SofaBaton X1 Universal Remote with Hub, All in one Smart Remote Control with App Setting, Custom Activities, Compatible with 500000+ IR/Bluetooth/WiFi Devices TVs/DVDs/Projectors/Blu-ray Player

The remote has been less than a year and I had multiple issues which was sent to the support team but no helpful. Lastly, the remote stopped working and not powering on at all

2nd update: My hub has now, again, lost its connection to my network, which means that if I need to make any changes to my setup, or want to use the app in any way, I have to go through setup FROM SCRATCH. There is no way to save or re-apply my existing setup, or recover from this scenario. I’m appalled at the software side of this solution. I have downgraded my review to 1 star. Update: After I wrote this review, Sofabaton reached out through the marketplace apologizing and asking me to contact customer service to resolve my issues. The problem with this is that I *have* contacted customer service for each issue I brought up, and they are are still unresolved and/or continue to be unsupported in the interface. I'm glad they are responsive, but ultimately they are completely unhelpful. Like many others, I’ve been searching for a replacement for my Harmony One remote. I’ve had two of these for about a year now, and have a pretty good sense of their quirks. I've been customizing smart remotes for over 25 years (starting with the Philips Pronto). The hardware itself is nice; that's the only reason this gets 2 stars. It feels solid and good build construction. It feels good in your hand. Battery life isn’t quite as good as they implied, but I probably only need to charge it once a month or so, unlike my Harmony which needed charging every couple of days. The software, however, is still rather poor, and it drags down the utility of this product. Here are some of the major pain points: - As of 2024, you still cannot edit the devices in an activity. This means if you get a new piece of equipment, you have to recreate the activity from scratch. This is not a quick process, as every device you add to an activity requires downloading its configuration, and that takes a really long time. If you get a new device that’s central to your usage (such as a new TV), this means you have to basically redo the setup for the entire hub, hopefully remembering where you customized it. This is unacceptable for a product in this price range, and that it has still not been prioritized by developers is disappointing. - At least once a week the remote will lose its connection to the hub, often while it is actively being used. The solution is to press the button on the back of the hub, but it means getting up and walking over to it. It’s especially annoying if it disconnects while you’re fast forwarding, so you better be quick about fixing it! I interacted with their support team for months and despite multiple debugging builds, they still have not solved the problem. - Despite saying that it will control a PS/5, it will not effectively. You can move around in menus, but there is no play/pause/skip functionality when watching movies, which is arguably the most important usage. Support confirmed this is still not working. - Using the IR and button database for setting up components is guesswork and confusing. The labels are sometimes nonsensical and there are multiple entries with the same name. With a large database, this seems par for the course, but I didn’t have such a confusing time with Harmony’s database for the exact same hardware. - If your hub loses connection to your wireless network (which mine did), the only way to fix it is to go through the first-run setup process, which loses your entire configuration, and you’re starting from scratch. - The remote will regularly reboot itself, which can be distracting in a dark room as the screen flashes back on. Sometimes it will not remember which activity was selected and it must be reselected to get anything to work. Again, this is during active use, so buttons just stop working until you realize what’s gone on and re-select. - When used with an AppleTV, the hub will occasionally disconnect from the AppleTV and reconnect after about 15 seconds. Again, hope you aren’t fast-forwarding while it does this. The company prides itself on its support and resolving issues, especially with devices or fixing IR codes, but turnaround is slow (at least 24 hours for each email, which can take a very long time to troubleshoot or clarify details), and IR fixes have been spotty. They have recently added in-app chat, but I have not used it. There remain a lot of issues, as well as unsupported fundamental use cases that can be worked around, with a lot of patience. For a product that costs almost $200, I expected more. Much more. Unfortunately, there aren’t many alternatives.

I was hesitant to get this because of the negative reviews. I think those reviews may have been when this was first released and the software may not have been up to snuff. First off the good: it is much quicker than the harmony. I have much more control over my Bluetooth devices than before. I am quite happy with my purchase and am looking forward to future updates. The bad: there are still some minor software issues. I have trouble connecting to the hub for setup and it takes a few tries. This is not an issue after setup but a little annoying. There are also some minor connectivity issues during setup with the actual remote but again, not an issue after setup. I am not able to power on my PS5. Not a big deal since the controllers turn it on anyway and I will go over my setup again to see if it's something I did. I feel like this is definitely an upgrade from the harmony in every way.

