Physically, the R3 is excellent. The integration and overall usability are very strong. Setup is straightforward. The remote itself, however, has some serious issues. They may be resolvable, but at present I am not sure how.
- Battery life is a well-established problem on this forum. For me, the R3 is effectively unusable without the iOS app, as the battery life of the remote is not fit for purpose. In regular use, this means using the remote for part of the day, then docking it to charge and switching to the app instead.
- The dock connection is another weak point. Reconnection is too slow and often requires toggling Wi-Fi off and on to speed things up. This has a significant impact on usability. While it may sound minor, repeatedly waiting for the connection to re-establish quickly becomes frustrating.
- The dark plastic on the dock is also too soft and scratches very easily. No functional impact but since everything else is high quality, this seems to stand out.
Overall, the R3 is close to being a true Harmony replacement, but these issues need to be resolved. Nevertheless, it is very close.