All harmonys work the same (except the 200/300). So get the model with the correct number of devices. The One is overkill in your situation and is $175. It's an 18 device remote. You only have 5 devices. The 600 will do everything you need and is only $45. Go up the ladder if you want more features (color screen, rechargeable battery, RF, etc.). The 700 has nearly all the features of the One but has fewer devices and is half the price. As others have said, a drawback of the somewhat outdated One is the lack of colored buttons. They take up valuable LCD screen real estate on the One, whereas they are real buttons on newer models (600/650/700/900).
A universal remote like harmony has several advantages over the Dish remote, namely every function for every device can be accessed via named buttons on the LCD screen, plus it has macro (activity) capability. Macros greatly simplify the operation of your system. For example, it might take several steps and several remotes to watch a DVD (turn on tv, turn on DVD, turn on stereo, pick the correct input on the tv, pick the correct input on the stereo, pick the right sound field, etc.). With macros, this can be done with a single button press. Plus harmony remembers what inputs were last selected and what devices are on or off and sends only the commands it needs to go from one activity to another (from watch tv to watch DVD, for example).
Although harmony is a great remote and very easy to program and use, they do not have a monopoly on macros. URC, One-for-all, Xsight, Philips, Sony all make very good remotes with macro capabilities. The $15 RCA RCRP05B is a very capable remote with macros, redefinable keys, volume punch thru, learning, etc. They are programmable from a computer like harmony with the addition of a $5 cable. The only thing they lack compared to harmony is an LCD screen, so you have to remember what functions you assigned to what buttons (each button on the RCA can have up to 5 functions per device mode: single press, double press, long press, shifted press and double shifted press).
My personal favorite is the Xsight Touch made by UEI (the same company that makes the Dish remotes and millions of others for cable and sat companies). It has nearly all the features of the One but is only $50-$70. One big advantage of the Xsight is it's one-button macro capability (what logitech calls sequences). For example, if you want to make a CC button that toggles captions on the Hopper, you just program those 6 steps in a macro and you're done. On harmony it's much more difficult because you have to use some tricks to get around their 5 step sequence limit. It may even be impossible on harmony because of the delays required between certain steps.
A universal remote like harmony has several advantages over the Dish remote, namely every function for every device can be accessed via named buttons on the LCD screen, plus it has macro (activity) capability. Macros greatly simplify the operation of your system. For example, it might take several steps and several remotes to watch a DVD (turn on tv, turn on DVD, turn on stereo, pick the correct input on the tv, pick the correct input on the stereo, pick the right sound field, etc.). With macros, this can be done with a single button press. Plus harmony remembers what inputs were last selected and what devices are on or off and sends only the commands it needs to go from one activity to another (from watch tv to watch DVD, for example).
Although harmony is a great remote and very easy to program and use, they do not have a monopoly on macros. URC, One-for-all, Xsight, Philips, Sony all make very good remotes with macro capabilities. The $15 RCA RCRP05B is a very capable remote with macros, redefinable keys, volume punch thru, learning, etc. They are programmable from a computer like harmony with the addition of a $5 cable. The only thing they lack compared to harmony is an LCD screen, so you have to remember what functions you assigned to what buttons (each button on the RCA can have up to 5 functions per device mode: single press, double press, long press, shifted press and double shifted press).
My personal favorite is the Xsight Touch made by UEI (the same company that makes the Dish remotes and millions of others for cable and sat companies). It has nearly all the features of the One but is only $50-$70. One big advantage of the Xsight is it's one-button macro capability (what logitech calls sequences). For example, if you want to make a CC button that toggles captions on the Hopper, you just program those 6 steps in a macro and you're done. On harmony it's much more difficult because you have to use some tricks to get around their 5 step sequence limit. It may even be impossible on harmony because of the delays required between certain steps.
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