I didn't want to spend big bucks for a used Harmony Elite that may croak, so I went the SofaBaton X1 route. Unfortunately, my Harmony Elite died recently and was not able to be resuscitated back to life despite my best efforts. I can offer my SofaBaton X1 thoughts as well. I control all sorts of things that Harmony can't with its own firmware. I control a lot more than just my lights this way. It was a bit of a pain to set up, but I've been using my remote this way for years and it's been flawless, and though there are a few steps involved, there's no noticeable delay between when I press the button on my remote and when my lights react. When I press Red on my remote, the Harmony hub sends an IR command which Flirc converts to a hotkey that triggers my script. I write scripts to control my smart stuff, and I assign my scripts to buttons on my Harmony remote by teaching Flirc the IR command for that button.įor example, I use the red/green/yellow/blue buttons on my Harmony remote to control my lights. I have a ton of custom stuff I've done by using a Flirc usb IR receiver with Harmony. Sadly, for me, it has the same issue I have with the SofaBaton X1: it doesn't have number buttons. It looks like Flirc is going to release a universal remote too, called the Skip 1s. I may give them a try again at a later date in the hopes that my first unit was defective. We really need a good product in this product space. I hope SofaBaton can perfect their product as Harmony products die off due to age. They need to move that back button and put it next to the scroll-wheel, IMO.īecause of the IR issues I never got to test setting up Activities. Casually holding the remote allows for easy thumb access to the scroll-wheel with no way to access the back button without using another hand. The back button for screen navigation is at the top right of the remote while the scroll-wheel is in the center. The OLED is not a touch screen, so you have to use the scroll-wheel to navigate. I also did not check to see if the battery is replaceable - for Harmony owners, this is key as our remotes age, so I hope it is replaceable, but I do not know for sure.īutton layout is not bad, with one notable exception. I would love for the remote to weigh an ounce or two more and have a much bigger battery, regardless of how long it lasts. It makes me concerned about battery life. Last, the remote itself is very lightweight. The X1 will not control that TV via IP, and the documentation shows IP support for just a few devices.īlueTooth control of my AppleTV worked perfectly. My Sony television is IP-controlled and can do IR if needed. It is a deal-breaker and I returned the SofaBaton.Īnother limitation I disliked is that the SofaBaton X1 has very limited support of IP-controlled devices. The IR issues occurred with every IR device (e.g., Integra receiver, Sony TV). No dice - the blasters work fine, but the signal is just too weak to work from the blaster positions. These blasters work fine with the Harmony, so I plugged them into the SofaBaton to see how things worked without having to move the blaster heads. ![]() ![]() I have some 3rd party IR blasters I use with my Harmony remote which are compatible with the SofaBaton. Essentially, I would have to stick the IR blasters to each device to get them to work. For the receiver, I could not even have the IR blaster sitting 1 inch in front of it while sitting on the same shelf as the receiver - I had to elevate the blaster about 2 inches for it to work. Where I can place my Harmony IR blasters 8 - 12 inches from IR device without problem, I had to get the SofaBaton devices much closer. So weak, in fact, that I think I may have had a defective unit. The IR signal from both the SofaBaton hub and the IR blaster is just super, super weak. The deal-breaker with the X1 occurred after adding my first device (an Integra receiver using IR). ![]() It's not a horrible interface, I think I just need to get used to it. Some of the iOS software is nuanced, and you have to carefully look at what at first looks like a simple statement is actually an option that can be selected. ![]() When updating the remote I got a popup stating something along the lines of "do not reconnect to the remote for 5 minutes or you could corrupt things." That was a bit disconcerting, but otherwise things went fine. The iOS software is decent - not great, but decent. I made sure I updated the SofaBaton right away, before trying to do anything else. I decided to give the X1 a try and had a pretty negative experience. I am a long-time Harmony user, and have had a Harmony Elite for years. Hi all, I wanted to share my experience with the SofaBaton X1.
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