In an ongoing attempt to make its Harmony line of universal remotes more attractive to the casual user, Logitech has today introduced its cheapest solution to date; the Harmony 300i.
Following on from the £99 Harmony 700, £69.99 Harmony 650 and £49.99 Harmony 600, Logitech's latest offering lowers the asking price to just £29.99.
Yet, despite the rapid reduction in price, the Harmony 300i, pictured left, retains the essence of Logitech's universal remotes with support for a one-click activity button, its ability to control multiple devices, and an intuitive PC-based setup process.
In terms of the latter, Logitech claims the Harmony 300i actually offers an improved setup utility. Unlike previous Harmony remotes, which required desktop software to be installed, the 300i will be accompanied by an exclusive web-based setup wizard at myharmony.com. The streamlined online setup is said to support more than 225,000 devices, and promises to get users up and running "in just a few simple steps".
At its price point, the Harmony 300i is hard to ignore - even as an affordable replacement for a lost remote - but it does miss out on numerous higher-end Harmony features. Unlike many of its predecessors, the Harmony 300i doesn't feature an LCD display, it isn't rechargeable, and the number of devices it can control is also limited to four, as opposed to five on the Harmony 600 and six on the Harmony 700.
The Harmony 300i is available to pre-order now, with Logitech expecting the first shipments to take place in April.