I first tried the X1 several months ago and sent it back as it clearly was not ready for prime time. I purchased it again about a month ago when it was on sale for less than $150. The good news is that it is a better product now, but it still has a way to go before it is a great product. Like many others, I am looking for a replacement for my 2 Harmony hubs now that Harmony is discontinuing Harmony products. The X! is a step in the right direction, but there are some issues that need to be addressed before I can give it more than 4 stars. On the positive side, I did not have much trouble getting the X1 hub up and running. It was a little balky in terms of the initial connection to my network, but after a couple of attempts, I got it up and running. To keep things simple, I set it up with my Samsung TV, U-verse DVR, and Apple TV. Setup is not as flexible as with the Harmony hub, but I did not find it overly onerous and had everything running within about 30 minutes. I could fairly easily switch between activities (Watch TV or Watch Apple TV). The only real issue is that the hub cannot determine the current state of your system, but does remember the last activity for your hub. So if you were watching TV, but your TV or set-top box powered down, the X! will not turn it back on if you select the Watch TV activity again as it assumes the TV and/or set-top box are still powered on. Similarly, in a few cases, the X! would not select the proper input (HDMI 1, etc.) as it could not determine the currently actively input. I could get it to switch correctly between regular TV and Apple TV, but it occasionally it would not switch HDMI inputs to switch between Apple TV and regular TV. However, usually just selecting a different activity or using the FIX command for the selected activity would get everything back in sync. The FIX command will be your friend so get to know how to use it when getting everything up and running. There is a similar REPAIR feature for each device as well which will come in handy when assigning keys to the remote/app. This will allow you to quickly determine if the key is doing what you expect. I did not have any problems with teaching hub additional keys/commands that I wanted available. It was fairly intuitive and worked as expected. I did not spend a lot of time making sure all of the available commands/functionality was downloaded from cloud database for the devices I was using as I found it almost as fast and easy to just teach the hub the commands that I wanted use. I just downloaded the basic configuration to get started for each device and then taught the hub any specific commands I wanted using the original device remote. You may not need to do this, but this eliminated one more variable in the configuration for me. Again, the FIX feature will be your friend when assigning keys/commands. Note that if you do decide to use one of the available device configurations in the X1 database, make sure it works for your specific remote. In some cases there may be several available configurations, but one may most closely match your original remote. You can review which commands each configuration supports and test them before you fully download them to the X1. Once I selected the most closely matched configuration for my device, it worked well for my device without further tinkering, although there is some ability to do so if some tweaking is required. The two biggest downsides for me are 1) the lack of physical number keys on the remote and 2) no charging cradle for the remote. The 2nd would not be a huge issue if the battery life were better. In my experience, the remote needed to be recharged every 3 days or so. Note that you must use a regular USB-C charging cord as the remote will not charge with a PD charger which is not mentioned anywhere in the documentation. The remote itself is pretty basic with many of the keys you may be used on the Harmony or original device remotes not present. Basically, there are volume and channel up and down kyes; up, down, left, and right navigation keys; and pause, play, back, and home keys. All of the keys can be reprogrammed via the app, but out of the box you will not have some of the standard functions you might expect to find on the remote keypad. You will have to decide which buttons are most important to you given the limited keys available. You can add additional commands to the display above the keypad, but I found these clumsy to use as you need to use the scroll bar to select them. I still am deciding whether to keep the X1 because of the missing number keys. I can’t think of any reason anyone would design a TV remote without a number keypad, but clearly the Sofabaton team thought otherwise. There is no easy way to enter numbers via the X1 remote. Using the scroll bar is pretty much an exercise in futility. There is a way to enter numbers via the number keypad in the app, but there sometimes is a lag between digits where digits get dropped (e.g., 1007 becomes 107). This did not happen consistently and you either configure the X1 to send each number twice as some of the numbers are getting dropped when sent to the receiver or you can setup a “channel” macro. If you setup a “channel” macro you can insert a delay between each number. I preferred Harmony’s option to control how quickly the keys are sent which was much more flexible and reliable in my setup. Note that there are 2 types of macros that serve different purposes. There is a startup and shutdown macro for each activity where you can add any additional actions required to get your devices required for that activity up and running. You may not need to do this if nothing more is required other than turning the devices on and switching to the correct input which is handled by the basic activity creation. If additional actions are required, you can create a startup macro to handle the commands. You can create command/key macros as well that apply to a specific activity and will appear on the remote display when that activity is running/active. For example you can create a “channel” macro called “GOLF Channel” that would send the correct digits to change the channel to the GOLF channel when selected versus entering the digits one at a time from the app number pad. You likely will be frustrated trying to enter individual digits from the X1 remote since there is not physical number pad on the remote. Pretty much anything you can select from the original device remote(s) can be included in a macro, including commands from multiple devices if multiple devices are used for that activity. Overall, I would give the IOS app a B-. If you have used a Harmony remote before, you will find it somewhat similar (I was not a big fan of the Harmony app either). Navigation is not especially intuitive, but you should not have too much of a problem locating most of the features you will need when adding or creating activities, devices, or macros. The ALEXA integration is extremely limited. Pretty much all you can do is turn on or off devices. Ther is not support for changing channels, adjusting the volume, etc, as you may have been used to if you were using a Harmony hub. In its current form, it’s not very useful. All in all, it’s not a horrible first effort and it is better than anything else currently available. It’s fairly expensive for what it currently does, but roughly in line with what Harmony was charging for the same functionality. I should note that The Sofabaton team was very responsive to and fixing problems which is something I had been concerned about. They even scheduled a call with a support technician when I was having an issue that was not resolved via several email exchanges and did offer to exchange or refund my purchase if everything did not work as I expected. If you are considering purchasing this product, make sure you can live with the limited remote functionality due to the lack of number keys, etc. In general, it is no harder to configure than the Harmony devices, albeit with less flexibility and functionality. 4 STARS.

