SofaBaton U2 Universal Remote with APP, All in One Universal Remote Control

I bought this to replace a Logi 665 Harmony IR remote as the newer electronics are not in the discontinued Logitech database. The U2 takes a little bit of getting used to compared to the Harmony remote (using the wheel, programing macro keys, setting delays within the macros, etc.). If you don't need to set up macros (i.e. turn on tv, then soundbar, then bluray player by only pressing one button) you can do this manually by using the wheel and choosing the equipment individually. The remote connects via BT to the phone app. I've only had to program ("learn") a few keys on the U2 for commands not included in the Sofabaton database. Programing the remote was easy--using the app you put in the model name/number to access the database. This is downloaded to the remote via the phone app. You can then change or add commands on the assigned buttons and set up macros if desired. Your settings can be backed up thru the app to the account you initially set up. Overall I am very pleased with the remote. I have a simple IR and BT equipment setup with several A/V components (two bluray players, streamer, soundbar, AVR, LG TV), so the U2 works well for my needs. The line of sight IR commands work from a fairly good distance (~20 ft or so) even for equipment behind cabinet glass doors.

Es una maravilla de control remoto universal. Reemplazó muchos controles remoto que tenía en mi sala de entretenimiento. Por ahora controla mi Sofabaton U2: TV Samsung, Amplificador Stereo Rotel, Amplificador 5.1 Yamaha, Reproductor CD Onkyo, Reproductor Bluray Sony, Chromecast y Nvidia Shield. Que tengo en mi sala de entretenimiento. Al principio cuesta un poco de trabajo como programarlo, una vez que entiendes la ropa facilisimo lo programas incluso también las macros. Yo para mí Chromecast hice una macro (Encender TV Samsung en HDMI 1) y lo hace. Estoy encantado.

This product is, on the surface, very nice. It has a Bluetooth connected App on your iPhone for setup, a display that actually tells you what mode it is in when you pick it up, feels well made and is feature rich. Then why did I return it to Amazon for a refund? I have a TV, a TIVO Over The Air DVR and a multi-channel amplifier for surround sound. The TV talks to the Amplifier over the HDMI port, so it passes on the Volume control settings and switches modes seamlessly, between TIVO and it's internal streaming services. We were using just two remotes, the supplied TIVO one to watch regular TV channels, and a second for the TV itself, which we only picked up and used when we decided we wanted to Netflix or Amazon something. Then I rediscovered DVDs and my tidy world fell apart. We found streaming services were coming with a lot of constraints and shows we wanted to watch were now 'sublet' by other companies you have to sign up for additional monthly fees to watch. But, we also found Amazon sold DVDs containing entire series of shows at very reasonable prices. No contracts, no bleeding down our bank accounts month by month. Purchase and Done. Except to do this we now had to use the DVD remote to play DVDs and the Amplifier Remote to switch between the TIVO box and the DVD box. This is too complex. I bought the SofaBaton remote to solve this and was immediately enamored by it. To program it via the iPhone App you can actually choose the model number of your specific Sony TV and it finds the best code set. Gone was the challenge of paging through the instruction book to find the TVs section, then the Sony TV codes, only to discover there are 25 different codes for Sony TVs and you have to try each one at a time to determine which one comes closest to emulating ALL the keys on the original remote. I love this new concept of App programming, it was way overdue. So I chose my TV, my DVD player, my Amplifier. This was so neat! Except when I started using it. For some reason the SofaBaton remote handles powering the Sony TV poorly. It sends out repeat codes to the TV. When I switched off the TV with my SofaBaton the TV went off. Then barely two seconds later it turned back on again. This is the most stressful thing you can do to a piece of electronics. Power it down, and then power it back up before the electronics has had time to discharge fully and reset properly. It offers the greatest chance of breaking the electronics because it is caught in an intermediary state that is undefined. I lost and expensive TV due to a power brownout a few years back, that is a very similar stress event. It did it twice, and I was releived my TV was still operational after the ordeal. I didn't try it again. After calming down, I figured the remote is good but for this one flaw and tried to use its' Learning Feature to teach it how to behave properly by using the reliable remote that came with the Sony TV. So I successfully taught the Power Button for the TV on the SofaBaton and tried it again. And got the same stressful result. That was extremely frustrating and a real rookie mistake by SofaBaton that forced me to return the remote to Amazon for a full refund. Thank you Amazon for having a good return policy for defective products. If you don't have a Sony TV this is probably a very good remote, which is why I didn't give it just one star. This remote has a lot of potential. Just not in my house....

Easy to program? Yes Does it work? No It "seems" like the buttons aren't making good contact with the underlying switches. Sometimes the buttons work, but at least half the time they do not. I called tech support and they had me do "things" and they saw that it failed. They never asked me to return it or suggested that I return it. I am going to send it back to Amazon if it isn't too late. Maybe they'll send me another one and it will work better. 😢

As a former harmony enthusiast, when that company was eaten by Logitech and failed to update their product, I was pretty pessimistic about the future of universal remotes. For years, I just went back to having multiple remotes and with the advent of HDMI control. It wasn’t that bad however, whenever I wanted to change the settings of the picture or sound, which I do quite a bit, I was back to remote flipping. I honestly didn’t think a general universal remote could come close to what Harmony did so. I waited and waited. And then came the ultra expensive options (yikes). I knew that as good as those were, the amount of time would take to program them and set them up was going to be exhausting. I started to see positive reviews on sofa batons U1 so when the U2 came out, I still waited but eventually I just picked one up. With the improved back lighting and standard AA batteries, I knew they were on the right track. It only took me one session to get everything set up. My initial thought was “no activities”!? But I realized there was macros, and you could assign any button to any device Overriding any function on a set of custom remotes, which is honestly better in some ways and, more important, simpler. It’s really up to you to decide how you want to use things. One thing I will recommend is Define one button cross all devices (I use the input button) to use as a “fix it button” that will reapply the proper inputs and your preferred sound mode in case things get messed up or don’t complete. I was able to do that and many more things, even with the simpler architecture of the SofaBaton. As far as device button database is exhaustive, but fairly easy to search and find your devices as long as you know the model numbers. The remote supports infrared, unfortunately many devices nowadays use some form of RF and this just isn’t supported also with Bluetooth now becoming a standard in remote control that can make things a little bit difficult. So it will depend on how many of your devices use traditional infrared control, but I was able to get Apple TV working with Bluetooth and all my other devices through infrared very well As far as improvements, it would be nice to back up not only your device buttons, but your macros and everything but at least they have a backup function in case you need to reset the remote. But without the macros being saved, it seems kind of half solution. The only other improvement I could think of would be Support for a wider range, remote control like the aforementioned RF remotes and more than one blue Ray remote. That’s probably a bit too much to ask for and such as a simple device. But as far as infrared controls, it really seems complete and I couldn’t think of any major improvements.