SofaBaton X1 Universal Remote with Hub & APP, All in One Universal Remote Control for up to 60+ Devices TVs/DVDs/Soundbars/Streaming Boxs etc, Smart Remote Control with Activities

The media could not be loaded. Edit 2/23: the scroll wheel on the remote has stopped working and will phantom scroll up when scrolling down. I really wanted to like this product given Logitech’s discontinuation of their Harmony products but this is not a viable solution in any way as they haven’t updated much of their app or controls for it and the remote itself is now defective.Original review: I’ve been waiting a while to review this as I wanted to give this remote a chance and while it does technically work… it has a ton of issues.I want to preface this by saying I have a Logitech setup for a different TV in another part of the house so I’m comparing it to that.The good:-USB-C charging.-Long battery life. (About 1 month before charging again)-Available (Harmony devices are discontinued)-Somewhat inexpensive (compared to Harmony)-Clean remote/hub design (no huge logos, simple look)The bad…The Remote:-While the LCD screen has decent-ish resolution, it wouldn’t kill them to have included something that was slightly better so as to not see individual pixels.-LCD screens inherently need a fully backlit display and an OLED panel would make it look much better/not be as bright at night when using it.-my unit had some quality issues as some of the backlit buttons on the remote let excess light bleed out of the corner of the button as if it were scratched/not painted over properly.-The font they’ve used for the screen makes this look like someone programmed this in their basement. They could’ve used Times New Roman and it would’ve looked better than the font they chose. Anything else would’ve looked better.-This is me being super picky and not necessary at all but a simple little remote stand would’ve been a nice addition to something that costs over $150 so you could have it docked neatly someplace like the Harmony elite remotes had. Doesn’t need it as the battery life is long but still…-the back button for navigating the screen menus is on the top right of the remote which means you have to adjust your grip anytime you need to move around menus. SUPER inconvenient. The scroll wheel could’ve had left and right navigations to solve that problem but all it does is confirm a selection and go up and down the menus.-some remote commands like holding a button down sometime mean a different function on a TV/device but this remote doesn’t work like that for some devices it’s paired to or the “activity” it’s set in. It works if you control an Apple TV from the individual device menu directly (holding okay vs pressing it down once) but if that same device is in an activity, holding the button down won’t do what it’s supposed to. Really odd. For other devices it just doesn’t work at all. It just sends the command to the device once repeatedly rather than continuously holding the command signal. In some instances it may mean you have to click a button a million times for it to get where you want (brightness slider for example).-quick successive button presses confuses the remote/hub. If I’m quickly going through menus or shows (like up-down-right-right) it will either completely ignore the commands in between others or repeat the same command twice so you have to go pretty slow so it doesn’t go crazy. This isn’t the worst thing in the world but it means it takes it that much longer to do what you want.-the off button ONLY works if you’re in an activity with set devices you’ve selected so that “the power state is preserved” for the hub… but with some of the issues with activities/devices, it tends to be easier to just control devices individually. This then means you have to individually turn off each device from the menus as opposed to just using the off button that’s literally right there. Not sure why they couldn’t make it so that power state could be preserved by you just clicking the off button again if something didn’t turn off… or literally anything else.The hub/app:-the app has a clean interface but it is infuriatingly slow to work with and not as easy as it should be.-limited access to Wi-Fi/Bluetooth devices. The list is very short for both of them and there isn’t an option to add your own or a way to incorporate them into a 3rd party system to save you some time. For example this could be used as a smart switch controller in a smarthome app/ecosystem that could be assigned to control multiple smart home devices. But it can’t do that. Right now it only has SONOS, Phillips Hue, and Roku set for Wi-Fi devices and just a handful more for BT.-The IR range isn’t nearly as good as the Harmony devices. You can add some blasters to the device to aid with that but it would be a lot simpler if the ones built into the hub were better.-some of the preset device codes they have are not as accurate as they should be. It includes commands for buttons on your original remote that don’t exist/don’t work.-reordering the list of commands for a device in the app takes AGES. This is directly related to the list of commands you see when you go through them for individual devices on the remote.So for example if the HDMI commands are at the bottom of the list and you need to switch. You have the click on the device (to tell the remote you want to control it). Then click on it again to bring up the command list and then scroll ALLLLL the way down or up to get what you want.To fix this you have to go to the app, open the device settings, edit commands, then you have to find the command for the device you want to move, then drag it all the way to the top(or bottom) of the list and then wait for it to sync the list with the remote. You can imagine how long this would take if you needed to move 10 buttons from a list of 30+ commands. It would be A LOT easier if it just waited till after you were done reordering to then sync with the remote so reordering was faster or select multiple commands to rearrange in the list.OR they could make it so you had folders for commands because as of right now everything from the numbers to the playback controls and the power controls and the volume and the hdmi inputs and smart buttons… are ALL in that same list on the remote. Most of which are redundant as they are set to the physical buttons already on the remote itself.Speaking of which… I know most people don’t really use the keypad on remotes anymore but… they could’ve been used so that they could have been programmed to do other things/commands like you can on the Harmony remote.Another way to alleviate this issue would’ve have been to make the display on the remote a touch screen and added pages to navigate between similar command groups.-but by far the MOST annoying thing is having to set up macro keys for activities. I’ve basically given up on using activities on the remote for this reason alone as the amount of time it would take me to set up a few fairly simple commands would probably take me 2 hours. And if you mess up on setting up a macro key? oh boy. Good luck. It takes it a century to load the list again and allow you to change/tweak it.TLDR: Overall this is probably still the best solution for a semi-complicated AV setup in your home as Harmony devices are discontinued and to be fair to this device, Harmony wasn’t perfect either, it also had a ton of issues. However, this comparatively is just a little more cumbersome to deal with. It has some things that are better and others worse, but it’s okay. It still does the job. I just wish it had more accurate device commands, a more intuitive remote and better UI to make the setup process move quicker.

