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

i bought SofaBaton X1S Universal Remote and I was expecting it to work with my Vseebox V5 Pro. but it didn't work and I had to send it back returned it to the salon it's a failure it doesn't work it works with infrared but it doesn't work with Bluetooth. So for those who are looking for Bluetooth remote control expecting it to work with S1X Remote, don't be too optimistic it's available

I decided to buy this before my Harmony Hub died. I have been using my Harmony Elite for about 10 years. I have done extensive programming on it. Comparing the sofabaton to the harmony.... I could not believe it was actually easier....the harmony was buggy. It took me about an hour or so to program it. I have a dedicated Media room with a Projector, Receiver, DVD player, Roku Stick and Fire Stick. Now granted I do have a lot of practice programming from using the Harmony. For those people that have never programmed a remote like this it can be a bit frustrating. There is a learning curve so to those people that say this is a terrible remote....not true. I have researched all the remotes out there and this is so far the best one. Some suggestions: 1) If you can't find your exact model in the data base...don't sweat it...just pick a model as close to yours as possible...the IR codes that the manufacturers use are similar to the brand. I could not find my exact DVD player model number and just picked one that was close and it works just fine. 2) If you never have done something like this (program a remote) you will need to spend some time figuring this out. Don't leave a 1 star review just because you have no experience doing this and get frustrated. You will spend a few hours programming it----all depends on the complexity of your system. If you want the white glove treatment spend $1000 like I did on my first remote system (before the Harmony) and hire a professional to do it. And then spend $200-$300 to have the tech install it.... and whenever you get a new device you can pay them to come and program it for that new device. 3) The interface is intuitive and IMO self explanatory...not perfect but nor was the harmony interface...I have spent many hours programming the harmony...sofabaton about 1 hour..... 4) The price of the sofabaton is a deal at MSRP $189.00....(you can get discounts)...the harmony was over twice the price. 5) I had no need to call tech support/did not read the installation manual....spend the time to figure this out... you will NOT have this programmed in 15 minutes and the more you play with it (software on the app) the more you will understand how it works. There is a learning curve with these programmable devices. Suggestions to the manufacturer.... 1) Color touch screen with haptic feed back would be great. 2) lighted bottom keys...the red, orange, blue, green keys... 3) Charging cradle would be great 4) Charge twice the price when you do this.....the price is a bargain. And if you do this I'll buy another! I received NO compensation from the seller for leaving this review and paid full price for the device. I just love this tech and am so happy that I have a great replacement for my current system.

I've used a Harmony remote and hub for years. It was amazing and did everything I needed, then Logitech killed it, my hub died, and I had to find a replacement. On the surface, this seems like a Harmony clone, but it's just a highly inferior product that is ridiculously overpriced considering the poor support for devices. With Harmony, I could directly select inputs on my TV in the software. With Couchstick I'm forced to set up input changes by counting the number of clicks to get to the desired input. This is asking for trouble and I found it the very first day I owned this sad remote. Some of my TV's input listings will gray out when the device attached to it is removed and this then changes the count for input switching and everything gets "off track" with NOTHING going to the correct input. Just about everything you try to do is difficult and not at all easy since so much is lacking. Also, barely any Non-IR compatibility. OH yeah, it constantly has to be reconnected to Google Home. I've scoured forums and found this is a KNOWN PROBLEM but Couchstick doesn't seem to care. I guess they want the product failures to be comprehensive. Mission accomplished. I wouldn't get another one of these amateur hour garage projects or any other products from SofaBaton (it just sounds like a terrible name) because I'm not fond of wasting money. If Logitech can include all inputs directly, these clowns could if they did a thorough, proper job. Instead, they've put out a very inferior product. I hope a competitor arrives soon, I'll throw this stick out the window. These guys ought to be in the "Gofundme" stage, not passing this incomplete project off as a truly functional device, which it is not. Not even close.

