Harmony 880 vs Harmony 670

After a short time using the 670, I have a decent feel for the differences between these 2 remotes. They are both excellent remotes and control my system with ease. It has been a little difficult adjusting to the changes in the button layout, but I’m getting there. Using this remote is simple and feels pretty natural at this point.

What are the differences between these remotes?

1) The 880 uses rechargeable batteries and comes with a recharging station while the 670 uses AAA batteries.

2) The button layout is different in a few ways.

• The 670 has 3 dedicated activity buttons and a More Activities button to access additional activities on the LCD while the 880 has a single activities button to access all activities from the LCD.
• The transport buttons flank the directional pad on the 670 while they are in rows below the directional pad on the 880.
• The volume and channel buttons are below the directional pad on the 670 and above it on the 880.
• The Menu/Exit/Guide/Info/Up/Down buttons are above the directional pad on the 670 and below on the 880.
• The Glow button is under the LCD on the 880 and much lower on the 670.
  

3) The 880 LCD has space for 8 commands/activities in addition to the current activity or device, battery meter, and time. The 670 has room for only 6 commands/activities or 4 commands/activities and the current activity/device. In addition the resolution of the screen on the 880 allows for more text. The color display on the 880 can also display channel icons and images while the 670 cannot.

4) The 670 has a single Next button for scrolling through pages on the LCD while the 880 has a Left and Right button for this purpose.

5) The 880 has a Media button for displaying favorite channels on the screen. The 670 does not.

6) The 670 has Picture and Sound buttons which each activate their own full set of programmed buttons and softkey commands in each activity. This gives 3 times the number of programmable buttons in each activity. The 880 does not have these buttons.

7) The 670 seems to send commands slightly faster than the 880, but this might just be imagined.

8) The 880 possesses a tilt sensor to activate the screen and backlighting when moved. The 670 relies on a glow button.

9) The lettering is black on the 670 and white on the 880.

I think I will stick with the 880. I want to have the rechargeable batteries, better screen, and tilt sensor. The 670 is excellent as well but doesn't possess anything that makes it any better than the 880. In my opinion, the 880 is better for more advanced systems due to its screen.

Be sure to also check out my initial impressions of the 670 as well as the full reviews of the 670 and 880.