SofaBaton X1 Universal Remote Control with Hub, All in one Remote with Smart APP Setting, One-Touch Activities,Control 60+ Devices, Compatible Alexa & Google Assistant for Voice Control

Update: Ignore everything below. They fixed all the issues and the remote is flawless now! I appreciate them listening to my issues and actually fixing them. Their support team is incredible! Old Review, not applicable anymore: The app is an absolute disaster to use on Android. I had to restart my phone at least 5 times due to the app not loading correctly. Setting up activities takes a lot of patience and manual changes to get things to work. Remote won't directly change inputs on my Yamaha due to the remote not having that. My Harmony that my dog chewed up knew the receiver could quickly switch by directly changing. Remote doesn't know how to tell when my Samsung TV is completely on. Luckily, I don't change the input very often at all. Volume doesn't continually go up/down when held. I complained a lot there, but after I got it up and running it is pretty solid minus the flaws mentioned. It is a huge upgrade from having to use multiple remotes or my phone since my dog thought the Harmony remote would be a good chew toy. I definitely prefer the Harmony, but see the potential of this company giving us a solution well into the future.

I rarely write reviews, but this device is so bad, I feel compelled to warn others. Don't only read my review, though, check out similar comments, as well as the X1's low 3.5 star rating. Hopefully, you've filtered only to find 4+ stars here at Amazon. Lucky you will then neither have to read my lengthy review nor suffer through the experience that is Sofabaton. First, there are basically no instructions. That's fine, I'm into this type of thing, good with computers, I'll figure it out. Like other half baked junk these days, the app is only on the phone. I'd prefer it on the computer for a setup tool like this, but maybe others like tiny screens and limited options. My biggest complaint is that the commands don't work consistently with my preamp. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. My preamp works fine with the factory remote, the Harmony 890 blaster, and my nVidia shield remote. No problems, basically 100% of the time. But the X1 fails frequently (let's say it's a 30% failure rate on volume up/down -- totally unacceptable). I've spent hours and hours trying to figure this out to no avail. I even removed IR LEDs from a working Harmony blaster and installed them in the X1 to see if they were just using cheap parts. Yes, I have taken an extreme effort. You can guess at their codes in the database, you can learn from the original remote, you can add "repeats", etc. Doesn't make any difference. Note: all the options they give you are not described -- what are "repeats" exactly? What difference codes are you selecting when you go through the list? They just ask if it worked. They are totally guessing. Almost as annoying as it being unable to consistently control my devices is this: When you create an "Activity" and you assign commands to the soft menus on the screen, you cannot reorder them once they are in place. You can also not delete them. You have to delete the entire activity and start over. So, if you had a whole system set up and you bought a new TV, you could not simply change the TV model and reassign buttons -- you'd have to start all over. This makes no sense, of course. I and others have repeatedly asked for them to fix this, and they say they will review the request. Um, this would be one of the first things I would do if this were my project (from the start, not after probably hundreds of customer requests). The database of IR codes is a total disaster. Some commands are missing, some are oddly named, and some do the wrong thing. I suppose you could consider this some type of challenge -- like a Sudoku or a crossword -- to keep your mind active, but I just find it a pain in the backside. Between the oddball codes and the inability to reorganize the menus once they are in place, I was discouraged from creating an elaborate setup in the soft menus. If you do attempt to work with this device, I suggest setting up the *absolute* minimum until you're sure it'll work for you. If you try to set it up as you really want, you'll be met with frustration. Sometimes the hub and/or the handset will drop the connection. I don't know exactly which connection is lost, but power cycling it will fix it. Let's just say that this isn't particularly popular with my wife and kids. I'm sure there are more negative points, but I can't remember them all! Check out the negative reviews from others to get a feel. And check out the "community" section at the Sofabaton X1 website. You can see the endless complaints, along with Sofabaton's responses, which are usually a regurgitation of some type of "sorry for the inconvenience" nonsense. The external hardware and the packaging are impressive, though I have read complaints of early failures on some of the buttons. However, the app, the firmware, the electronics and the IR databases are what I would expect of a year-long graduate level four-person group project. Very, very impressive for a handful of kids that have no real work experience. But it's not ready for primetime and I'd say it would take another year or more of development with a team of real engineers for it to be at the point that it's for sale at Amazon for $189. Please, give yourself an early birthday present this year and DO NOT PURCHASE this piece of junk! Extra points if your birthday is actually TODAY!

