Logitech Spotlight Advanced Presentation Remote

My "go to" remote for many years has been the Keyspan Presentation Remote Pro. Its small, works at great distances and has a load of buttons. Just as smartphones with touch screens have replaced mobile phones with rows of buttons, the Logitech Spotlight has replaced current design remotes. The internal lithium polymer battery recharges in minutes for hours of presenting. The three buttons can be customized with the included app. You can even change the volume level of a video with your wrist while its playing in a presentation. Its a big step up from previous remotes. Don't let the price be a barrier. The spotlight highlighter function is a key feature for those who present in board rooms with LCD monitors where a laser pointer won't show up. It even works flawlessly to control presentations made with an iPad by pairing the remote using Bluetooth. Its comfortable to hold with very high quality machining of the aluminum body. Recommendations for improvement: (1) allow the adjustment of the size of the spotlight highlighter to be larger (2) create an iOS app to configure this remote to work with all custom functions when presenting with an iPad. Logitech has advanced the art of presenting with this remote on multiple levels. Highly recommended. RJC

This presentation remote works so well — I honestly don’t know how I ever presented without it. The cursor control alone is a game changer. Being able to move around the screen, play videos, click links, and highlight key points without running back to my laptop makes everything feel smoother and more professional. The highlighting feature is my favorite part — instead of a shaky little laser dot, you can actually spotlight and magnify exactly what you want people to look at. It’s perfect for in-person, virtual, and hybrid presentations. The vibration timing alerts are also clutch. I program my time markers and get subtle reminders right in my hand so I know when it’s time to move on or wrap it up — without awkwardly checking the clock. It connects easily with Bluetooth or the USB receiver, works with every platform I use (PowerPoint, Google Slides, PDFs), and the battery life is solid with quick charging. Bottom line: If you present even semi-regularly, this remote instantly levels you up. It’s one of those tools that quietly makes everything look more polished and under control — even when you’re absolutely winging it on the inside. 😌

These are still uncommon enough that they can certainly add an extra bit of interest to your presentation. However, it does take a little getting used to. I've used it in a few presentations so far and am better than I was during the first presentation, but still not 100% comfortable with it. One nice thing is that when presenting on TV screens, this will actually work, unlike a laser pointer. I wish that there were different buttons for the different effects. Having to double click to switch between them is annoying, especially if you don't remember which one was last in use. Part of that getting used to it. I also miss having a visible countdown timer in my hand that I can just glance down at to see how much time I have left. I really miss that from my prior pointer. However, the ability to magnify a section of the screen is really handy in a number of my presentations, and occasionally I do present in smaller conference rooms that have TVs instead of projection screens.

This is a great remote for presenters. It has three modes: highlight, magnify, and pointer. The highlight mode is spectacular and allows the presenter to have the audience focus on a highlighted circular region of their slide with a darker mask over the balance of the slide. Similarly, the magnify option zooms on a circular region. The pointer mode has been updated to allow for selectable color pointers. Logitech recommends using two of the three modes for a presentation and this is very good advice. I also recommend practicing a few times before your first presentation and adjusting the size of the figures, text, and the Spotlight pointers to give the best fit with the different modes. Spotlight and the Logitech Presentation software worked well on my MacBook Pro (mid 2014). until Apple released the macOS High Sierra supplemental update. The presentation software does not run after the update and now the only functions of the Spotlight are to advance one slide or go back one slide. Effectively it became a very elegant set of arrow keys. It was very difficult to deal with the Logitech customer support. Their phone system is terrible and suffers from very poor audio connections. Register the device and then use the online chat for product support. After a very long wait (45 minutes) and then another 20 minutes of chat exchanges, I was asked to upload a system report to Logitech. Miraculously the next day a new software version (1.30.60) appeared on their website and the Logitech Spotlight and Presentation software are again working flawlessly on my MacBook Pro. It is a five star product with poor direct customer support, but the software team is great. The good... Great remote for presentations Bluetooth connectivity provides fantastic range between presenter and the computer Presentation effects have great impact. The Spotlight feature is fantastic, Software updates have made the "pointer" customizable Superior to the other Logitech multi-button pointers The bad... Product support is sketchy and extremely slow