I was looking for a replacement for my old Logitech remote, which is starting to fall apart. Despite some bad reviews, I ordered the Sofabaton X1 since I couldn't find any viable alternatives.The hub setup and firmware update went without a hitch. After using the remote for several weeks now, I am pleasantly surprised as it works (almost) flawlessly. It took me a while to get comfortable with all the configuration options, but now I can control my 8 devices, such as the Denon X6700 amplifier, Samsung UHD TV, and Himedia Media Player, and have several activities set up. Adding a few missing commands here and there by learning from the original remote or from the Logitech remote is easy enough.All my devices are controlled via IR mode, so I can't say anything about the performance with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi controlled devices and Voice Control.I live in Germany, so here is some location specific information:o Ordering and delivery: since the remote is only available from Amazon.com, you have to add about US$55 for shipping to Germany and import fees, which makes it even more expensive than it already is. I hope that Sofabaton will eventually offer its products internationally. Delivery from the US worked out fine with UPS, took about a week.+ German environment: I use an old 220V Samsung cell phone charger as a power source for the hub, which works fine. The connection to my FritzBox 4040 router is stable. I can even use the 2.4G network for the hub and the 5G network with my Android phone running the app without any problems.Hardware:+ The remote is lightweight and looks good, and the buttons feel solid. Hardware design is always a compromise and a matter of taste, e.g. touchscreen and illumination of all buttons vs. battery life or number of buttons vs. overall size. I quickly got used to the design and don't miss anything. More buttons can be confusing when you have to remember the purpose of all the buttons when using different devices and activities, so I prefer to use the screen for rarely used functions.o A motion controlled wake up function would be nice to have.+ I placed the hub on one of the rear speakers and it works much more reliably than my old IR handheld remote, even in daylight. The delay time when pressing a button is very short.o The remote can be charged with any USB-C phone charger. However, if at some point the built-in battery wears out you will have the same problem as with most phones. Since you rarely need to charge the remote, the battery will hopefully last a long time.Software:+ After getting familiar with the basics, setting up the buttons and menu options in the app is quick and more or less intuitive, though it takes quite a while if you have more than a few devices and need multiple activities, but I guess that's inevitable. However, if you don't enjoy playing around with technology, you would be better off buying a simple and much cheaper universal remote control, which of course cannot be configured as individually and offers less comfort when the job is done.+ One can rename the commands of the devices so that similar commands of different devices can be distinguished in the activities.- Unfortunately, one cannot sort the entries in the activities menu, this should be added.- In the app, the next/FF and prev/rewind buttons are interchanged when configuring activities. I hope this will get fixed soon.o The search for devices in the setup should be improved (dropdown list of devices like in the list of brand names).- There is no way to save the configuration externally. If the hub should break, the whole configuration has to be done again manually.The device hasn't been on the market long and needs minor improvements to the software, but it works. It also took Logitech years to get everyone happy. Support seems to be good and the developers provide regular updates, so hopefully the small shortcomings will be fixed soon. But since everything I need already works and it's fun to use, 5 stars from me.I would buy the X1 again.

This is a frustrating remote. It was a pain to sink with our devices right from the start. It isn’t user friendly, and has a noticeable delay while using. About every couple weeks, it stops communicating/controlling everything and we have to unplug the base to reset it. I do not recommend this product at all.

Soooo close to being a Harmony Remote replacement. The biggest issue is the lack of a number pad. So easily addressed with a redesign, maybe the X2???Pros:Easily programmable via the app.IR blasters work great! Worth the setup time.Excellent library for code, at least for me!Cons:Lack of light up keys when lifting the remote.There is no way to slow down the “clicks” of the remote resulting in multiple “clicks” on devices.Lack of number keypad.Final thoughts:Adding a number pad and the ability to slow the “clicks” would make this a 100% Harmony remote replacement. It’s 99.5% the way there! I’m look forward to the X2 (or the successor to this remote with a number pad.). So close!

Randomly won't connect to nvidia shield, scroll button barely works any more.