After my Harmony Hub started giving me issues and these are no longer available, I was forced to start looking for a decent alternative. I would rate the Harmony as a 3.5. It was functional when it worked, but it was glitchy and I had to reset the hub every couple of weeks. If this happened when I was gone, my wife would be ticked off. I first looked at the U2 but quickly decided that I still needed a hub with IR extenders to effectively operate my equipment in semi-enclosed cabinets. Also, I needed BT for the Apple TV. I was aware of the previous mediocre reviews for the X1, but hoped that the newest version had worked out many of the early kinks out. If it did not work, it would be quickly returned. Positives: Activity button functions allow quick control of multiple devices. Backlighting is a big improvement over Harmony. Macros (once set up) allow easy changing among favorite channels with function wheel. Comprehensive along device database Negatives: Physical layout of buttons at lower half of remote makes it difficult to change channels or volume. App based interface needs to be re-worked to mirror Harmony's ease. Remote is slippery as hell. I had to order a silicone case. Current Unknowns: Long term stability of the Hub. To start, the setup was nowhere near as clear and easy as the Harmony Hub. In fact, if you do not have experience setting up old-school universal remotes, you are going to have an uphill battle. Unlike the Harmony which used an interactive questioning approach to determine how the remote needed to be coded, the X1 questions on issues such as power commands and source switching are less than clear. Plus, the total lack of in-box instructions is abysmal. To be fair, I did not look at the online tutorial video as I knew enough about creating macros for advanced functions to muddle through. The app for the setup process was pretty straight forward but could have better development for less experienced users. There is no way my less tech oriented friends and family members would get much of functional capabilities programed into this without professional help. At one point, I had a glitch in the startup where I think I confused the hub by pressing too many buttons too fast. I thought it was frozen, but one of the IR extenders simply moved and did not send the signal properly. My fault. I could not get the hub to respond and had to contact customer service for instructions on how to reset it. Once I did this, and reconnected to my wifi, everything worked perfectly. Customer service was easy to work with by chat during normal business hours. I have set up three activities: Watch Cable TV, Watch Apple TV and Stream Music. The online database had each of my four components, including my Anthem MRX720, AVR which never made it onto Harmony's database. However, the database lacked commands for the AVR's Zone 2 power and input. Hopefully an update??? For Watch TV, I was able to program (as macros) click through menu items for about 10 of our favorite tv channels. This is important because the lack of physical number buttons makes it difficult to switch across a wide range channels without multiple key presses through a channel guide. I was also able to assign macros to each of the right two colored buttons at the bottom of the remote to toggle between my tv inputs (HDMI 1 & 3 as well as between my two AVR inputs. I did this just in case a switch command at startup fails to register and one device gets stuck on the wrong input. This was a frequent occurrence with the Harmony. However, after I finally figured out the correct input switching protocol for each device (the LG OLED tv was the most complex), I have not had one instance of incomplete input settings on startup even with dozens of test commands. Very happy about this!!! My Watch Apple TV function was much easier once I figured out the start up power settings for this. I can either leave the Apple TV powered on or have it turn off when not in use. I am still testing the power off function to see if it is stable long term. If not, I will go back to the always on option. The Music function was very simple as I usually just stream Spotify or Pandora from my iPad to my Anthem AVR. With a few more clicks, I can play through Apple tv as well. Overall, I would give this product 4.5 stars if I could. I must say that the overall day to day functional use surpasses that of the Harmony by quite a bit. However, it gets dinged one star for the underwhelming setup functions. If the hub turns out to be more stable than the Harmony Hub, it will be a winner.

I have used this for months and there are some serious problems with this remote. Programming takes a bit to get used to. Macros tend to send some signals too fast, so adding a small delay between commands is necessary. The remote rends to lose connection to the base station periodically, which means it needs to be re-paired and re-synced with the base station. The scroll wheel doesn't work properly. I have had it freeze or when scrolling one direction, the menu will move the opposite direction. The remote has no numbers! I didn't realize this when I bought it. This is a huge inconvenience when you know exactly what channel you want, but have to flip up/down through the channels to get there. To help get around this issue, I added macros for the most common channels. It's still a pain. I will say the range of the remote is good. It works over RF to the base station, which sends out RF signals. It also comes with RF signal extenders, which may be necessary for RF reception, depending on where the base station is. Nice thing is equipment can be hidden behind a cabinet. The U2 probably would have been a better choice. I miss my old URC. Unfortunately, I lost access to their programming software (only available to pro installation companies), so I'm stuck with the low end consumer garbage.

