Australia
I don't have a complicated A/V system - a Sony A8H TV, Yamaha receiver, and a HTPC on which I run most media through MediaPortal. I have used various universal remotes (Philips Pronto and Harmony) to control different iterations of this system for many years. I bought the SofaBaton to replace a Harmony One that was becoming less responsive, not holding charge very well, and had a cracked screen that was starting to obscure things. In summary, the SofaBaton has been able to do all of the things the Harmony One was able to do - probably even more. Here's a list of some of the pros and cons I've found after nearly 3 weeks of use.
Pros:
- The remote works well to turn everything on and off. I usually leave the input on the same setting so I haven't really tested input switching, but I imagine that would work well.
- I've paired the SofaBaton with a Flirc to control MediaPortal and for the most part that's working OK. I've even managed to get functions like Subtitle and Context Menu to work, which I was never able to do with any of my Harmonys.
- I like that the screen is not a touch screen. I don't know how many times I accidentally touched the Harmony screen and randomly changed what I was watching or doing.
- Battery life is phenomenal - I've been using it for nearly 3 weeks and it's still over 50% charged. I was charging my Harmony every 2-3 days.
Cons
- The set up was a bit funky. If I didn't have so much experience setting up Harmony and Prontos, I might have struggled a bit. Reading some of the forums in advance also helped identify some issues early.
- IR signals: I originally put the hub into my TV cabinet where my Harmony hub used to be, but it wouldn't turn my TV on. I connected an IR blaster and put it near the area where the TV receives its IR signal, but it still didn't work. In the end, I had to put the hub on top of the TV cabinet, which didn't please my wife, but now we're used to it and don't notice it.
- No clicks and double clicks: There are plenty of times when I have to press a button twice to get a function to work. Maybe it’s because I hadn't moved the remote enough to bring it back to life to ensure that the first click was recognised. Maybe it's because I haven't pressed the button hard enough. This is a minor irritation. More annoying is the double and sometimes triple clicks that I get from a single press. It's a bit annoying when you're trying to skip 30 sec forward and end up skipping 10 minutes! It's erratic as well - there's no consistent pattern so it's going to be hard to troubleshoot.
- The case: It's not shiny, but it's quite smooth, so it's quite slippery. I've already had it slip off the couch a number of time onto the floor.
- The screen and buttons: In my opinion the remote could benefit from one more row of buttons. I think the screen size could be reduced a bit to allow for another row of buttons. I know, each button can be used twice with a short press and a long press, but then I have to remember what's what and also teach my wife what's what. Not easy.
Overall, it seems like there are more cons than pros, but on balance, the pros far outweigh the cons and I'm enjoying using the SofaBaton X1S remote. It is a worthy replacement for my Harmony One, maybe even better!
Pros:
- The remote works well to turn everything on and off. I usually leave the input on the same setting so I haven't really tested input switching, but I imagine that would work well.
- I've paired the SofaBaton with a Flirc to control MediaPortal and for the most part that's working OK. I've even managed to get functions like Subtitle and Context Menu to work, which I was never able to do with any of my Harmonys.
- I like that the screen is not a touch screen. I don't know how many times I accidentally touched the Harmony screen and randomly changed what I was watching or doing.
- Battery life is phenomenal - I've been using it for nearly 3 weeks and it's still over 50% charged. I was charging my Harmony every 2-3 days.
Cons
- The set up was a bit funky. If I didn't have so much experience setting up Harmony and Prontos, I might have struggled a bit. Reading some of the forums in advance also helped identify some issues early.
- IR signals: I originally put the hub into my TV cabinet where my Harmony hub used to be, but it wouldn't turn my TV on. I connected an IR blaster and put it near the area where the TV receives its IR signal, but it still didn't work. In the end, I had to put the hub on top of the TV cabinet, which didn't please my wife, but now we're used to it and don't notice it.
- No clicks and double clicks: There are plenty of times when I have to press a button twice to get a function to work. Maybe it’s because I hadn't moved the remote enough to bring it back to life to ensure that the first click was recognised. Maybe it's because I haven't pressed the button hard enough. This is a minor irritation. More annoying is the double and sometimes triple clicks that I get from a single press. It's a bit annoying when you're trying to skip 30 sec forward and end up skipping 10 minutes! It's erratic as well - there's no consistent pattern so it's going to be hard to troubleshoot.
- The case: It's not shiny, but it's quite smooth, so it's quite slippery. I've already had it slip off the couch a number of time onto the floor.
- The screen and buttons: In my opinion the remote could benefit from one more row of buttons. I think the screen size could be reduced a bit to allow for another row of buttons. I know, each button can be used twice with a short press and a long press, but then I have to remember what's what and also teach my wife what's what. Not easy.
Overall, it seems like there are more cons than pros, but on balance, the pros far outweigh the cons and I'm enjoying using the SofaBaton X1S remote. It is a worthy replacement for my Harmony One, maybe even better!
