When I was a kid there were two devices attached to the television in my family's living room: a VCR and a cable box. And we had a universal remote to tie it all together. These days, the amount of gear in my home theater is far greater and it's all more complicated, including a Roku, Chromecast, Nintendo Switch and a PlayStation 4 Pro, plus a Motorola-made cable box. And that's before you even get into my LG TV's apps, or the smart speakers. And yet, universal remotes haven't really kept up with the pace. Search any retailer and you're bound to be deluged with generic or no-name options, most of which can only handle three devices at best.

You've probably used a universal remote before, even if it was the primitive one that came with your cable box. Most such remotes allow you program different devices using a series of button presses, then using the buttons along the top--TV, CBL, DVD, and so on--to tell it which device you want to control at any given moment. It's easier than using multiple remotes, but it still requires a lot of button presses to perform certain actions. Think of the Logitech Harmony Elite like a "smart" remote. For $250, you get the remote, a charging cradle, and a wireless hub that can communicate with your devices over infrared, WiFi, or Bluetooth.

Logitech's Harmony division makes better universal remote controls than just about anybody. Its latest model, the $250 Harmony Express, might be its most practical, even if it's not the company's most powerful. The Harmony Express doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the company's top-of-the-line Harmony Elite ($350 MSRP), which Logitech will continue to sell. The Express doesn't have a touch-sensitive display, it doesn't have as many programmable buttons, and it can't execute complex macros that incorporate both home entertainment gear and smart home devices. The Express can do much of what the Elite can for a lot less money, and--since it has Amazon's Alexa onboard--it can do some things the Elite can't.

Logitech's popular Harmony universal remotes have long been the go-to solution for tech-savvy nerds who want to replace the bounty of ugly rectangles littering their coffee tables with a single, all-powerful option. But universal remotes are still pretty complex on their own, with dozens of buttons and, in some cases, LCD screens. You're basically swapping several remotes for something that looks like it belongs in one of NASA's Mission Control Centers. Now, there's something simpler: the Harmony Express, a compact universal remote that replaces a slew of buttons with Amazon Alexa voice controls. The $250 Express isn't meant to replace the Harmony Elite, which Logitech released back in 2015 and is still one of the best high-end universal remotes around.

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Logitech's Harmony series has come a long way and now with the Elite remote control you can do more than ever before. This universal remote not only lets you control all your media devices (from TVs to streaming media players), but it also handles a variety of smart home products. You can use the Harmony Elite to adjust your Nest thermostat or connected lighting systems, all from that well-worn spot on the couch. As if that wasn't enough, the Elite universal home control also supports Alexa. Now you can even take the remote out of the equation, by simply using your voice along with one of Amazon's smart speakers.

Logitech says it will release a new Alexa skill this week that renders its Harmony Hub-based universal remote controls (e.g., the Harmony Elite or the Harmony Companion) compatible with Amazon's Alexa digital assistant. So if you own an Amazon Echo and one of these Harmony remotes, you'll soon be able to add your entire entertainment center to the list of devices you can control with your voice. This Alexa skill wasn't available for to test at the time of this writing, but Logitech's press release indicated that Harmony Hub users would be able to choose from 270,000 devices to include in voice-activated Harmony Activities, as Logitech refers to its control scripts. In addition to TVs, set-top boxes, and A/V receivers, Logitech's Hub can also control many smart-home devices, such as smart light bulbs, motorized window shades, and even smart entry locks. Harmony Activities are essentially scripts that you define to control the devices you've previously enrolled into the remote's app.