and H1100, 100-240V,5.5V,800MA" P/N 993-000377
Mini-Blasters (set of 2) called "IR Shelf Emitter" P/N 993-000191
You can optionally buy Precision IR Cables that replace the 2 mini blasters with 2 cables with 4 mini stick on emitters each. It comes in a pack of 2 cables to fully replace 2 mini blasters and cover 8 devices. It also comes with large square stick on black-out covers to hide the signal from any other equipment, but if the equipment is visible, it might look ugly. I haven't tried the Precision IR Cables yet but bought some to try later. I hope to use them without affixing the black-out covers which seem optional.
Precision IR Cables (set of 2) (P/N 915-000095)
How to find: Search Logitech site for "Harmony RF System", "6230", or "915-000095".UPDATE (after 4 months):
I love the H900 and prefer using it over the One, mostly for the 4 extra buttons, and I like that the screen isn't as touchy so I don't accedentally change pages or press soft buttons like I used to. But there are drawbacks that are noticeable. RF is slower than IR. When I switch to my One if my H900 battery needs recharging, the One seems so fast by comparison. I even adjusted my inter-key delay to 0, but still feels a bit sluggish especially when entering in search words into Tivo. But I still like using my H900 for regular use. The H900 RF fails to communicate once in a while, but has not been a concern for me. The battery life is noticeably shorter than the One. I get about 3-4 days between charging on the H900 and 7-9 days on the One. The biggest problem is that the H900 locks up on the charging cradle and sometimes while watching shows and you must force a reboot by removing and replacing the battery. All but once it came right back up, but it loses the current time. It is annoying, but at least only happens every 2-3-days or so when on the charging cradle. Logitech support has always been extremely responsive and has answered many email questions as well as dealing with the lockup issue. Support is shipping me a new one as a replacement for warranty repair for the lockup issue. I hope to find improved battery life and no more lockup issues. Still, I am still happy with the H900, but the lockups make it feel buggy compared to the stellar One that has never had a problem, but let's hope we can chalk that up to a defective unit.
UPDATE (after 6 months):
Support sent a whole new box with all assessories & battery, not just a remote shell which was nice. The replacement works much better and I haven't had any of the problems from before. It hasn't locked up once, communication mis-fires are back a rare occurence, the battery life seems much better and I don't feel like I am charging it all the time, but still more than my One, but maybe not by much. The screen is back to a clean white backlight instead of a yellow tint on my original that bugged me and I thought made it harder to read, so it looks exactly like my One now. Sync'ing the new remote was incredibly simple, just clicked update and it was synch'd with my same setup as my old one.
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I am a third time owner of this remote. Unfortunately, its stellar performance is undercut by a very short lifespan and a woefully inadequate warranty. The fact that I've had three of these remotes and had to replace them due to malfunction every year and a half should be an indication of a problem with the device longevity. Each time I was required to purchase the replacement, although at a discounted price. I'm just not that happy have to shell out that type of money so often for something with such a high initial price tag.
In light of the frequent need for replacement, the short, one year warranty makes this expensive device a DON'T BUY for me. It doesn't matter how well it works if it only works for a short period of time.