I want to like this remote. Apparently, this is the upgrade from Harmony remotes, which is what I have. the main thing I don't like about this remote is that, unlike harmony remotes, this remote doesn't detect if your equipment is already on or not. So if you are watching TV and want to switch to a movie, your remote assumes everything is shut off so it will ultimately turn off equipment that is on. To avoid this you'll have to turn everything off before switching to a new activity. If harmony can do it, they can do it..... Figure it out. It also has these infrared wires that need to go in front of equipment to get the signal out. The Harmony has one that connects to the hub and just goes in a central location and yet reaches all the equipment without having to spread out extra wires. They are both programmable on the app and easy to learn from the original remotes. They both also work with alexa except for this brand you have to say, "Alexa, ask sofabaton to turn on TV." With harmony you just ask ask to turn on the TV. This took me awhile to figure out. Didn't see this on the manual. Also had a hell of a time figuring how to pair the remote to the hub. If you go to settings on the remote and go to sync, it would say, "lost hub." I found in settings in the app there was a feature to unpair the remote and repair, which worked. Overall, it's nice just missing some key features.

Disclaimer: This replaces your Harmony remote. No, I was not paid by anybody, nor did I receive a free remote or anything else for this review. I’m just thankful that somebody has filled the post Harmony void. _______________________________________________ If you have grown up with learning remotes and are equally disappointed with Logitech's dissolution of their Harmony version of remotes, pay close attention. In a short period of time, Sofabaton (what a silly name) has somehow leapfrogged somewhere around 80% of the way to where Phillips, Harmon/Kardon, Home Theater Master, Harmony, and Logitech perfected this technology in about 30 years. This company is on the right track for this niche community that doesn't want to pay a "professional" to program their ProControl remote every time they swap out a DVD player, receiver, or projector. Kudos Sofabaton. From a hardware perspective, the X1 button layout is very similar to an Amazon FireStick remote. Our family likes this, as we previously bought into the Amazon ecosystem/interface. If you haven’t done that, it’s user friendly. The remote itself feels cheaper than a Harmony remote, but from a functional perspective, that does not matter. Nobody who designed the dashboard on a BMW designed the feel of this remote. It's smooth, lightweight, and lacks the feel of a high end remote like Logitech's last line of remotes. While it has a screen, it's not touchscreen like the Harmony Elite. The general idea of this remote "feels" EXACTLY like a Harmony remote with a hub, and blasters/emitters. While Sofabaton claims a huge number of devices are in their database, be prepared to teach it IR commands. My receiver (Harman Kardon) and Blu-Ray player (Panasonic) weren’t in their database. While pointing my original remotes toward the hub, the hub learned impeccably without a hiccup very quickly with each button press. Button 1, learned. Button 2, learned. Button 3, learned. On and on until 50 or so buttons were learned without any problem whatsoever. Score Sofabaton. There’s an order of operations. Basically, it’s as follows (this is important because I messed up on step #3): 1. Define devices (receivers, TV, Roku/Fire Stick, etc.) 2. Learn device commands for devices not in their database (the IR “teach” phase) 3. Assign learned device commands to device buttons (it took me a while to figure this out, but this is super important or your activities won’t know the device commands) 4. Create activities 5. Assign devices to activities The app is good, but achieving the above steps takes patience. The Chinese to English translation is less than ideal (read this two times). If you have the patience to teach remotes IR commands and figure out how to assign buttons to devices and activities, you will not be disappointed. On a side note, the Harmony blasters/emitters have 2.5 mm aux input jacks. If you are looking for an adapter to convert those blaster/emitters to work with the 3.5 mm Sofabaton input jacks, these worked for me. They were a tight fit, but they worked. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDW8PDQ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 Good luck!

