Sofabaton U2 Universal Remote Control with Smart App, Customizable Macro Button, All in one Remote Control for TVs/DVD//Blu-ray/STB/Projector, Works with Infrared & Bluetooth Devices

I bought the Sofabaton U2 Universal Remote about 3 weeks ago and have been using it since then. The reason I bought it is because I have a Harmony 650 universal remote for about 5 years and it is buggy to use. In particular the Harmony 650 is buggy to use with my ViewTV Digital converter box with my J-Tech HDMI wireless extender. The setup is I have my ViewTV Digital converter box on the 2nd floor of my house (to get better free TV reception) and I have put an TV antenna in the 2nd floor of my house, the TV is in the den which is on the 1st floor of my house, hence I have to use a J-Tech HDMI wireless extender to get the TV signal from my ViewTV Digital converter box to my Samsung TV. The J-Tech HDMI wireless extender comes with an infrared pickup which you can attach to the J-Tech HDMI transceiver in the den, this then transmits the IR signal from the universal remote to the J-Tech HDMI transceiver on the 2nd floor and attached to this J-Tech HDMI transceiver on the 2nd floor is a IR transmitter which flashes the IR signal from the universal remote on the 1st floor to my ViewTV Digital TV converter box on the 2nd floor. This setup allows me to get great TV reception (2nd floor) and to control which TV channel I want to see from the comfort of my couch in the den with the universal remote. The issue I have with the Harmony 650 is that it doesn't control the ViewTV Digital TV converter box reliably. For example the Harmony 650 will skip channels when pressing the next up TV channel button, down TV channel button on the Harmony 650 will not skip channels but the up TV channel button will skip the next channel for some reason. The pain this creates when using the Harmony 650 is that when I am channel flipping I have to skip a channel when going up and then back down to the correct channel I want to see, which is aggravating. Also for some reason when I use the Harmony 650 and enter the channel number directly, when I press any channel number on the Harmony 650 remote the number will be sent twice, which means if I press 5 for example the ViewTV Digital TV converter box will think I pressed 55, which means I have to use the up and down buttons to get to the correct channel. Finally the Harmony 650 is buggy on the preprogrammed buttons, so for TV I have programmed the TV to turn on the Samsung TV, ViewTV Digital TV and my Sony sound amplifier which connects to the speakers. Probably about 70% of the time the Harmony 650 universal remote pre-program TV button will turn on/off all the units correctly, however about 30% of the time it will leave one of the units on or off, this unsyncs all of the units from being on and off. When the units on/off are unsynchronized, the Harmony 650 allows you to select invidual units and then you can turn on/off that individual unit. When you go to the individual unit on the Harmony 650, one has to exit, then hit devices, then select the unit and then turn on/off the unit, which requires a minimum of 4 key presses to just turn on/off an individual unit. Also if for instance you are trying to watch TV and press the TV button and everything turns on except for the ViewTV Digital TV then you have to do the 4 key presses to turn on the ViewTV, however after on the Harmony 650 you have to then press Activities, press Watch TV and when you press Watch TV you have to cover the infrared transmitter of the Harmony 650 or it will turn off everything, so this is an additional 2 key presses plus the inconvenience and the time to cover the Harmony 650 infrared transmitter just so you can turn on everything and flip through the TV channels. If you have a simple entertainment setup, then the Harmony 650 is fine, if you have a complicated one then using the Harmony 650 is painful, it can be done but not without learning to dance with your remote.This is why I bought the Sofabaton U2, I hesitated to buy the Sofabaton because the reviews tend to be all over the map, but because it was relatively inexpensive as compared to the Harmony 650 I said what the heck and bought it. Long story short, I love the Sofabaton U2, it is easy to use and setup (once you learn how to set it up) and it doesn't mess up as much as the Harmony 650, about 85% of the time all the units are synchronized with being on/off and the last 15% the Sofabaton U2 easily goes to the individual unit which then you turn it on/off and then you easily go back to the main macro buttons to continue watching TV without having to cover the infrared transmitter when it messes up when you are turning on the TV.The criticism of poor documentation is true, especially how to program the macro buttons. The instructions which come with the Sofabaton U2 do not mention macro button programing at all and the video they point to in the instructions is extremely basic and doesn't mention how to program the macro buttons. I had to watch several Youtube videos, none of which were good in informing the user how/why to program the macro buttons on the Sofabaton U2, but after watching the Youtube vides and experimenting around with programing the Sofabaton U2 macro buttons for sevral hours, I finally understood how to program the macro buttons on the Sofabaton U2. Once you go through the process of programing the macro buttons on the Sofabaton U2 and use the Sofabaton U2, it all makes sense and then is easy and intuitive. But to get to the point of understanding how to program and use the Sofabaton U2, IMO will take most users, like me several hours and several videos. Once going through the process of using and programming the Sofabaton U2, I am sure a user manual as well as a good training video if done correctly could get a new user up to speed quickly in minutes rather than hours. The one suggestion I have is to program your main macro interface on the unit with the fewest programmed buttons on the Sofabaton U2, for me I have an old Sony audio amplifier so I programmed the main macro on this interface such that I would have the maximum number of buttons I could program for custom use. The Sofabaton U2, is very easy and intuitive to use once you get over the learning curve.

