Don’t trust the reconditioned remotes! Never again will I get one that has been reworked. Mine failed after 2 months and they said it was my fault cause it was dropped. Not my fault that your shoddy solder work fails after falling off the couch!
I’ve had a Harmony Ultimate and Harmony Hub for about a year and here are some observations:
• Setting up the Harmony is dead simple using the MyHarmony app. On a Mac, the app is a Silverlight port, so it’s a little slow, but it works well.
• I think the Harmony Ultimate is fantastic for a standard AV set-up with traditional IR components…
• … but, If you have an Amazon FireTV or Philips Hue bulbs, you’ll need the Harmony Hub since t’s the actual unit that handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the remote does not.
• The battery life in the remote is very short. I need to recharge mine once a week. If you’re used to remotes lasting months or even years without recharging/changing the batteries, be aware of this. The charging cradle is convenient, just plop the remote in nightly or weekly.
• If you’re on a budget, I recommend getting the Harmony Hub by itself (it’s not available as a stand-alone in this deal, but it’s about $90 on Amazon right now) and use it with your smartphone, or better yet, repurpose an old iPhone or Android for the task. Battery life will be about the same, and it has all the functionality of the physical Harmony remote.
Overall, I think this is a good product line. The remote-only is fine for a legacy AV set-up that won’t be upgraded with streaming set-top boxes. I strongly recommend getting the Hub if you use modern boxes like AppleTV, FireTV, Hue Light bulbs, etc. But the iOS app is so good it makes the physical remote seem like a vestige, so strongly consider buying the Hub only and use your myriad of retired smart devices to control it instead of shelling out for the remote.
I actually had a Harmony 880 refurb remote that lasted a good 4 or 5 years after I got it from woot.
Bought this during the last woot.
As another has said it’s easy to set up and the software is a big improvement over my logitech harmony One.
In signal delivery it actually works better than my harmony one and is more reliable on button presses.
The cellphone app is pretty good.
The bad is, the battery life is terrible, and unlike the Harmony One which gives you a lot of warning(days worth) that it needs recharge, this unit basically shuts off.
paging through screens is annoying, menus pop up from swiping left and right and up and down. it has an UNLOCK screen which is completely unnecessary, when you pick up the remote it should be ready to use with the “power on” screen open, or the dvr controls open if you’re already watching.
I’d give this thing an 8 out of 10.
For clarification for others reading, the battery life mentioned above is for your old iPhone or Android device, not for the hub, which is connected via AC power.
That said, thanks for the tip! I’m looking for the hub to be able to enable my Amazon Echo to control my entertainment devices. I’ll see if my parents want the remote, and if so I’ll buy this bundle; if not I’ll buy just the hub. 
Unlock screen can be disabled…
$179 is a steal, though I’ve never had a factory reconditioned remote but I paid somewhere around $300 for mine.
Right now I’m controlling a TV, BLURAY, BOSE SOLO 15, APPLE TV2 (1st gen works too), nest thermostats & electronic IR fireplace with the remote. Set-up is very easy to boot.
I’d consider getting another at this price for my downstairs set-up but I need to focus on the kids now :o)