August 31, 2022: So much promise, so much disappointment. This should be the perfect remote: able to control multiple components via wifi, BT, RF and IR. Activity based and macro programmable so it can control any system. Elegant packaging with good hand feel and logical button layout. But in the end it just doesn't work. I spent about 20 hours trying to get it to work - I shouldn't have spent the time but I wanted it to work and I was confident I could get it to work. I was wrong. I have over 20 years experience working with universal remotes for both my customers and my own use: setting up macros, defining activities, teaching commands. I tried all of these things with the Sofa Baton and in the end had to admit defeat. I searched for help online and found none. During troubleshooting, the app would lose contact with the hub and I'd be left holding a brick while the app spun and spun, looking for a hub that was 3 feet away. I uninstalled and reinstalled the app; I restarted the remote and hub; I deleted all the programming and started over; I double checked (again) that the firmware had been updated. In the end I was able to get most of the individual commands to work for a while but inevitably their function was limited to occasional success only. And the activities (strings of specific commands to various components to start or stop certain functions) only worked maybe 20% of the time rendering the X1 essentially useless. Very disappointing. There is so much promise with the X1, I hope Sofa Baton gets their act together. I hope they set up a real support section on their website. (As of August 31, 2022, the website still says the X1 is coming March 2022 and there is no X1 support page.) I hope they upgrade their app so it is logical and usable with consistency from one window to the next. Is it too much to hope that they allow learned commands for all components, not just some? (See below.) If this was a $40 remote, I could forgive all these shortcomings but it is a $200 remote which makes these shortcomings fatal. I spent 3 weeks tinkering with the X1 and then returned it. I read some conflicting reviews prior to purchasing the X1 regarding control of Sonos speakers. My answer is yes, the X1 is capable of controlling a Sonos Soundbar (I didn't try it with other Sonos components). However, I had to create a workaround to make it happen. When I set up the X1 for the Sonos Soundbar, Sofa Baton provided 30 or 40 pre-programmed commands for the Soundbar which did not include MUTE, Vol UP or Vol DOWN - all of which, IMHO, are relatively important for controlling a sound source. When I navigated to the Sonos command list, editing the list was not allowed. So I went to the Samsung TV command list (which I was allowed to edit) and added these three commands via the learning function, then went to the Fire TV activity and designated these 3 commands as sound control using the TV component. This worked, except when it didn't because the X1 was busy looking for the hub. One other note. I was really surprised that included in a $200 remote control were 3 IR blasters that had OPAQUE 2-sided tape attached to them. This seems like such a no-brainer to me. You have a component (IR blaster) which needs to transmit light in order to work and one entire face of the blaster is covered with tape which blocks light! ALL of the other IR blasters I've used over the past 20 years have had clear 2-sided tape on them so you peel off the backing and stick the blaster right on to the IR receiver window, easy peasy. This is not an option for the Sofa Baton blasters. Such a small thing yet such a difference. Sofa Baton: I'm sorry for such a terrible review. Maybe I'll try the X1 in 6 months or so to see if you've cleared up some of these glitches. If so, I'll update this review.

I bought the SofaBaton X1 Universal Remote Control a month ago, as it is the only universal remote that I have seen that could possibly control all five of my devices. I have a fairly simple set up with somewhat older devices. All devices are controlled by Infrared (IR). The hub is across the room facing all my devices. --Panasonic Viera TC-P50ST60 television --Bose TV Speaker --TiVo Premiere Series 4, Model # TCD75050 --Panasonic DMP-BD89 Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player --Roku Premiere+, Model 4630X At first it seemed like it would be a breeze to set up. The SofaBaton database contained all my devices. But the remote/setup kept failing when going from one activity to another, and sometimes it would not start the correct activity, or turn everything off correctly. After a week or so of working on it when I had the time, I finally was ready to give up in frustration. However, before doing that I emailed the SofaBaton support team. I was surprised to receive a fairly quick and very detailed response including things to try and helpful screen shots from the app. After following their instructions, and then a few extra tweaks based on their suggestions, everything now is working perfectly. And my spouse and I are very happy with the remote. STRENGTHS: Once set up, the remote is very easy to use and works perfectly for me and my setup. Setting up each device was logical and simple using the Android app (in my case). WEAKNESSES: (1) The remote is a bit awkward to hold and use one-handed. When doing some actions I really need to look at the remote and use two hands. This may become easier over time, though. (2) There is no help function (such as I had with a Harmony remote). If something does go wrong (such as someone walking in front of the hub as it is sending signals) it would be great to have the device help me out, without having to go into “devices” mode and finding the command to fix my problem. (3) With so few buttons on the remote, I cannot program all the extra little keys that are on my original remotes. (4) As described above, I was unable to set up all activities (watch TiVo, watch DVD, or watch Roku streaming) without detailed assistance from the SofaBaton service team. But with their assistance I was able to solve my problems. (5) There is no dock to set it on, so you have to watch the battery or just charge it once a week or on some other schedule. (6) As far as I can tell, there is no way to backup your current set up or transfer the settings to a new SofaBaton. My workaround is to take screenshots of each activity setup, and keep those. Just in case. All in all, this is a great little remote that is now working exactly as I hoped. So yes, I definitely recommend it based on my devices and experience.

i realy like this remote and the hub has many useful features and easy to set up and use

Fácil de configurar con la app y demasiado intuitivo para usar. Solo útil para controlar equipos de marcas comerciales.