Wow, this is a great remote! The Logitech Harmony 650 I was using is great but too expensive. I was looking for an alternative that has the same capabilities. Yes there is a learning curve with this remote, but once you see the video tutorials, you could pretty much do anything that you want to do with this universal remote. Using the macro function, I was able to program volume controls in the receiver to operate while I am on the TV mode. Once you set everything up, one remote can control everything associated with the TV ( receiver, gaming console etc.). Now with one button press, I can turn on/off all devices at once. I also have programmed frequently used keys of all devices to operate while I am in TV mode so that I do not have to keep selecting different devices. This is a beast - once you learn how to program it. Highly recommend it. I just bought a second one.

Programming can be very easy or frustratingly difficult, depending on the device. But once it was working, it's been great. A backlight would have been nice.

TL;DR: This remote has almost everything it needs to be great, but it misses the mark so widely in so many respects that I found it unfit for purpose. There are plenty of things to like about this remote but I found that they were dramatically outweighed by the downsides. If those downsides do not apply to you, buy this remote. The physical design is great, but for me the experience and value were ruined by software.Pros:- Size, weight, feel, ergonomics. This remote feels great in the hand and is a good weight and it's easy to feel the difference in buttons.- Button press. The buttons are firm with a good tactile response. Great buttons.- IR range/power. If your components are behind glass or your seating position is off-axis from the equipment, it probably won't matter. The IR emitter on this is great.- The OLED screen is bright and clear.- Very wide component support.Cons:- No backlight. This is the only physical deficiency in an otherwise stellar physical design.- The setup app is not a good initial experienceI don't like app-based things at all, but this one is particularly bad. The entry on the Play Store says it requires no permissions, but this is a lie. It requires location, which is unacceptable. Sofabaton blames this on Bluetooth, but this was a design choice. They could have made pairing manual and avoided location access requirements. They chose not to. The app also requires registration. Why? Why should I have to give my E-Mail address to my remote control company? The app requirements are invasive and soured the the experience as soon as I opened the box, and then I had the displeasure of actually *using* the app.- The setup app is not nice to useThe app is clunky. The component search functions are good and the selections auto-download to the remote, but that's where the positives end. Button definitions are unclear and I had to "learn" many buttons from the original remotes, whereas other universal remotes just have them defined. The "learning" process works well, which is a good thing because you're probably going to need it.- Remapping and macros are tedious and limitedButton remapping and macros work, but they are also extremely clunky and repetitive. You can't set volume punch-through, for example. If you want the volume controls to adjust the volume on your receiver, you must remap the key in the profile for every component. There is no way I found to tell it, "volume buttons always control the same component regardless of selected component." Even cheap universal remotes do this just fine. Here, it's incredibly tedious.- No "Activity" functions or ability to simulate themThe programmable macros are excellent, but they can't do one primary thing: change the selected component. For example, I want to have a button that switches from my set-top box to my Blu-Ray player. I can do that easily enough with a macro, but then the controlled component remains "set top box" and I have to spin the wheel to find the Blu-Ray player. There is no way to have the final step of a macro be, "set the controlled component to something else." Multiple cheap remotes can do this with macro programming. This one can't.Neutral:- For devices with a lot of remote functions (some A/V receivers, for example), you will have to be selective with what you program. There aren't all that many buttons on this remote. That's a deliberate design choice and overall the physical design is excellent, but it's something to be aware of if the device you're controlling has a remote that looks like its capable of orchestrating a moon shot.Bottom line:This should have been great. Sofabaton clearly put a staggering amount of work into the physical design, and it shows. This physically one of the best remotes I have ever used and I really wanted to like it. The software is so invasive that it's entirely off-putting and the programming options are so limited that it simply can't do what I want it to do even after getting the bad taste of the setup process out of my mouth. The entire problem with this remote is the setup/management software, and that software ruins an otherwise great piece of hardware. If Sofabaton even half as much care, thought and engineering into the user software as it did into the physical device itself, it would be a standout winner. As it is, though, it just isn't.