One analogy to sum it up: The R800 is to PowerPoint what the Spotlight is to Prezi. - For a well organized presentation with more figures than text spotlight can be an improvement - There is no question it is more fancy and flashy - For text and details it feels like technology for technology's sake, and the benefit is lost I wanted to love this remote. For the right context, this is perfection. It is sleek, elegant, great battery life, gives the most intuitive digital pointing experience you could imagine. If I was giving general talks with more figures than text this would be perfection (and I may still keep it for the times I do that kind of talk). That said, let me explain why this is not for me, and may not be for you. Context: I am a chemistry professor and live by my Logitech clicker with green laser pointer (R800). I can be anywhere in the room, and at even the most extreme angle or distance point out a word, or even a single atom in a molecule, circling it or underlining it with my laser. This precision helps me keep my students' attention on the right aspects, and there is enough technology (slide forward/backward/ blank screen) to increase the quality of presentation without being too much technology as to be glitchy. My Presentation Style: I believe in a strong balance when making slides. I want text to explain concepts, but believe in short bullets wherever possible. I try to add images and figures to clarify rather than lengthy text. I believe in using fades because I don't want no transition that would be jumpy, but avoid any more flashy animations unless they serve a specific purpose (fly ins and paths are used sparingly to illustrate concepts, not look fancy). My biggest problem with Spotlight: I wanted to love this device, but it has its limits. There is a digital laser pointer, but it can never be as intuitive as a regular laser pointer, and frankly if that is all you're going to use it for buy the R800 - it's perfect for what it is. If you want to switch between it and spotlight though it's a double tap that I have found works inconsistently, sometimes mistaking my double tap for a click and advancing the slide. Then there is the spotlight and zoom features themselves - they seem like nice features, but I quickly found they were less precise and useful than my trusty laser. I had hoped that maybe the zoom could occasionally replace me using the zoom within PowerPoint, but it was not quite right for the application. Additionally, if you speak more beside a screen than in front of it control is even less intuitive. The huge issue though is that unless what you are drawing attention to is large and roughly round or at least square the more polished look sacrifices significant clarity. If you like to emphasize single words or small parts of figures with your laser look elsewhere. I have considered that I can bake in some animated arrows and bold text to accomplish this, allowing for more free use of the spotlight, but this reduces my flexibility in presentation order and speed so I'm not sure it's worth the tradeoff. Limited Positions: I alluded to this in the last part, but just to be clear - you need to be in front of your screen for this to be practical. I typically teach in classrooms lecture halls, and am lucky if my lectern is a few feet in front of the projector. If you are in a board room or a place you can wander further in front of the screen this would be amazing, but being at an extreme angle the interface feels very award and is not practical. My more minor problem: While the presenter is sleek and smooth (I like the material better than the R800) it also feels slick and I fear it feels like it could slip out of my hand. I have had issues where I was so animated while taking that the very grippy R800 has flown from my hand on multiple occasions. That will be far more likely to happen with this presenter as it has zero contour, and the only bit to grip it by would be the button, so it may not be perfect for the highly animated individual An unexpected benefit: This is not a laser. Some rooms I use have multiple screens, or even TVs, where a laser is on one screen at best, or unusable at worst. This device overcomes every one of those problems, and is another reason I'll probably be keeping this even though it is unlikely to be come my daily workhorse. Conclusion: This is a beautiful and elegant device that does what it set out to do better than anything else on the market. If you have a good use case for it you will love it. BUT you must be able to stand significantly in front of your screen, and want to do more general circling of large icons and areas than precision underlining and identification of individual words and image details. I think I will be keeping mine in the end, but it will be used alongside my reliable R800, and for those general talks it will make me look more polished, but it will stay in my bag for my information heavy lectures where a precise laser pointer is a must.

I just picked one up to teach some classes that rely on PowerPoint presentations and I’m very impressed with the Logitech Spotlight — I actually bought a second one as a gift for my training counselor. I was originally looking for a presenter with a laser, but the added functionality of a digital presenter outweigh a laser’s ability to work with non-screen mediums. I haven’t had any issues with the device or software. One of the more popular reviews indicates that the software doesn’t work well with a wireless projector — I’m using a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter with my Logitech Spotlight, and while there is some lag, it is a very usable setup and I love not needing another wire plugged into my laptop. Since I prefer not having wires and dongles, I am using Bluetooth to connect to the Spotlight, which hasn’t had any range or responsiveness issues. I wish there was better, printed Getting Started documentation. One thing that will likely confuse new users is that there is no ON/OFF switch or button combination. Also, the buttons could be softer and quieter — they make a clicking sound that is very noticeable in a small room. On the software side, I wish the “laser pointer” emulation had an option for a solid shape instead of a colored outline, a dot would be easier to pick up by the audience. The magnifier has exceeded my expectations by rendering higher quality details than I thought it would, I expected a blockier magnification. I’m torn about the usefulness of the included soft case. It only accommodates the Spotlight itself and not the charging cable, if you try to stuff the cable in there as well you will undoubtedly scratch the finish of the presenter. Since a full charge is expected to last several months you shouldn’t need the cable often, but if you separate the two you will eventually misplace the cable or not have it when you really need it (the recessed nature of the USB-C port on the Spotlight makes it difficult to use a standard cable for charging).

I was hesitant to spend this much on a remote for my classroom. However, I am so glad that I did! This remote is a game-changer for teaching! I love the features available during a video! I can stop/start a video from the back of the room! I can change the volume if I want to talk over the video, etc. During a google slide presentation, I can click on links and highlight what I want students to focus on! All my teacher friends have one and agree that it's the only remote for us! It makes us look so techie to the students, too! (middle school) They are wowed every time I use the spotlight feature! The battery life is great too! It lasts all day and is easy to charge!

Excelente

¡Este presentador es realmente excelente! Lo amé, seré docente y con esta herramienta captaré de mejor manera la atención de mis alumnos. Recomendado al mil 🤙🏻🤙🏻🤙🏻

Muito bom mesmo, o melhor. Que já comprei.

Worked perfectly with keynote presentation

When one is using LED displays, or is presenting in well lit room or presenting to a large audience, the laser pointers are not a great pointer to use. With the Logitech spotlight, one can present effectively on any screen and it is very easy to do. Now a days with the Video meetings and webinar, this is excellent tool as it comes with the ppt so you have no problem in changing the slide as well as pointing the attention to a particular place. It is very easy to use and the battery life is very long. It also has possibility to time the talk too. A great buy.

Es muy práctico y versátil, para mi caso fue un buena elección.