SofaBatonU2 Universal Remote with Smartphone APP, Long Range Infrared, All in One Universal Remote Control Compatible for Smart TVs/DVD/STB/Projector/Streaming Players/Blu-ray

I'm a grandpa with arthritis and my hands are kinda messed up. I bought it for myself and think it's the best ever. Granted I've been working in server rooms and engineering labs most of my life but still this is almost brain dead simple to setup and use.I'm using this to control my Samsung TV, my Insignia TV, Klipsch Bluetooth speakers, and a couple of Roku boxes. Setup from the app couldn't have been easier. I have no idea why some people said that it's hard. Seriously. I'm a huge fan of the Logitech Harmony series and mainly bought this because Harmony has been discontinued. This was by far the easiest universal remote that I've ever had to setup. The app lets me use punchthru so I can use the volume controls for the TV while having all the other buttons control the Roku.When using it for the Klipsch speakers, the IR range is better than that of the original Klipsch remote which is a big part of why I wanted a new universal remote in the first place.So I'm very happy with it. I also invested in a rubber cover for it.Balance wise, it fits really well in my hand and seems well balanced.Button layout is common sense and it'll be easy to train my muscle memory on it.Buttons are big enough and well enough spaced that my clumsy arthritic paws have an easy time hitting the right button every time.The only thing that I would like to change is that the buttons make a very audible positive click every time. On the one hand I think it speaks to a good build quality. On the other hand I'd rather have soft buttons. But that's just a personal thing.10/10 highly recommended. I can't imagine anybody having a hard time with this one and relatively recent devices.

IR works well at near 15’ away. Learning curve for programming was rather steep but years of experience with the approximate 5x more expensive brand helped dealing with this one’s limitations. The app required to program it is adequate but docs should be made more complete for less technical folk. Their equipment library covered all my devices, and seemed to play better with some, like the old Mac Mini (with IR, of course) than the “high priced spread.” The “roller” that lets you choose your device/function skips past some or doesn’t seem to react on occasion, but you can always get there. Motion sensor seems a bit too sensitive. Lighted buttons would be nice. Like the headline says… …now we’ll see if it lasts the 4 or so years that the ol’ 650 did.

This is a quite long but I think worth reading (or skip to the bottom):The Good: I was able to setup 6 devices: 2 TVs (Vizio, Hisense), 2 different DVR cable boxes (Arris, only took 1 setup to control both! Yea!), a soundbar (TCL Alto 8+ 3.1.2) and an Amazon Fire Stick. The device is easy to hold, the backlit OLED display turns on when you pickup or move the remote, and the button pressing has a nice feel. You will need to download their app (Android or iPhone) to setup the remote. The scroll wheel is a quick and effective way to switch devices on the remote. You can setup macros to make multiple things happen (like turning on more than one device with a single button) but I don't have any need for that and haven't tried it. EDIT: I have used the macro function and it does work. However, you may need to play around with the timing between your macro button "presses" to get it to work right.The Bad: setting up those 6 devices took me nearly three frustrating hours.The included instructions are pathetically short on information and the website doesn't help. They do have a support forum but I haven't used it. The first issue was how to open the battery compartment! Shouldn't that be a no-brainer? But it's actually tricky and difficult to do.Once that's accomplished, download and install the app, and get to the programming. There's several ways to install devices but even when you get a match with their database, you run into the issue of matching the buttons on the original device remote control to the U1 remote. And, unfortunately, even with 35 buttons and a 4-way switch, you might need to do a lot of individual button programming. For instance, for my DVRs, I needed to figure out a way to access recorded programs, the listings, a "live" button, and the back and next and skip forwards and skip back buttons, none of which are on the U1 nor mapped automatically to other buttons. This means that it'll take some usage time with the U1 even to remember how you map such buttons. Ditto for my soundbar. Sometimes you need to get creative because the U1 says that you successfully mapped a button but it didn't and you'll need to try mapping a different button for that function. I recommend that you add your devices in the order of most-used to least-used for ease of using the U1. There doesn't seem to be any way to reorder the device once you've added them (either on the U1 or with the app. EDIT: yes, you can reorder your devices in the app by pressing on the device and then moving it up or down the list.Also, you may have trouble finding the right product match in their database. This happened with my Arris DVR cable box. Although the database showed my product model, it didn't work. Multiple tries kept failing. Finally, I tried a similar but slightly different model number in their database and that did the trick. However, on the good side, you can email them with your missing product and they'll add it to the database and get back to you within 3 days. One internet commenter said that they heard back within a day. UPDATE: YES! THEIR PRODUCT SUPPORT ***DOES*** WORK AND THEY UPDATED MY SPECIFIC DVR CABLE BOX CODE. I tried their support phone (no hours listed anywhere) and it merely led to a generic phone answering system that doesn't identify it as being Sofabaton nor provide customer service hours.Bottom line: 1) It works! 2) Setup is a PITA. It will really help if you are a little tech-savvy, a problem solver, and have some patience. 3) Support is good via email. 4) There's a learning curve to using it if you need to map buttons yourself.EDIT: on my original device, it often took two button presses to make it do a function (like skip forward) and sometimes it would act like multiple button presses happened with a single push. So Sofabaton sent me a replacement unit (thank you to Sofabaton for the customer support--they really do try). Well, there's no way to "clone" the replacement, so I had to go through the entire process again of programming the remote. And there are issues: on this replacement, the LCD screen doesn't come on when you pick up the remote, you have to give it a hard shake or press a button. That's minor. The bigger issue is that there are still "missed" and "doubled" button presses and that's very frustrating.I don't know, I'm going to stick with my "4 Stars" overall but barely. As they say, your mileage may vary.

