How To Fix The Disaster That Is Your Remote Collection
Tags: Smart Home

Ever try to turn down the volume and find that the remote that controls the volume is probably somewhere under the couch that you sold ten years ago in a house you sold five years ago?

We all know the struggle of trying to turn on the TV and five of your six remotes do absolutely nothing. Are the batteries dead? Are they even for this TV? The headache never ends. Fortunately, when it comes to remotes, there’s a beautiful selection of universal remote solutions that help with the massive struggle that is remote controls.

Who knows where the remote went today…*sigh*

Ever try to turn down the volume and find that the remote that controls the volume is probably somewhere under the couch that you sold ten years ago in a house you sold five years ago? We can all relate. Universal remotes are a beautiful solution for this. Companies such as URC and Logitech create models that work with all forms of home automation, and can decrease your remote control clutter by more than half. Companies such as Savant which focus on whole home integration also have beautiful remote controls for when walking to the wall panel is too far of a trek. Long gone are the days of needing to buy a remote basket (remember those little things with the mini battery powered poker games at Grandma’s house?) and figure out any little tricks to get all those remotes to work at all.

The URC-890 is a pretty standard option, not too expensive either

Let’s start with URC. They’re a more affordable option for universal remotes, but they feature a few models with different size LCD displays on them. This is a wonderful addition when it comes to attempting to use your remote and not knowing where any of the buttons are. The standard model when it comes to recommendations from places such as Regent5 is the URC-MX-890 model. It’s quite affordable only costing you $299 on Newegg. This remote comes with a 2 inch LCD and can work through walls, making it very versatile and efficient with multiple rooms in your home. However, it doesn’t work through WiFi like the other models, and if you have more than one remote type in your home, the signals can clash with the WiFi enabled remotes. The MX-890 can control multiple TV’s, music systems, and has many other features which make it a wonderful addition to your home. The base station is capable of rapid charging as well, and doesn’t take up much space on your table top. Unfortunately, the MX-890 can be a bit cumbersome when it comes to adding and removing features, which can get costly having a technician come to your home often. The remote also has a LOT of buttons. It can be a bit overwhelming if you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing. In my opinion, it’s also not the most attractive model on our comparison. If this one isn’t for you, or you’re not quite the most tech savvy person, there’s thankfully plenty of other options.

Pretty, ain’t it? The Logitech Harmony Elite is the cutest one out there

The Logitech Harmony Elite is by far the most beautiful universal solution. But is it the best for your buck? This remote comes in at a much higher price than the URC model, costing around $300-$350 depending on which retailer and model you want. Fortunately it’s much more intuitive than those URC models. This remote can link to your phone or tablet and give you complete access over whole home control. It’s possible to control your entire home theater system linked through this remote, without even using the remote itself. The battery life isn’t nearly as good as the URC model, so get ready to put it on the base station every day or so. There’s also a few other Logitech products that do basically the same thing as this remote, such as the Harmony Home Control for only $104. Depends on how much you want a smart remote versus the other options that Logitech has available. Despite the price of this Logitech remote being quite high, there’s still another option that more than doubles that price. But is it worth the price tag?

The Savant system can be incredibly expensive, with just the remote itself costing around $800 for the multi-room version.

Moving down the line of do-it-all remotes, the Savant Pro Remote is a bit different than the first two. Working with the Savant smart home integration suite, you’d need more than just the remote to get your home working with this one. Fortunately, the Savant system is beautiful and works flawlessly with every place you have it installed. The companion Lutron wall plates are beautiful, the remotes are beautiful, everything is just beautiful. There’s a catch with Savant (of course) and this comes in the price you pay for it. The Savant system can be incredibly expensive, with just the remote itself costing around $800 for the multi-room version. This price tag can definitely make people think twice before considering taking the Savant route with their remote consolidation. Pretty in this case, comes with a high price. Most Savant customers generally already have a system which integrates with their remotes and home automation, using Lutron keypads to supplement their equipment. It’s up to you to decide if a simple and elegant system is worth integrating a higher price. We’d like to consider Savant to be the luxury item in this article.

It’s time to put an end to this nightmare

Now that there’s a few options on your plate, hopefully the easy part is done and now the difficult task will be choosing which brand to go with. Each brand has its pluses and minuses so it’s up to you to decide which one sounds best for your home. The difficult part now lies in which solution to come up with to de-clutter your home. Fortunately, beyond even these remotes I’ve mentioned here, there’s plenty of other universal options from many brands, with more appearing every day. Ask your local retailers about which options they’d recommend when choosing your new do-it-all remote.