SofaBaton Update X1S Universal Remote Control with Hub and App, All-in-One Smart Universal Remote Control with Customize Activities, Works with Bluetooth/WiFi Devices/Alexa/Google Assistant

Been using the SofaBaton X1S for a couple weeks now, and it’s honestly pretty damn good. Finally ditched the stack of remotes on my table, and I’m not mad about it.Setup Was Fine. Box came in, and the remote looks decent—simple, feels solid, got a little screen that’s handy enough. The hub’s small, so I just tossed it behind my Samsung TV. Setup wasn’t a big deal. The app (on Android) ain’t the prettiest, but it got my Samsung TV, Fire TV, air con, fan, blinds, and even a Samsung tablet I use for media late at night linked up in like 50 minutes. Found all my stuff in their list no problem. Set up a “Watch” button and a “Night” one—works every time without me fiddling too much.It’s straight-up easy to use. One press, and everything kicks in—Samsung TV’s on, Fire TV’s rolling, air con’s humming, fan’s spinning, blinds adjust, tablet’s ready if I’m up late. Buttons light up when I grab it, which is nice at night. Battery’s still going—I haven’t plugged it in yet. The hub’s got good reach; I hid it and it still controls everything fine. Bluetooth for the Fire TV’s quick too. Hooked it to Alexa, and telling it “Turn On” from the couch works most times.App’s basic, but it’s not a dealbreaker. Remote feels premium, and my setup’s less of a mess now. It’s a premium price but you do get a premium device. Buddies saw it and thought it was cool, but I ain’t hyping it up that much.Bottom Line...SofaBaton X1S gets a 5 from me. Does what it says, keeps things simple, and I don’t hafta juggle remotes anymore. If you’re tired of the chaos, it’s worth a shot. Good stuff.

Had this up and running in about 30 minutes. Replaced my Harmony with no issues. A couple of my devices had minimal entries in the database and required learning from the existing remotes, which was easy and intuitive. App is very straightforward. Battery life is incredible. Range seems good. Ergonomics are an improvement over the Harmony. Illumination is instant upon picking up the remote. My setup is receiver, TV, Roku, Blu-ray and media PC. Works fluidly with zero issues so far.

Not a bad universal remote and it works well for my devices (Nvidia Shield, smart TV, soundbar, Virgin TiVo). Programming the remote is a little tedious but that was expected and once done, it doesn't require dealing with again until a new device is added to the mix. However, it is too expensive for what it is even when on sale. Its main competitor is the (discontinued) Logitech Harmony series which remains excellent. Sadly, though, my Harmony remote - after many years of use - has become flaky; buttons have become spongy and inconsistent. The X1S is no upgrade. If anything it's the opposite. It misses many features that exist on Harmony and have for years: screen is basic and under-utilised; no touchscreen; no number pad potential (although there are workarounds but would require using the scroll wheel and would be a major annoyance); no charging cradle; companion app is fairly rudimentary; Google Home integration is very poor. That said, I rarely used the numpad screen on my Harmony remote; battery life on the X1S far exceeds Harmony (because of the unsophisticated screen, no doubt) so a charging cradle is unnecessary; I only used the Harmony companion app when the remote ran out of battery; Google Home isn't that great to begin with. The X1S is well built and for what it does, it is OK. It is a shame that they didn't opt for an OLED screen, especially given its price, but perhaps that's a bit risky given the static nature of what it displays; burn in after just a short time would be unacceptable.To sum up, the Sofabaton X1S is over-priced and average. If Logitech still supported Harmony and were producing new models, I would never have considered this. I don't regret the purchase but only because alternatives in the same price range, similar feature set, and have continued support just don't exist.

The media could not be loaded. This is an excellent Harmony replacement, and a good quality product!I think a lot of the reported problems are just down to not putting enough time into programming it properly. For instance, you need to make sure you add delays in sometimes, to ensure your TV/streamer etc have time to catch up. Watch carefully as a macro runs, and see if the TV is caught up with all the commands you send.I even managed to add my Projector screen remote, which operates on 433mhz radio, not IR, so I can finally open/close the screen (and other blinds) on radio frequencies!It would be amazing to see a Matter hub added into this, which would allow modern home automation from the remote, but that's just a small thing as you can do all those things with an Assistant (and run the scenes you've created in Sofabaton from your Assistant too).I had no problems setting it up (a bit of patience needed), and it works flawlessly (no problems with IR commands being sent across a large room). The screen is high quality, and so are the backlit buttons.Tip: Remember that it creates scenes in your Assistant, not switches, so you run a scene to do things on the Sofabaton from Alexa or Google etc. This all works flawlessly once added.To summarise, this is a very competent product, and I look forward to additions to this in the future. Bye-bye to the old Harmony remotes finally!