The Logitech Harmony 670 has a nice peanut shape to it. I say “nice” because the shape provides a comfortable feel in your hand. The remote’s silver and black color is universal enough to blend in with most home theater components. There are numerous buttons on the 670’s frame, from the full video-transport controls (record, play rewind, pause, etc) to the complete numeric keypad. There’s also hotkeys for DVR and a four-way directional pad.

Now as far as the LCD screens go for universal remotes, the Harmony 670 does a decent job with its display. It can display a total of 6 contextual icons (although 4 is setup by default). If you use all 6 contextual icons you may find it a little difficult to read the text on the screen. But even with this minor issue the 670’s display performs well.

Also it’s worth mentioning that the backlight button isn’t the easiest thing to find in the dark, so it’ll be a good thing to memorize where it’s at. But for the most part the buttons are well placed, and they’re made of responsive hard plastic material. The Harmony 670 features the standard DVR controls, as well as the menu, guide and info buttons. The DVR buttons can also be used for DVD or VCR playback.

There’s a feature available on the 670 that will appeal to home theater enthusiasts. It’s the breakout picture and sound controls. These controls when pressed, list only visual and audio-based commands on the screen, allowing tweaks to be done to the settings, such as treble, bass, color, tint and etc, using a dedicated up and down key.

While the 670 isn’t packed with all of the features like the Harmony 880 have; it still is power hungry. It takes four AAA batteries to power it, and because of the LCD screen along with the backlight, this remote drains batteries at a fast rate. It’s a shame that Logitech didn’t equip the 670 with a docking station and a rechargeable battery, because having to buy batteries over and over will get costly. Or you can purchase a set of third party rechargeable nickel-metal-hydride batteries.

The Harmony 670 is compatible with more than 175,000 devices, so I don’t think you will have a problem with it working with your components. The programming is done via a web-based program on a PC or a Mac. Now for any reason you run into a problem with a code for a device, the 670 can learn new infrared codes. You’ll need to have the non-supported device remote control though. The 670 can hold up to 16 devices in its memory.

If you’re cool with using a handy remote that handles multiple devices with no problem, but lacks the battery recharge feature, then the Harmony 670 may be the remote for you. The price is a lot less expensive than the Harmony 880, and it packs much of the same technology that the 880 boasts.