So you know where I'm coming from, before trying the Sofabaton X1 with Hub I have been using a Logitech 950 with Harmony Hub and a Logitech Companion with Hub. While those aren't perfect, they're miles better than this. SETUP The only way to setup, as others have mentioned, is only through the app. The app could be a little better. I had trouble getting it to connect to the hub after I setup the Hub on my Wifi. I had even disabled my 5GHz network to make sure it didn't interfere. The hub would show in the list for me to connect to, but when I tried to select it nothing would happen. I ended up having to uninstall and reinstall the app and after doing that I could finally select and interact with the Hub. I updated the firmware. As the screen tells you, this transfers from your phone to the hub via Bluetooth so you have to remain somewhat close to the hub during the process. Then once it "completes" you get a message saying... not to open the hub or app for 5 minutes or you might corrupt something?! Based on other firmware updates I've done there are better ways to do this. There should be some notification the update process has successfully completed, not just wait 5 minutes. Unlike others, after that I didn't find the setup process too bad. It's not as good as Harmony, but it's serviceable. As others have noted there is no drop down to help you find your devices or model numbers. However, if the device is wifi controllable you can do a Wifi scan and select it on screen. I did this with my Roku Streaming Stick+ and it worked well. Everything setup and worked the first time for me. I didn't like the process of setting up activities and having to tell the app each time how my inputs are selected (direct, scrolling, sequential, etc.). Once the selection is made it should remember that. Better yet, it should be transferred to and stored in the Sofabaton database so that others with the same model item don't have to make that selection either. Overall, the setup wasn't too bad. One thing about the app I didn't like is that there is a constant icon in my notifications on my android phone for the Sofabaton app even when it's not in use. There is nothing in it, it's just there. As someone who likes to clear notifications (especially pointless or useless ones) it is annoying for it to be there all the time by default. USING THE REMOTE I also updated the remote firmware after charging it fully. Remote must stay close to the hub and you need to keep your phone connected to Wifi for the duration. Unlike the hub there's no 5 minute wait after the update, the remote is ready to go. I knew the remote wasn't touch screen, so that was no big deal. The screen is readable and I like that most of the buttons light up. I didn't play around with it too much, but it seems to me the remote screen should default to your Activities once you have them setup instead of having to select it each time and then choose the activity. Maybe there's a setting somewhere to change it, but I haven't bothered to look. The remote feels fine in my hand, and the scroll ball works well. I agree with another reviewer that said the back button for the remote display should be next to the scroll ball. It's a bit inconveniently located. PERFORMANCE Here is why I'm sending it back. I set the hub in the exact same spot as my Harmony Hub and started to try and use my system. It's very minimal: TV, soundbar, and Roku. I used the IR emitter to get to the TV IR receiver since the soundbar blocks it. The hub could not reliably control my soundbar though. I could setup the second emitter for my soundbar, but it seems a bit superfluous. By contrast, the Harmony Hub (from a now less ideal location) had no issues controlling everything. The X1 hub has 4 IR emitters in it in an upside down Y configuration looking at the front. The Harmony Hub has 6, a similar Y configuration plus 2 more on the side. I can only guess that these extra emitters are what make the difference. The X1 hub emitters seemed brighter to me, but it didn't help with the device control. If I stood in a certain position where the signal could bounce off me then I could control everything with no issue, but standing there for day to day use is not ideal or feasible. As another reviewer noted, the IR signal just isn't strong enough. Either that or it's not broadcast widely enough to get where it needs to go from the hub. The X1 has potential. It needs some hardware updates (back button moved, more IR emitters in the hub and/or stronger emitters), but it could be a good product. Maybe an X1 Revision 2 or an X2 model could incorporate these things. For me though, it's not going to replace my aging Harmony as I had hoped though. As a side note, the Hub feels incredibly cheap when compared to the Logitech Harmony Hub. There's little weight to it probably lending to the inexpensive feel. The only leg up on the Harmony Hub that I feel it's got is USB-C power, which isn't enough to win me over. I'll keep my eye on Sofabaton products and maybe a future one will be able to replace my Harmony. At least I hope so because they'll eventually die on their own.