I bought this as a replacement for my Logitech Harmony remote (I so wish they still made those!). The SofaBaton U2 is a suitable substitute for the Harmony (or if you want to reduce number of needed remotes) but there are some limitations.This is an IR remote, so you do need direct line of sight for it to function. As the batteries drain, the IR weakens and you have to move closer for it to work. I've replaced the batteries twice, so they last about 30 days.Setup wasn't too difficult. The U2 paired quickly with my phone after downloading their app. I walked through the process of adding my TV, soundbar, and console. Some of the assigned keys for the TV didn't work as expected, so I had to go through the 'learn' process to fix it.The biggest disappointment is the "macros" (aka "Activities" on Harmony) did not work. I watched the video, followed the steps, and the only thing that would turn on was the console. On the Harmony, one button would turn on the TV, soundbar, and console. Seems the U2 only sends the last command in the macro. I tried several different orders, buttons, etc. and couldn't get it to work. In the end, I ended up programming an unused TV button to switch inputs to the console. Then move the scroll wheel to the console and power on from there. Three button clicks, but at least I'm able to control everything with one remote.If you don't want to spend hundreds of $$$ on a universal remote, this one will do. Just set your expectation too high.

Got it 2 weeks ago to replace all my remotes, especially for a LG HU85LA projector, Denon AVR-S770H and an old Daewoo DVD plyer in an AV system.Initial learning: The models of my Denon and Daewoo remotes were not in the DB list. I had to let them learn each button that I needed. Most learnings you have to long press and hold the original remote, but some buttons just need a quick click to learn. If failed to learn, repeat and it will be good. Found this tricks from their FAQ on the web. Sent feed back to add these 2 devices to database. Support told to try closer models if not listed exactly. That works too.MACRO: After initial learn for all these 3 remotes, I added MACRO (one key has many commands for different devices) to streamline the process, e.g. to turn on Projector, to turn on AVR, to set correct HDMI port, to select correct AVR input and sound effect. Attached pics to show some power key MARCOs.Projector takes 5-10 seconds to start up and taking commands after that. So in the MACRO setting, just need to add long sleep, max to 10sec. Only inconvenience is that when to use the MACRO key that has long sleep timer for next commands, you need to hold the remote steady and aim to the devices for whatever the sleep time need to let all commands taking effect. If just one quick click and put away the remote, some later commands in the MACRO will not be taken by devices as the remote is still sending commands.Also, to deal with the HDMI auto power/ARC to turn on other devices that compatible with HDMI-CEC, you do not need to add extra power on key in the macro as CEC will take care of powering up for you. Learned that added individual power in MACRO on will actually turn off the power as CSC already turned power on for you. If a device does not have HDMI-CEC, you do need to add power on on MACRO.One click to a MACRO key will do all magics to turn on power for all devices that required, change the HDMI input port for a device, setup correct the sound effect selection, etc. One click to turn them off once done.Making sure to level set all device at their powered off stage before use MACRO. Otherwise MACRO will so its thing but mess up the power on/off if a device was on before. No big deal, I just setup a key only doing power control in case you need to change individual device power.These sleeping requirements and HDMI-CEC tricks are not related to the remote itself but rather the original devices requirements.After played around it and get used to it, the setup is so simple and worked very reliably every time.All in all, this is a great smart universal remove controller that replaces all my remotes and added MACRO save my time to manage devices.Highly recommended.