Pros: Slick Remote with intuitive interface Unlimited device control Able to control complex activities Stellar customer service Cons: Programming can be exasperating No ability to transfer setup to another remote Hub compatible with only one remote at a time If you need a replacement for a Harmony remote or otherwise have a complex home theater setup with multiple devices, SofaBaton is really the only game in town when it comes to universal remotes. I’ve owned several Harmony remotes over the years and their products evolved to the point that they could literally program themselves. SofaBaton’s remotes aren’t nearly as simple to set up and programming requires a lot of patience. Ultimately, that patience is rewarded with an exceptionally functional remote without any of the limitations of Harmony’s last-produced models. Before purchasing the X1S, I’d suggest looking at the U2 remote, which is adequate for most people. It incorporates IR and Bluetooth control, but not WiFi, and can control virtually as many devices. It lacks the ability to control activities, but with a little macro programming, it can effectively switch all of the necessary inputs to initiate a given activity. One can use multiple U2 remotes simultaneously, giving multiple users control. What it can’t do is control IR components inside a cabinet, nor can it keep track of the existing state of all of the devices and seamlessly switch between activities. Switching activities must therefore be done manually. The extra time and effort needed to program the X1S is well worth it if you have a more complex setup. The biggest drawback is that the hub can only be paired with one remote at a time. I keep an older U1 remote handy so that others can control the volume, pause playback and so on. A second major drawback is that there’s no way to share device and activity setups between SofaBaton remotes. The U1/U2 and the X1/X1S don’t even seem to share the same online code library, which is crazy. I’ve found that functions that are available for the U1/U2 for one device may be unavailable or function differently on the X1/X1S remotes. It’s evident that SofaBaton uses a crowdsourced code database, but I can’t fathom why they haven’t consolidated them into a single database to use with all of their remotes. Given that nearly all modern home theater components have associated smartphone apps and a voice control API compatible with Alexa, Siri and/or Google, I can’t fathom why more effort hasn’t gone into WiFi control. Harmony’s hub-based models were literally able to scan one’s entire WiFi network and identify all connected devices that it was capable of controlling. They downloaded all of the control codes and set themselves up, leaving the user to identify devices not on the network and to program the activities. With SofaBaton, one must enter each brand and model of each device manually for each and every remote. When a button doesn’t function as intended, SofaBaton does have a “Fix” procedure that allows one to use alternative code sequences from their database, and that usually works, but Harmony did a much better job of refining their database to match individual models within a brand. Perhaps SofaBaton just doesn’t have a large enough user base to support that yet. When all else fails, there is a learn function that allows one to program a button with the IR signal from the original remote. That approach isn’t available for Bluetooth or WiFi devices, however. The one area where SofaBaton outshines all other companies is in their customer service. You can live chat with a technical support person, or send a text to tech support, or initiate a support ticket, all from their website or right from the SofaBaton app. The response time in answering a text or email request has never exceeded a few hours - not days or weeks. I cannot emphasize enough what a revelation it is to get rapid, competent tech support on the fly. Contrast that with Logitech Harmony, where one must first search through the FAQ, then post a question to the user community, and even then, it can take days to get a response to simple question about a feature that doesn’t seem to work as intended. In summary, the X1S remote can be frustrating to set up and it’s not nearly as polished a product as similar Harmony remotes. With Logitech pulling out of the universal remote business, SofaBaton is now the only real game in town. Although I’ve yet to find a function that Harmony could do that the SofaBaton X1S cannot, programming it can be exasperating. That said, customer service is exemplary. For the tech-savvy individual, the X1S is well worth the time and effort put into it.

7/12/2025 UPDATED Review - It has been a few weeks now and I am upgrading my review to 5 stars. The more I interact with the Sofabaton, the more I like it. In fact, in some ways it is better than my Harmony Hub which I replaced. Yes, there are some intricacies to programming it. But so was the Harmony. In fact the Harmony was actually harder because you had to manually enter in the device and model number. Programming sequences in the Sofabaton is easier. Programming and creating custom commands is easier. I was able to program it to control the volume on the TV and the Bose without switching devices. Very cool for when I switch to my bluetooth headphones. Just make use of the short and long press. If you are looking to buy this and out of the box have it control five or six different devices then you will be sadly disappointed. Of course there are trade offs and nothing is perfect. But, considering my alternative is having 5 remote controls on my nightstand, this is perfect. And no I wasn't paid for this review. I was looking for something to replace my Logitech Harmony Hub which they of course stopped supporting and it stopped working. I have a Roku, AppleTV, FireTV, TV and Bose soundbar. I wasn't able to find anything that could control them all with just one remote. Mostly because FireTV was bluetooth. Once I got this set up, it works perfectly. It isn't as intuitive to set up as the Logitech was. Connecting devices is extremely easy and fast. You don't have to look up codes. Just point the remote at the hub and press buttons and presto it programs that function. One big miss for me in the out of the box settings/button is that there isn't anything for Source/Input to switch between devices. At first it was very frustrating as I didn't know you could add commands. It took me a lot of time figuring out how to program it so it would change inputs. To me that is one of the most important functions if you are going to program activities. Once I figured out how to program it to change the source, setup was a breeze. I also did have trouble connecting it to the Bluetooth of the FireTV, but I am not sure if it was the FireTV or the hub. It eventually connected. Setting up activities is extremely easy. If it weren't so difficult to program Source/Input, I would have given it five stars. I am three days in and it works perfectly. Switches between components seamlessly. If you are looking for a replacement for a Logitech Harmony this will do the trick. You just need to power through the setup.