Ok. So I have lived with the Logitech Harmony remotes for decades and LOVE them but with Logitech discontinuing their Remotes production completely I, like many others, was forced to look for another solution. After literally dozens of hours of research and considering my needs versus all the options available in the present marketplace I decided to give the SofaBaton X1 a test drive. WORST PIECE OF TECH I HAVE EVER HAD TO WORK WITH and that is saying something since I am certified as both a technician and multi-language programmer across the Apple, Linux, and Windows environments. I am also a live and studio sound engineer and consult on live and studio system design and installs. This remote is a worst backend software and programming I have EVER had to deal with in over 3 decades living and working in a tech saturated environment. Pros: Nice looking remote, solid construction. Cons: SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE, and NOT A LEARNING REMOTE.! This thing could not even figure out the sequence for the imputs for my TV even when I programmed it with the exact order and my TV always returns to HDMI 1 when it shuts down. However, the remote always forgets which source it is on and then can't chane sources to the source it is supposed to be one without using the APP used to program it to walk through half a dozen steps to "repair" the source and even then the APP and remote don't sync to automatically so when you pick up the remote it it out of sync with the APP and even more out of sync with the device's actual status and source location than when you attempted to do the "repair" using the APP. Whoever coded this APP doesn't know a damn thing about the hardware the App was designed for because the APP literally requires you to press 'save' to register ANYTHING between the APP and the remote or base station and not every function or 'repair' option has a 'save' option to make sure everything is back in sync. This was headache enough just trying to use a TV, Satellite Box, and BlueRay player, then I tried to add in a gaming console (PS5, PS4, XBox Series X, XBox One). ****NOT A SINGLE GAMING CONSOLE IS PROGRAMMED INTO THIS REMOTE'S AVAILABLE CODING OPTIONS AND IT IS INCAPABLE OF USING THE 'LEARN FROM REMOTE (CONTROLLER)' FUNCTION BECAUSE THE CONSOLES USE BLUETOOTH NOT IR. IF YOU HAVE A GAMING CONSOLE IN YOUR SETUP YOU CAN NOT CONTROL ANY PART OF IT, EVEN POWER ON/OFF, USING THIS REMOTE AND IT WILL NOT LEARN FROM EITHER THE CONTROLLER OR ADD-ON SYSTEM REMOTE FROM SONY OR MICROSOFT! IF YOU HAVE A GAMING CONSOLE RUN THE OTHER WAY FROM THIS THING!! IT WILL MAKE YOU WANT T RAGE QUIT AND THROW IT ACCROSS THE ROOM FASTER THAN DEALING WITH A LOBBY FULL OF HACKERS, SWEATS, AND A DYING CONTROLLER ALL AT THE SAME TIME. The reality is this remote requires a LOT of monotonous step-by-step programming to set up every single device into the remote and you have to make sure every single button that comes preprogrammed for that device actually works and functions the same as the native remote for that device. When the X1 buttons are not the same as your native remote or do not function at all (which is VERY common) then you have to use the App and base unit to 'train' the X1 what that preprogrammed or missing button is, is supposes to do, and how it functions (single press, presss and hold, toggle, etc). Then for every 'Activity' you want to create you have to program in each device, every sequence for start-up and shut-down, and literally every single button press, in sequence, required on the native remotes for each device to complete the start-up, use during, and shut-down inorder to get the X1 to MAYBE perform the necessary steps to allow you to do that 'Activity' using the X1. ALL these steps typically only work once before a step or more likely the "source" selection gets screwed up by the remote and since the APP and remote do not sync automatically you wind up with a total nightmare trying to make it all work again the way it is supposed to. You are better off going back to and old school multi-device universal remote and a set of "cue cards' to tell everyone the buttons to press to get access to the features and activities they want to enjoy. Save yourself the headache and RUN AWAY from the X1 Sofabaton remote, especially if you have gaming consoles, bluetooth, or wi-fi devices in your entertainment system.