Harmony 785 and 555 available.

[Elmo]

Komplett have limited stocks of both the 785 (£159) and 555 (£84) available now according to their website.

I am a bit surprised by the prices. I thought the 555 would be the same as 525 as I cant see much change apart from cosmetics.

Likewise the 785 comes in at £40 more than the 885 and doesnt seem to offer any more.

I guess the higher cost is due to them being a new model. Bit of a shame as I was ready to buy a 785, but will now probably wait for prices to come down.

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by Elmo

Bit of a shame as I was ready to buy a 785, but will now probably wait for prices to come down.

Why not just get the 885 as it is £40 cheaper, especially as the 785 "doesnt seem to offer any more"?

For what it's worth, I think the 885 looks nicer, plus you can have 8 activities/devices/commands on the LCD at once, compared to 6 at once on the 785.

[Messiah]

Originally Posted by sjpeckmore

Why not just get the 885 as it is £40 cheaper, especially as the 785 "doesnt seem to offer any more"?

For what it's worth, I think the 885 looks nicer, plus you can have 8 activities/devices/commands on the LCD at once, compared to 6 at once on the 785.

No backlit keys though which is a downer for me.

[czzer]

Originally Posted by Messiah

No backlit keys though which is a downer for me.

Where did you hear that?

The 885 does have backlit keys.

[Messiah]

Originally Posted by czzer

Where did you hear that?

The 885 does have backlit keys.

Apologies then. This months Home Cinema Choice has a review of the 895 which says it has backlit keys unlike the 885. Not owning one I could not check. Thanks for that.

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by Messiah

No backlit keys though which is a downer for me.

As czzer said, it definitely does have backlit keys. And the screen and the keys both light up when you pick the remote up because it has a tilt sensor inside which (usually) activates as soon as you pick it up (I mention this only because I'm not sure if the 785 has the tilt sensor).

[Elmo]

I would suspect the 785 has a tilt sensor of sorts. The 525 back light does come on if you pick it up but only if it hasnt been touched for an hour or so, not every time. The 785 looks like an upgraded 525.

[sjpeckmore]

Originally Posted by Elmo

I would suspect the 785 has a tilt sensor of sorts. The 525 back light does come on if you pick it up but only if it hasnt been touched for an hour or so, not every time.

I would imagine it does as well as it seems to be a 'trademark' of the Harmony remotes (and a damn useful one at that! ). However, I would imagine that the 785 tilt sensor works more like the 885 and turns the backlight on every time the sensor is activated. The reason I imagine this is because...

Originally Posted by Elmo

The 785 looks like an upgraded 525.

...to me the 785 looks like a slightly downgraded 885. It seems to have the same/similar buttons as the 885 and uses the LCD in the same way - the non-colour Harmony remotes (all of them I think, though I'm not certain) have physical buttons to switch between devices/activities but the 885 (and it seems the 785) use the LCD screen to choose Activities/Devices. It also has the docking station much like the 885 and seems to share a similar design approach in terms of colour, etc, making it look more like an 885 than a 525. The reason I say it is a downgraded 885 is purely because from the photos I've seen it has a "smaller" LCD screen that only has 6 button spaces on it compared to 8 on the 885's screen.

Edit: Actually, I've just checked the different models out and the 525 wasn't the one I was thinking of, making my comments about the remote design incorrect. The 785 looks like the exact halfway-house between the 525 and the 885 to me - it has the shape and angular design of the 525 but with the features, screen and colour scheme of the 885. And so whilst physically it looks like an upgraded 525 I still think that from a technical point of view it is a downgraded 885.

Edit 2: It also makes my comments about all non-colour remotes having physical buttons to choose activities/devices incorrect! I really didn't get this right at all!

[$h@d0w]

I've never liked the curved shape of the 8xx series - so apart from the number of devices/buttons on the LCD, is there any difference between an 8xx and the 785?

[hornz]

Originally Posted by $h@d0w

I've never liked the curved shape of the 8xx series - so apart from the number of devices/buttons on the LCD, is there any difference between an 8xx and the 785?

Yes, as well as the number of activity buttons, the LCD is physically smaller. I agree regarding the styling though and would gladly accept the reduction in screen size in order to have the 7xx form factor.