SofaBaton X1S Universal Remote with Hub and App, All in One Smart Universal Remote Control with Customize Activities, Control Up to 60 IR/Bluetooth/WiFi Devices

I am a very long time user of Logitech Harmony Remotes. And I was really bummed when they announced they left the remote control business because there is really nothing else like them for those of us with complex systems.I set up a new system and needed a remote to replace the growing stack of remotes that my wife was juggling. I found this SofaBaton X1S and I am impressed so far after a couple days of use.I will give more details, but overall, I can't find anything with this remote that I can't do, and seems to have all the same functionality as my trusty Logitech Harmony Elite.FYI: there are currently TWO product listings for this remote on Amazon, from similar named sellers, for the same price. I can't tell what is different between the two based on those product pages.DESIGN- Albeit a simple design, I really like this remote. It has the basic buttons necessary, feels good in the hand. Not premium, but definitely not cheap. It does not have any of the soft rubber material that some Logitech remotes had, which are prone to rotting and feeling sticky over time.- The LCD screen is basic, but I like it and there is some customization (renaming and re-ordering devices and activities, ability to add a few icons, etc.).- There is a rolling button (for lack of a better description) that is separate from other buttons, controls use of the remote itself (by scrolling through the screen). This is intuitive and feels solid.- The remote and the hub use USB-C which is welcome.- The hub does have a light that is quite bright, which I had to put some tape over since it's being used in a bedroom.- Comes with two USB-A to USB-C cables, but only one power brick; so you'll need a second one to charge your remote (or unplug the hub while charging the remote).- Comes with breakout IR leads, which I have not needed to use, but absolutely appreciated for situations where you might need them.- The room I am using this has a basic set of devices, but I browsed some other options, seems like a wide range of devices are supported.- You can learn remote commands for devices which are not working correctly (I had to do this with the power commands for my TV) or for legacy devices which may not be in the library.PERFORMANCE- After setting up 5 devices and 4 activities (which took about 1 hour, to include troubleshooting), I have this remote working as solidly as my other set ups using Logitech remotes with similar, or bigger setups.- I had no problems pairing via Bluetooth to a Sony TV (although I find that using IR for this TV works better, which I think is a function of Bluetooth being buggy, nothing to do with this remote)- I have not used any WiFi components (I do use Philips Hue, but have not set that up yet)- I don't use Amazon Alexa or Google Home, so I cannot comment on that functionalityVALUE- For $150 (with the current deal), not a bad deal compared to the original Logitech Harmony Elite price (I paid $250 in 2017 -- now they go for MUCH more than that)- Given this reasonable price, and seemingly able to do everything the Logitech Harmony Elite does (which is now unavailable) this seems like a great deal.CONS- I wish there was a charging cradle for the remote.- I would appreciate a second charging brick, and I would prefer the bricks were USB-C instead of USB-A since all my stuff is going full USB-C nowadays.- I wish there was a way in software to dim or turn off the light on the hub.- Syncing the hub with the remote is slow, but TBH, it's just as slow as my Logitech Harmony Elite.- I think other reviews have commented on difficulty programming the remote; from my experience, it is no less cumbersome than using any of the Logitech remotes. Which is to say that it is hard. If you are not savvy with these things, and have no patience, then you will be frustrated. But, TBH, I don't know how the interface could be any easier given how complex of a job you are asking these devices to do.- It would be a nice touch to have a colour screen, but not necessary.- You won't be able to use voice commands & searches for things like with Xfinity or Apple TV, but the Logitech remotes (and probably every one else) don't support that either.- I am not certain, and I am not sure if it makes a difference, but I "think" the hub connects directly to your phone for setup, and not through WiFi (and then to your phone), which I wonder if that might be a problem under some circumstances that I can't predict right now.- It would be nice to support Apple HomeKit.- No customizable wallpaper for the LCD screen, but this isn't really necessary.

I don’t write many reviews but I felt this product required one. This device is fantastic and a great value for the price! I previously used Control 4 to control all my video and audio devices with a single remote. Whenever there was an issue, I had to have the dealer send out a tech which was expensive and took days. I finally decided to try something I could program. I purchased this fully expecting to return it since it as so inexpensive compared to Control 4. The SofaBaton device installed in minutes. The remote took about an hour to program all the devices but it was very simple to download all the commands since they are preprogrammed in the cloud. No remote learning process required. The remote works perfectly and as advertised. The cool feature is you can program “activities” in a custom way (ie, “watch directv”) and all the devices turn on. The receiver is tucked away in a closed cabinet and works with RF or Bluetooth seamlessly. It then sends IR signals to the devices. I have a 6 port IR blaster I installed that connects IR emitters to the devices. If I had one improvement idea, it would be to put number keys on the remote. I programmed 0-9 on the remote screen instead which works fine but it’s an extra step to get to these screen numbers. Number keys on the actual remote would be an improvement. I am 100% satisfied with this product and will buy more for each tv in my home.

I got a new Google TV device that is Bluetooth controlled and my old Harmony remote can't control it so I took a chance on the SofaBaton as a replacement. After some trial and error I was able to get most of my equipment configured except that my 2 year old TCL 4k Roku TV would not turn on and off. The menus for configuring power settings are not clear so I finally contacted tech support. Turns out that they recommend setting up my TV as a TCL Roku 4k TV and not by the actual model number that I has used. The actual model number was using WiFi since the TV remote was a WiFi model. The Generic model is IR. So I re-programmed with the suggested model and still the power control was not right. I finally figured out that their model was using the wrong command as it needed to be" Power Toggle". Once removed the wrong Power On command and configured the Power Toggle, it started to work. It is not acceptable to require hours of effort to get a remote to turn a common tv on and off. Once I had the Activities configured I discovered that I had to keep modifying them as the timing for the TV was too quick depending on how long the tv had been off. Still it was mostly working. After a few hours of operation the next day I turned off the system and left for a few hours. Upon my return the same problem reappeared - TV would not turn on even though I had changed NOTHING. Using the troubleshooting tool in the APP would cause the TV to turn off and on when testing, but once completed the on/off commands on the phone virtual interface wouldn't work and the Activity commands on the remote also failed to turn on the TV. I even deleted the Activities and setup them up again, but to no avail. I am returning the product. I really wanted this to work, but it is so unstable and buggy that I am not willing to spend additional time to get it to work ( and it might never work).